Vietnam & Cambodia this August!!

We are very excited about our upcoming tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. Traveling to this magnificent part of the world is a treat to the senses from the beautiful sights to the lovely music and the amazing landscapes. All this and kosher too!!!

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

Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 16

Previously…

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

My husband in front of Angkor Wat

Another view, this time with all five towers showing

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

One detail of the devil fighting the monkey

a larger section

a larger section

And here is a look at the intricacy of the construction

In the interior of Angkor Wat

In the interior of Angkor Wat

Detail of one of the towers

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…

Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 10

To see what preceded this go here

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

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

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

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 on the boat

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

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

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

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

Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 4

For what happened previously go here

Having been sufficiently stunned by news of impending doom (i.e., our suitcases could be confiscated along with all we’d packed for shabbat and for other important parts of the tour), I entered the Temple of Literature compound and tried to relax. I thought of all sorts of alternatives to what we had planned and I knew that no matter what, our people were going to be well taken care of. We could bake bread, if necessary. I was pretty sure that beans and barley were available in Vietnam. We might have to buy large amounts of canned tuna to use for lunches to make up for the cheese and the peanut butter that would be confiscated, but we would be all right and our travelers would not even notice the problem.

As I walked through the gardens, relaxing became easy. It was beautiful, calm, tranquil — perfect. When I caught up with the group, they had just spied what was to be their first bride of the day.

Apparently, Vietnamese brides and grooms take full advantage of the period preceding the wedding and they go from place to place with a bevy of professional photographers being photographed in the outfits they have selected for that day. Like Chinese brides, Vietnamese brides often have more than one wedding gown– the traditional one (in China- red, in Vietnam, an Ao Dai in any color) and a white bridal gown such as those worn by brides in the West.

Here is the bride we saw at the Temple of Literature

Bride in Ao Dai

Bride in Ao Dai

We enjoyed a brief concert of Vietnamese music on traditional Vietnamese instruments and then set off for the Museum of Ethnology. There, inside the museum we saw colorful exhibits of ethnic minority customs, traditions, and dress and outside we saw models of homes and buildings of many of the ethnic minorities.

As the day wore on, the sun came out and Hanoi became very beautiful. And what did we see but more brides! Everywhere! And some of them were pretty adventurous!

After a visit to Maison Centrale, known to most Americans as “The Hanoi Hilton,” the place where captured US pilots, among them John McCain, were held, we went to Hoan Kiem Lake, a lake in the center of the city and were treated to a cyclo ride through the old city. The old city has 36 streets that were named for the crafts and trades that were located there. Although some of the streets still have some of those specialties, one cannot easily discern which street was for which trade or craft. One can, however, get the feeling of what it is like to travel at motorcycle/motorbike level in this busy city. You can see it here.

With the day quickly waning, I was getting more and more nervous about the suitcases. Even if I had figured out the solutions to my immediate problem, I really hoped that our people would have their belongings so that they could change their clothes and feel comfortable over the weekend. Since we were leaving at nine p.m. for an eight hour trip on a night train where we would sleep, our deadline for luggage delivery was all too critical.

My husband went to the restaurant to prepare dinner for the group while I went with them to the mini-hotel.

It is apparently called a mini-hotel not just because there are a small number of rooms and only one elevator, but also, I am guessing, because people use it only for a short amount of time. In fact, there were some lovely and wholesome looking young women dressed alike (black shorts, white blouses) waiting at ground level who one might imagine were in some way connected with the hotel. But I digress…

The purpose of going to the mini-hotel was to give people a chance to shower, change, and redistribute their clothing and personal items and pack only their small carry-on for our trip up north for the weekend. Taking the large suitcases onto the train was not a good idea. However, until the suitcases finally arrived, people didn’t want to shower, fearful they’d only have to put on the same clothing they’d been wearing for two days.

Our train was leaving at nine. The suitcases were not delivered until shortly after seven. Of course between suitcase delivery and the train there was distributing them to each room with only one small elevator and five stories of building and then collecting them again and then driving to the restaurant and having dinner. We were rushed.

The good news: ALL of the suitcases made it. The bad news: They had fastened a heavy plastic strip that held our largest suitcase closed and I had no implement to open it. There was no time. I decided to take all three of the large suitcases and our two small ones with us onto the train.

Our people were wonderful. Everyone was ready on time for the bus. They had left their suitcases outside their doors to be collected by the porters. We were out of the woods.

Or so we thought.

One couple said they weren’t sure where to leave their suitcase and they left it inside the room. When the time came to turn in the keys, they realized that they had locked the room with the key inside. I thought that would not be a problem, I went to the desk and asked for a duplicate key. The clerk didn’t understand me. I showed her a key and asked for another one and wrote the room number. She nodded no. I said “when you clean the room…” Of course, it was only later that I realized that most people staying there, maybe all of them, don’t leave the room and then come back. I had her call Mrs. Mai. I explained to her what had happened. Now I had two Vietnamese women who didn’t understand what I was saying, I believe. However, after the conversation, the desk clerk called someone and said, “wait one moment.” I am certain that when Vietnamese people learn English they are told that “wait one moment” means “this could take hours.”

I decided that my people needed to go and eat. I sent them on the bus to the restaurant. I assured the couple that I would not leave the hotel until their suitcase was liberated.

Finally a young man showed up on a motorbike. I assumed he had the key. I said to him, “You have the key?” and shook my head hopefully. He said, “yes, yes.” I’m guessing that when Vietnamese people learn the phrase “yes, yes” they are told it means, “I think you are a nice person and I would like you to be happy.”

The room was at the end of the corridor on the fifth floor. It was on the left. He walked down the corridor and opened the last door on the right. I said, “No, it’s this one.” He said, “yes, yes.” He went into the room and closed the door behind him. I thought, “Great! there’s an adjoining bath between them!”

He walked out of the room and said, “wait one moment.” He returned a few minutes later with an assistant and a tool box. They went into the room on the right. Then I heard loud banging– as if they were trying to break down the wall. It continued for a very long time. I waited. I sweated. I looked at my watch. I knew I had missed dinner, but how long could I stay without missing the train?

The banging continued. I sweated some more. It was 8:30. The train was at 9. I had no idea how far it was to the train station nor did I have any idea how much traffic there would be. I was cutting it very close. I called Mrs. Mai. I told her that the men were trying to break down a wall to get the suitcase, but so far, no luck. She told me that when the suitcase was finally liberated, she would have it picked up and brought to our other suitcases and that the couple would have it on Monday morning when everyone else got theirs. She called me a taxi and told him to take me to the train station.

I got into the taxi and I wanted him to know that I was in a hurry and so I wrote 9:00 on a piece of paper and apparently that was all it took to get him into Hollywood-car-chase mode. Ohmigosh! He flashed his lights, honked his horn, and drove on the wrong side of the street. As we reached the train station, I began to fear that maybe there was more than one station in Hanoi and I hoped we were at the right one. At that very moment, our big red bus pulled up and beside it I found my husband and all of our travelers.

Stay tuned to find out what happened to the suitcase, why I once again had to break down a Vietnamese door, and other exciting slip and slide adventures next time..

Continue the adventure here

Rona & Aaron’s Excellent Adventure, Part 2

…to see what happened earlier, go here

So we were airborne. Of course the luggage could not have made the flight. We had run over, under, around, and through and the baggage simply could not have been identified and transported that fast. It was all right. There would be another flight that night? the next morning? We’d be fine.

And after about two hours, we landed in Hanoi. We walked to the waiting area where we were met by our local guide. I gave the guide all of our passports, the visa application forms with photos attached, and the visa approval form we had received from the government of Vietnam. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. We could see the office where the visas were being given, see passports opened and visas affixed, but our guide was elusive. So we waited. Did I mention we waited?

After about an hour, she finally came back and we distributed the passports into which had been pasted the visas. Then everyone went through passport control and we met on the other side.

Our guide said we had to go to the lost luggage desk. Reminding her that our luggage was not lost, but tardy, she explained that unless we filed a claim for lost luggage, the luggage would not be transferred to Hanoi. I was to gather up all of the baggage claim checks which they then pasted onto a sheet of paper. Some of my people were hesitant to give up their only proof of every having had a bag, but were reassured when they were told that I would get a copy of the baggage tag page. We were missing 14 pieces of luggage. We had found only 11 baggage claim checks. No one would own up as to having additional ones. They filled out the paperwork only identifying 11 pieces of luggage. As they handed me the paperwork, I opened my ticket holder and found that I was the hold-out. There were the three baggage claim tags. I gave them to the people behind the counter and they copied the sheet for me.

Now about two hours later than we had anticipated, it was time for dinner and everyone was hungry and tired and so we decided to go directly to the restaurant where we would eat rather than to the hotel. We called and made sure that the four Swiss travelers and the one British traveler were brought to the restaurant to meet us.

Finally on the bus, we made our acquaintance with the Hanoi traffic jam– the type that puts everything at a standstill. The major bridge across the Red River was being repaired and construction materials and dug up road surface narrowed it to one lane. But we told people about Vietnam and about Hanoi and most of them were just happy to be finally out of the airport and on our way.

We arrived at the restaurant. It is the “forest” restaurant and it is beautifully decorated with objects that represent the history and folklore of Vietnam. Set in a garden, the wooden building was adorned with cloth and metal and wood wall hangings. The wait staff was dressed in native garb of one of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic minorities. It was beautiful.

Rung Restaurant, Hanoi

Rung Restaurant, Hanoi

What was not beautiful was the fact that our knives, cutting boards, and cooking utensils were in our baggage which was currently homeless in Hong Kong. So there we were with our Hanoi equipment (dishes, silverware, one large pot, and a wooden spatula) unable to prepare dinner.

We sent the local guide out to buy a knife. She had to take a motorcycle ride to get it and meanwhile, the chef was bristling as he wanted to kill the fish already so that he could cook them. Yes, you see when we cook in Vietnam, we need to see the fish whole and intact. So, often the fish are still alive when we meet them. These fish had something of a reprieve as we waited for the knife to appear.

In the end, we ate dinner, enjoyed getting to know each other, and although our luggage was still not with us, we all settled into our hotel that night for some much needed sleep.

Tomorrow: Hanoi as most people never imagined it and what ever happened to the luggage…

The adventure continues here

Fireworks in Hanoi

The last time I visited Hanoi, we had come back from a side trip to Halong Bay, a most magnificent place that I will post about in the future. We spent the day touring the Temple of Literature, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum area, seeing the homes he lived in and the One Pillar Pagoda. After a cyclo ride around the old town,

Two cyclos in Hanoi

Two cyclos in Hanoi

we transported our people to a small hotel to have a chance for a shower and change of clothes before dinner and the overnight train to Lao Cai. After everyone was settled in their rooms or decided to take walks, I stayed in the lobby to get the address of the restaurant where we were to eat that night. I was then to take all of our equipment (pots, woks, cooking implements, knives, cutting boards, dishes, silverware, etc.) to the restaurant and work on the cooking of dinner.

As I stood in the lobby, all of a sudden, I saw a flash of sparks. It was already getting dark and it looked like nothing so much as fireworks. I looked to see where it was coming from. It was coming from the top of a utility pole down the block from the hotel. It was sparking like a giant cake decoration sparkler. I turned to the desk clerk and said, “Maybe you ought to call the electric company.” She just stood there. I said to my English speaking Vietnamese guide (we always have a local English speaking guide with us), “Perhaps she didn’t understand; the electric pole is sparking (everyone could see that– people in the street had stopped to watch) and if someone doesn’t come, it could make all of the power in the area go out.” He went to the desk clerk and she again did nothing.

By then, it was time for me to go to the restaurant, about a fifteen minute drive away. My guide stayed to load people onto the bus and bring them later to the restaurant.

The people at the restaurant were lovely and cooperative, something that we found to be true of every place we prepared food in Vietnam and Cambodia. They had the fresh fruits and vegetables waiting for me and the whole fish ready for my inspection. Although it was a busy kitchen, they set aside an adequate area covered with tinfoil for preparation of our food completely separate from the other food that was being prepared that evening.

When our people arrived about an hour later, they came with their story of an adventure: they had just gotten to the lobby and were about to leave when all of the lights went out– in the hotel, in the shops nearby, in the streets. Fortunately, they just proceeded to the bus, but they left the entire neighborhood in the dark.

Water Puppets!

Vietnam is very much a water culture. That is, the country has a very very long coastline and much of its industry is water based- such as fishing and growing rice. During the rainy season both the Red River and Mekong Deltas fill with water and leave the soil fertile when the waters recede.

One art form that has resulted from this water culture is the water puppet theater.

The puppets are fashioned from wood and the puppeteers stand in water thigh to chest deep behind a screen and manipulate them from behind via the use of bamboo rods under the water. The puppets are fairly primitive looking but the puppeteers are able to make them do amazing things- they dance, they throw and catch, they even have fire-breathing dragons! The stories come from Vietnamese folklore and history. It may not be high art, but it is fascinating and definitely worth seeing.

Here is a wonderful article about the water puppets we see in Hanoi on our Shai Bar Ilan tour to Vietnam/Cambodia!

Here is one outdoor water puppet theater.

IMG_4381

Temple of Literature, Hanoi, Vietnam

One of the more impressive places to visit in Hanoi is the Temple of Literature. Originally built in 1070 as a Confucian Temple, in 1076, part of the complex became Vietnam’s first university. Its purpose was to educate the ruling class– the bureaucrats and the nobles and other members of the elite.

Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Temple of Literature, Hanoi

During the time it functioned- from 1076 to 1779, many of the students were not successful in passing the final examinations. The names of those who succeeded were engraved in a stone stele and over the entire period, only 2,313 students’ names were recorded.

The temple is constructed with a series of five courtyards and three paths lead through it. In older times, only the king would use the center path. There are a number of attractive buildings, manicured gardens, and ponds on the complex.

Garden view

Garden view

Statue of a phoenix next to offerings in the temple

Statue of a phoenix next to offerings in the temple

The day we visited, we saw many Vietnamese high school students, dressed in their graduation robes, having their pictures taken against the beautiful gardens and buildings.

Students in their graduation robes

Students in their graduation robes

We also were treated to a concert of Vietnamese music played on traditional instruments. Altogether delightful!

Hanoi

There is a lot to say about Hanoi. Coming of age in the era of the Vietnam War, I thought of it as a dark forbidding place and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever visit. NowI not only visit, but I am getting to know it like a friend.

There are many notable sights to see in Hanoi. There is the complex that surrounds Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. It contains the Presidential Palace built by the French, Ho Chi Minh’s two unassuming residences, a museum dedicated to him, and the One Pillar Pagoda. Further off in the city are several lakes, the Temple of Literature, the Old City, and one of the famous Vietnamese water puppet theaters. Of course, there is also Maison Centrale, the old French prison that used to house political opponents of the French, but during the Vietnam War era, housed US POWs including John McCain.

But today, I want to show you the character of the city. It is perhaps enhanced in these pictures by the gentle rain that was falling as I took them.

Early in the morning in Hanoi

Early in the morning in Hanoi

This woman is readying her flower cart. There are hundreds of flower carts in Hanoi and in the days before the celebration of Tet, many of them are festooned with flowering branches, many times of peach blossoms, without which, the holiday is not complete.

Flower vendor with blossoming peach branches

Flower vendor with blossoming peach branches

Park in downtown Hanoi

Park in downtown Hanoi

This park has a large memorial to the fighters of Vietnam. Here, the women are cleaning the park, sweeping it in the early morning hours. The hats they are wearing are worn throughout the country. They provide shade from the sun while allowing circulation of air.

Luscious flowers in Hanoi

Luscious flowers in Hanoi

Tet is a holiday that is celebrated with great joy. There are dozens of customs that accompany the holiday. One of them is decorating the home. These decorations are very similar (perhaps identical) to those of the Chinese New Year which comes out at just about the same time, in the mid-winter.

Tet decorations

Tet decorations

And lest you think that Hanoi is a frightening or dangerous place to be, rest assured that you have nothing to fear. The watchful eyes of the FBI are guarding you.

FBI Agent

FBI Agent

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