You can find our itinerary here

and read about the tour here and here

Vietnam and Cambodia are photographers’ paradises. I am including just a few more photos, but I could have easily added another 50. Please come and join us on this fantastic tour!

My email is drsavta@gmail.com

Inside the grounds of the Temple of Literature

Traffic in downtown Hanoi

Walking beside rice terraces in the north

Girls talking in the market

The post Vietnam & Cambodia this August!! appeared first on Travel Kosher.

A short digression from our tour…

I am about to show you a place that stands as a metaphor for what happens when we don’t pay attention to the little things. There are all sorts of metaphors that we use. We talk about things that you don’t pay attention to coming around and biting you in the back. We talk about a cancer left unchecked and the destruction it can ravage. Well, here is the standing proof of this idea.

Ta Prohm was allowed to remain as it was found (although there is still some construction going on there.) Take a gander at what nature has done to this temple.

The spong tree that ate Ta Prohm

Yes, indeed. It’s unbelievable. Small seeds found their way into the roofs of these temple buildings. As time went by, the seeds sprouted roots that sought soil. And yes, they made their way down the building into the ground and at the same time grew high into the sky.

My husband standing near some roots

Another tree

Standing among these trees and looking at what they have done to the temple, one is completely amazed. All of this happened when small trees were allowed to grow from the roofs unchecked. As one looks at the other temples, one can see the beginnings of trees- little branches with leaves protruding from the roofs. Much of the preservation work that is constantly being done at the other temple complexes has to do with removing these small invaders before they cause destruction.

Still stunned by Ta Prohm, we made our way to one of the more beautiful temples, perhaps the most beautiful temple of Angkor, is Banteay Srei, the women’s temple. It’s an almost pink color with exotic carvings. Like most temples, it had a formal entrance and was surrounded by a moat. Most of the temples we visited didn’t have visible moats, but Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei did.

In the moat

You can see a very different style in this temple.

Approaching the entrance

Detail of entrance gate

And here is a little of what one sees inside. This temple is a real favorite and therefore full of visitors. It’s really something very special to see.

Inside of Banteay Srei

Our local guide explained to us the rationale behind the design of this temple. Its components are the same as others including a library and a prayer hall and other chambers. But in this one, the separate buildings represent parts of the body– the trunk, the legs, the arms, and the head. Fascinating!

Next time: some of the people we saw and the largest lake in Southeast Asia and its amazing ability to change fundamentally twice each year.

Continuing…

The post Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 18 appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Angkor Thom is a temple complex that dates from the late 12th century. It is nearby Angkor Wat, but of a different vintage and it contains elements that differ greatly from Angkor Wat. Although its architecture is similar, the emphasis is less on Hindu tales and tradition.

The word Angkor is Khmer for “city.” Angkor Thom is thought to have been a city of between 80,000 and 150,000 people. It was built by the Khmer king Angkor Jayavarman VII as his capital city. One inscription found in the city refers to Jayavarman as the groom and the city as his bride.

Angkor Thom is surrounded by walls on all four sides with a total of only five entrances. One of the most visited temples in the complex is the Bayon Temple.

Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom

As you can see, the restoration of the Bayon Temple is under the auspices of UNESCO and sponsored by Japan. All of the temples are constantly in a state of restoration, a necessity that you will understand better when I show you Ta Prohm. In this case, the temple is being restored because many of its structures have been damaged and they are being rebuilt with original materials that were found at the site. Of course it is a bit like assembling a 100,000 piece jigsaw puzzle with pieces that could either be from it or from other puzzles and so the identification of which stones were from which structures is only the beginning of the job. They are doing a magnificent job as each year I see more and more of the construction.

Here is what Bayon temple looks like as one approaches.

Walking toward Angkor Thom

The Bayon Temple, like Angkor Wat, has massive bas reliefs. However, instead of mythical battles, these bas reliefs are taken from the daily life of the people and as one walks around the base of the temple, it feels as if one is peering through windows and watching people go about their daily life.

Bas relief, Bayon Temple

Looks like a class to me!

The most interesting feature of the Bayon Temple is the carvings of faces. There are faces wherever you look.

How many faces do you see?

Of course, one of the things that happens is that people get quite creative with their photography (or if not, they watch others and get ideas) and so here’s a picture of my husband rubbing noses with one of the faces.

Up close and personal

Climbing up and seeing the temple from all different levels is fun and interesting and every once in a while, there’s a surprise, like these people dressed in traditional Khmer costumes. Our people enjoyed having their picture taken with them.

Happy people!

Visiting Angkor Thom was a lot of fun and we enjoyed seeing many of the temples and structures in its complex. However, nothing we saw prepared us for Ta Prohm! Next time…

Continuing…

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By now, I am sure that you have forgotten the details of our arrival in Hanoi. To give you just the important facts, I will remind you that we waited for a very long time to receive our visas, even though the group visa application form had been mailed from Israel and it was approved in Hanoi and mailed back to Israel, and even though we all filled out the required forms and attached relevant photos (relevant being the kindest adjective I can think of for passport photos, but I digress.) While all this was happening, I asked if we had to fill out any other forms. I seemed to remember a form that we needed to hand over as we entered the country even though by then we had our visas. At first I was told yes, we must fill it out and so I asked for the appropriate number of forms. Then I was told, no, we really didn’t need it. We all got through passport control and then waited a very long time to have all of the lost baggage forms filled out. Only after that did we leave the airport.

“Well, what’s the relevance?” you might ask. As well you should.

At the time we were leaving Vietnam via the airport at Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)/ Saigon, we checked in at the desk, got our boarding passes and proceeded to security and passport control. About half the group had gone through and I purposely waited to be the last in case there was any problem. It was a good thing. For first one and then another of the people in our group had been stopped and asked for the form that we had never filled out which should have been stamped at entry. Of course the fact that half the group had gotten through without it made me certain that this was not an insurmountable difficulty. One of the passengers was very concerned. “Suppose they never let me out of Vietnam…” Um, right. I said, “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of it.”

I may have mentioned that my Vietnamese consists of thank you and Pho? (and Pho doesn’t come in handy all that much.) But still I realized that anything is possible if one believes it is. (Well, not anything but this should be). I told all of the people who were not allowed out to come to my line and I picked the kindest looking clerk. I pointed to my yellow hat and said, “I am the leader. We entered Vietnam without filling out any forms, but we all have visas. We have no forms to give you.” I am pretty certain that he didn’t understand one word of what I was saying, but he smiled and nodded his head and he allowed everyone through.

And so finally we were on our way to Cambodia.

Cambodia is an amazing country. If China farms out its work to Vietnam where workers are paid less, then Vietnam farms out its work to Cambodia where there is real poverty. Vietnam is a country on the move. The educational system is constantly improving and children are encouraged to study and achieve. Cambodia is not there yet.

Of course Cambodia is still reeling from its years under the Khmer Rouge when an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were killed or died as a result of the cruelty of their own people. This was at a time when the entire population of Cambodia was only about 7 million. The country suffered such trauma that it is only this past year that the first trial of a Khmer Rouge officer commenced. There was debate as to whether the trial should be held because of the issues of retraumatizing the population.

But arriving in Cambodia, one sees green fields and blue skies and people with sweet demeanor and once there, one falls in love with the country.

We stayed at the Apsara Hotel, on the main road from the airport to the city, not far from the temples of Angkor. After a lovely dinner in the garden overlooking the pool, we all went to sleep and bright and early the next morning, we headed out to Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat means the temple of Angkor. It is only one of many temples built from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. It is perhaps the largest and certainly the most well known. In fact, it is the only building that appears on its nation’s flag.

To say that it is impressive is an understatement.

My husband in front of Angkor Wat

Another view with all five towers showing

We had a very nice local guide, but he didn’t seem to understand that hearing the story of the Battle of Lanka in excruciating detail was not necessarily our cup of tea. It did, however, provide excellent background for understanding the multitude of bas reliefs that decorated the temple. If the construction of the temple itself had not been impressive, and believe me, it is astounding, the bas reliefs alone would have made the visit mid-boggling. They are intricate and they go on forever.

One detail of the devil fighting the monkey

a larger section

And here is a look at the intricacy of the construction

In the interior of Angkor Wat

Detail of one of the towers

It took 37 years to build Angkor Wat– which is an amazingly short time considering its size and intricacy. However, there are some who estimate that about 300,000 workmen were engaged in building it! More info is available here.

Sorry I didn’t get around to Angkor Thom, but that’s for the next time. OK?

Continuing…

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After a wonderful shabbat, our group was ready to discover the wonders of the Saigon night market. Now I am sure that in a city the size of Saigon, there are probably tens of markets, but this one just happened to be about 3 blocks from our hotel, across Le Loi Street from Chabad, a very convenient location. It consisted mostly of clothing, shoes, luggage, handbags, and jewelry. The prices were very good.

The night market

After buying a sufficient number of items, we had to buy a suitcase to put them in… Actually, that really isn’t the truth. We had bought a very cheap suitcase a couple of years ago and by this point on the trip the luggage handlers had pretty much destroyed it, so it was time to get a new suitcase and the one we found was large and not so heavy and seemed practical. However, it does seem to me that you can’t really leave this market without buying a serious amount of stuff, if only T-shirts for souvenirs.

In the morning, after a good night’s sleep and breakfast in the roof garden, bright and early, we made our way through the traffic and the rubber plantations to Cu Chi. Cu Chi is where the Viet Cong had constructed an entire city under the ground. They were able to live there undetected by constructing a series of tunnels at three levels, by directing their cooking smoke through enough conduits that by the time it emerged, it was barely detectable, and by constructing entrances that were invisible to all but those who had placed them there. They had entrances from under the river and through tiny holes in the ground that were completely covered up most of the time.

The opening, in time of war completely covered by leaves

The soldier emerges

We were treated to a tour of the Viet Cong’s instruments of torture and death. They certainly were innovative. There were any number of traps where if a soldier was caught, he would pray for death. It did eventually come because they made sure that the stinging edges of their spikes were also able to infect or poison the soldiers. Of course, when asked, the Vietnamese will all tell you that the war is over and this is another time and there is no reason for any bad feelings.

What was a bit disconcerting was that from time to time we would hear shots fired. There is a rifle range adjoining the area we were touring. It made for some not so pleasant authenticity.

We made our way from Cu Chi to an amazing place. How can I describe it? Well, perhaps only through pictures. In the 1920s a new relgion was founded called Cao Dai. Here is some information about it. Their main temple in Tay Ninh is quite impressive both outside and inside.

Cao Dai Temple, Tay Ninh, Vietnam

The religion attempts to unite all religions and to emphasize kindness toward people and toward the world. High priests are strict vegetarians, and all adherents must follow a moral code.

Inside the temple

During the service which includes chanting, playing of bells and gongs and the people prostrating themselves, visitors are asked to watch from the balcony. Wearing shoes in the temple is forbidden and so a large pile of sport shoes and crocs waited for us after the service.

During the service

Since Cao Dai incorporates several religions, there are priests representing each of the three major contributing religions, they are dressed in red- for Christianity, blue- for Taoism, and yellow- for Buddhism.

Here is another photo of the worship at the Cao Dai Temple.

Worshipers at the Cao Dai Temple

Next: What is Angkor Wat? and why is it special? and what is Angkor Thom? and aren’t all Cambodian temples alike? Find out the surprising answers next time…

Continuing…

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Meanwhile, here is a picture of me with our group from last November in front of Angkor Wat

Group in front of Angkor Wat

The post The Temples of Angkor appeared first on Travel Kosher.