One of the last places we visit in Cambodia is one of the most amazing places in the world. We go to Tonle Sap which is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. Tonle Sap flows into the Mekong Delta for part of the year, but when the waters of the Mekong, coming from as far away as Tibet, rise in the spring, the flow of water reverses as the Mekong Delta overflows back north into Tonle Sap. The area of the lake in dry season is 2,700 square kilometers. During the rainy season, from June to October, its area increases and gets up to 16,000 square kilometers! This shifting of currents, bringing fish up from the Mekong Delta to the lake provides enormous numbers of fish and those fish account for 60% of Cambodia’s protein intake.

The homes around the lake and on the lake are small and virtually unfurnished. Some are up on stilts to prevent them from being flooded. Other people move their homes on trucks to other areas before the waters rise. This is possible because their construction is light and simple.

Here are a couple of homes:

Home on Tonle Sap

Notice contents of home: clothing and a TV

Of course some people choose to live on the lake in houseboats and the schools too are located on boats.

Children in the basketball court at their school

There are grocery stores that are on boats too.

For those who would prefer home delivery, there are also boats that sell fruits and vegetables.

Service to your door

Life on the lake seems to be pleasant for this child who was just about to go swimming.

Anyone want to join me?

We travel on the lake in a motorized boat. Of course, on this trip, nothing was predictable, so it almost didn’t surprise us when the engine gave out and we were sitting stuck on the lake. The weather was lovely. The sun was just starting to descend giving a golden glow to the water. There were other boats. No one panicked. Eventually, after trying to start the motor a large number of times, the young boy who was assisting the pilot waved down another boat of the same type, threw a rope to them, and tied us to the other boat. We then were towed most of the way to the dock with the engine finally starting as we arrived there. After all, we had had days with no adventure. It was time.

Our travelers were a wonderful group and we all left the lake having had an enjoyable time. What they didn’t know was what was in store for them in the evening. Next time: two fabulous evenings in Siem Reap. You won’t want to miss them. Once you see them, you will sign up for our next tour!

Continuing…

The post Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 19 appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Tired yet?

We arrived in Hanoi on the night train from Lao Cai. It was still dark when we arrived at a mini-hotel where our people fell into bed for a couple of hours of sleep before breakfast and departure from Hanoi. That morning, unlike others, I made the omelets in the kitchen rather than on the portable burners that are all but ubiquitous. I had no idea of how many omelets I had made and so twice, at least, I thought I had finished, but hadn’t. What made this task more arduous than usual was that I was cooking on a stove top that was fairly short. At 5’6″ I am taller than most Vietnamese people, so leaning over to cook wasn’t that much fun, but in addition, there was a huge range hood that started at about the level of my nose. So, each time I found out that I had more omelets to make, it was pretty disappointing.

However, breakfast was good and soon we were on the road to Halong Bay. Along the way we stopped and bought everyone pineapples. Yes, each person got a pineapple, peeled and on a stick and the taste was fabulous. Better than ice cream. From me, that is high praise.

Halong Bay is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is known for its magnificent rock outcroppings. There are about 1600 huge rocks, some the size of mountains and others only a few meters long and a few meters tall. They are the result of a process that is termed “Karst.” Karst is the name of an area in what is now Slovenia where these types of structures were first identified and explained. They are the result of the receding of the ocean floor and erosion that took place over thousands of years. The limestone has been worn away leaving only the core area resulting in beautiful formations.

Sailing on Halong Bay

Halong Bay has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Although most of these rocks are not large enough for people to live on, the bay has a large number of residents who live on floating homes. Their food is delivered to their porches by boat and their children are collected by boat to go to school.

On our tours of Vietnam, one of the loveliest experiences we have is lunch on board a boat as it cruises along Halong Bay. Because our tours are strictly kosher, we bring with us, of course, all of our own kitchen equipment (woks, knives, cutting boards, stirring implements, foil trays, foil for surfaces) and disposable utensils to eat with.

Our boat

Here is a picture of the kitchen on the ship set up with our utensils (over to the right, on the towel), our salt and pepper shakers (behind the utensils), the serving plates (their own that they wrapped in aluminum foil), spices (“Shufersol” brand, all of which I brought from Israel) and the fresh vegetables that they would be cutting on our blue vinyl cutting boards with the knives we had brought. The kitchen was immaculate.

Kitchen on the boat

By the way, we had brought 3 brand new knives from Israel. They are like normal western kitchen knives. Because of our late arrival and our luggage having gotten stuck in Hong Kong, our guide had bought us a new Vietnamese knife which is more like a cleaver. When we unpacked out utensils, the chef immediately chose the Vietnamese knife and began cutting with it. As he was cutting one of the fish, a piece of the knife blade broke off.. an area maybe a half inch long was now missing from knife edge about a quarter of the way from the top of the blade. He continued using that knife anyway because he preferred it. As we continued to travel, every chef chose the broken knife over our new western knives!

On the other side of the kitchen was the cooking area which they also had completely emptied of all of their equipment and had only our pots and wok.

Our pots on the boat

Our pots in the boat's kitchen (and Osem soup mix)

While the men were working in the kitchen, the chef asked me where I was from. I must say
— for all that Israelis think that the world pays attention to news about us, from the reactions I got in Vietnam– not so much. He had no idea. Sometimes people will respond, “Near Egypt?” and that’s not bad. This man waited a couple of minutes and said, “Cities in your country?” I answered “Tel Aviv, Jerusalem…” He stopped and closed his eyes, and put his hands together and said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” almost as if he knew the song we sing “Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim.” He had a smile on his face and kept repeating “Jerusalem.” I wish he had been able to tell me his associations with Jerusalem, but his English was fairly rudimentary and my Vietnamese, well, I can say “Pho?”

Preparing the food

How long to stay on Halong Bay? The answer is: as long as you can. It is simply paradise and as the boat moves, one after another view is even more breathtaking. The best time to arrive is shortly after noon, so you can see it in full sunlight and return as the sun is setting.

Halong Bay

Next time: Visiting a fishing port in Halong Bay, visiting Japanese and Chinese vestiges in HoiAn and answering the question: what’s in style on the streets of HoiAn?

Continue the adventure here

The post Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 10 appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Although most of these rocks are not large enough for people to live on, the bay has a large number of residents who live on floating homes. Their food is delivered to their porches by boat and their children are collected by boat to go to school.

Floating homes, Halong Bay

Selling fruit on Halong Bay

On our tours of Vietnam, one of the loveliest experiences we have is lunch on board a boat as it cruises along Halong Bay. Because our tours are strictly kosher, we bring with us, of course, all of our own kitchen equipment (woks, knives, cutting boards, stirring implements, foil trays, foil for surfaces) and disposable utensils to eat with. On Halong Bay we enjoy very fresh fish. Below are our people watching as our boat stopped to be supplied with the freshest fish we ever ate!

Sailing on Halong Bay

Come with me! We leave on November 16!

The post Halong Bay, Vietnam appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Here are a few pictures I took when I visited there…

homes along Tonle Sap

These homes were usually one room homes and contained places to sleep and usually a TV. They have no indoor plumbing and we could see wells with pumps for fresh water that had been donated by foreigners. All of these homes can be dismantled and trucked to other locations. In fact, I took this picture on my first trip to Cambodia and when I returned a year later, this whole line of homes had been relocated.

Another home next to a water pump

This, as the other, was photographed through the bus window, hence the glare and reflection. You should be able to see on the right a sign with US and Cambodian flags that marks the donation of the pump by an American donor.

The weather tends to be warm all year long. The two seasons are wet and dry- so it is not unusual to see little children running around without clothes.

Beautiful child

The fishing industry

Fishing is a very important industry. In the foreground is a pile of dried fish!

A floating elementary school

This school is moored, but is completely transportable. The upstairs area is for recess and play activities. Some schools have basketball courts that are fenced like this one so that out of bounds balls don’t end up in the Mekong Delta!

Buying fruits and vegetables

There are many people who live on boats. They can have delivery service to their door (so to speak).

Floating church

And yes, a floating church, complete with a Cambodian flag next to the door. Here’s a piece of trivia: Cambodia’s flag is the only country’s flag that features a structure. On its flag is a drawing of Angkor Wat. Someday, we will explore Angkor Wat on this site. Stay tuned.

The post Cambodia – Tonle Sap appeared first on Travel Kosher.