Siem Reap

The main attraction in Siem Reap, and maybe Cambodia in general, are the Angkor temples, the main one was built for one of the Khmer gods ( I think, but I'm probably wrong) named Vishnu. We read that during the building of this temple more people died than the entire cambodian genocide but it sounds too absurd... We took a day tour there with a tuk tuk driver named chan. The temples are incredible, I'm not a big fan of architectural sight seeing, but this is something else, some of the temples are monstrous, and climbing to the top awoken my fear of heights. The stairs are narrow and steep, and each stone is huge. Some of the temples are built inside an old dark green forest, with trees maybe 30 meters high, and the stones are black, with carvings of faces and women everywhere. In one of the temples Amit and I got lost, and thought we will never be able to leave anymore, because we are locked inside a cursed maze. On the way we saw monkeys, and even bought bananas to feed them, in return, they took over our tuk tuk until our driver managed to fight them off. We saw 6 different temples I think, each one unique in it's way, it was enough for us, but for the spiritual ones, this place is definitely  place to spend a while. At the evening we went for dinner with Chan, our new friend, and he told us about his father that was killed by pol pot (the one that lead the genocide), and that his mother lives in the country side and how life is for the poor in cambodia. One of the most interesting experiences in this trip is listening to the stories of the people, and we were shocked to hear Chan's story. He explained to us how you have to have money to get married, how the poor are dead poor, and the rich buy cars even rich people in Europe can't afford. How corrupt the police is - they are basically a mafia, all they do is take money, from businesses, from whores (here they are called "taxi girls" ) from tuk tuk and boat drivers. You have to have a family in the police if you want to work there, and if you work there, you are a rich man that can afford a nice house and a nice car. The next day Chan took us to the country side to see his village, he took us to his family and we had lunch together, we paid a dollar to a 7 year old kid for climbing a coconut tree and cutting off some coconuts for us, after I failed to make it half way up. After that we walked around the village and saw fishermen, farmers, and some friends and family of Chan. The highlight of the day was when we reached the entrance of some temple where many girls were selling useless things, and they knew a lot of languages! One of the girls knew as many as 5 languages! (English, Spanish, French, Khmer, Korean), of course only a little of each, but they were all around 10 years old and picking up sentences and songs from the tourists. We made a bet that if I eat a whole chilly they will sing a song in Khmer, this was easy, by now I'm uses to chillies here, but the little prick managed to find a chilly the size of a banana! I didn't back up and all the girls screamed as I took a bite, actually it was not anymore spicy than a normal sized chilli but I acted miserable to earn my song. After some singing done by both sides, and some teaching of Hebrew (shalom, ma nishma, sababa), it started raining and we headed back to our tuk tuk, paying a short visit to another family member of Chan on the way. 

Phloem Pen

Lonely planet is a liar. When we reached Cambodia's capital city, we took a tuk tuk (taxi) to the lake area where the backpackers hostels should be located. We got there - a dead end street with narcs fighting, one bleeding from the head, and a heavy steel gate that suddenly opened - the hostel's entrance. Casino-like lights shined from the inside, and we quickly walked in. A stinky place, literally, with some Cambodians and one Dutch guy sitting on a pool table and laughing, the Dutch guy cheerfully explained to us that some locals where injecting heroin and that the hostel's guard called security but we have nothing to worry about - it's a good place, oh, and the lake has been dried, they are building a casino there now. We stayed there one night - the room had no hot water and everything looked like a scene from the movie "fight club", the breakfast was really good though. Phloem Pen's main attraction is learning about Cambodia's history - a genocide happened here since 1975, lead by a guy named Pol Pot, a fun fact about him is that before he became a mass murderer he studied electrical engineering and he was also a teacher at some point. The sight seeing by itself is not so exciting but we bought talking earphones and listened to the stories and history while walking around the famous killing fields. It's shocking to hear how similar some of their stories are to our holocaust stories. Pol Pot killed 3 million of his own, without a racist theory to back him up, he only called them traitors, and built a killing system, maybe more brutal than the nazis, his soldiers killed babies by smashing them into trees, with knives and machetes, and with bare hands, bullets were too expensive. After 1979 something happened, we didn't understand what, he was apparently overtaken and lived in the forest, coming out for battles every once in a while, but was also given a chair in the UN and declared as a legit leader by the western countries - a piece of history worth to be more deeply studied. He died at the age of 82, had a happy life, married twice. On the way back we saw a half filled stadium, we asked our driver what was going on, and not knowing how to answer he just took us there. At the entranced I asked a guy that just got off there too what was going on, and he told us it was the Asian soccer championship! Mianmar versus Thailand, and it costs 50 cents to enter, we asked to join him and he agreed, and together we watched the championship, but Cambodia was not playing, and it was for players up to the age of 21, so the stadium was only half full. Nevertheless we enjoyed the game, Mianmar won, and the team was awarded 20,000 dollars (!!!!) from Cambodia's president. At night we went to hang out on the other side of town by the river, and later that night took a night bus to Siem Reap (which we heard it was completely flooded the day before). 

4000 islands on the way

Immediately when we reached Pakse we knew we do not want to stay there one second longer, we heard there is a nice place only 3 hours away called 4000 islands which was also in our general direction (south), after some searches around the town we found out there is a local bus to 4000 islands from a local bus station 9 kilometers from town, but one bus agency told us that because of the holidays the bus will not be there and that we should take their bus tomorrow morning - so we went there anyway, and the "bus" was there - a pickup truck with 20 people on the back, together with vegetables, bread, and some unidentified objects, and one kid with a toy gun shooting his grandmother. On the way we traded some of our candy for a vegetable they call "pan" (in Lao) which is something between an onion and a potato ( we had to try it cause everyone else on the bus was eating it). After 2 hours it started to get dark, and we knew we would also have to find a boat tonight. The truck dropped off people on the way, and by the time we reached the final station only 5 people were left. There was nothing there but the river, and one street light, and one woman the driver told us to follow and she will help us, she had many boxes so we helped her carry it to some stairs into the water, the place is pitch black and literally a "dead end" with water on the end. Suddenly, creeping up from the side came a small wooden boat that Amit claimed it looked exactly like Hades' boat (from Greek mythology ) and we were told to put things inside and go in. The guy in charge borrowed my flash light and we started sailing, not having an idea where are we going, or where we are, and only black mountains could be seen in the horizon. Finally, we reached the island, and took the first room we found. We started to walk around, no one is here, just a couple of people in an empty restaurant, and the roads are deep, so eventually I started to walk barefoot. Suddenly, an Irish couple from the ride to Pakse called us from a restaurant, they said they vowed that if they would ever meet us again they have to invite us for a drink after the night we led the rebellion, and we sat there and laughed for hours. The next day we walked around the islands - 2 islands connected by one bridge, deserted, tiny, muddy, and magical. At the afternoon a crazy storm suddenly hit, and we ran for shelter, under a house where a woman lives, and her child and cats where there too. Apparently this place was also a restaurant, and we had the best "chicken noodles during storm" we have ever had. During the night we hung out with some Argentinian guys we made friends with back in Luang Parabang, and the next day - Cambodia. 

Nong kiew

Nong kiew is a very small and very pretty town 5 hours away from Luang Parabang. The food is nice and very cheap, I've never had so many banana shakes in one day. This place looks like paradise, our hostel was by the river, beautiful steep mountains around, and just one bridge over the river, one road, a few restaurants and massage places, and very few people, a perfect place to finish my book. At night we had a fierce battle against a huge bug that flew into our room, only the next day we will be told it is a harmless bug though it wouldn't matter, it had a horn. The next day Inbal and I went rock climbing, a guide lead us to the mountain, making a trail with a machete. Before we left we asked what should we bring, and they said nothing, we could even come with our flip flops, they forgot to tell us that the way is swarming with leeches! If we stood in one place for more than 5 seconds suddenly out of nowhere they would come, climbing on us from between our toes, from the side, there was no escape. Our guide didn't seem to mind, when we finally reached to mountain he took off his pants and starting pulling the leeches off of himself. He bled a lot but didn't seem to care. Inbal has problems with her knees, she can't let anything touch them ever, so when a leech managed to find her way up to her knee she was in a tragic dilemma - to hit or not to hit? Her immediate solution was to hit herself anywhere possible around her knee, obviously not scaring the leech away. At first I just thought her aim was really bad so I offered to help by precisely hitting the center of her knee, but she yelled no! And finally pulled the leech off of her with her fingers. The rock climbing itself was very nice and after it we went to have lunch in a cave where the guide explained to us that the people hid there during the war when helicopters came. Our guide lives in a village 3 and a half hours away by Lao walking, and a full day tourist walking from the town. He told us that Lao people run in the jungles to get from place to place, and that he had to hunt and collect food from the forest all his life because his village is not close to the road and has no electricity or water system nearby. It was fascinating talking with him, his village really lives on it's own, and the only element of modernism in it is the chief - a guy nominated by the people in the village and works for the government, not sure what he has to do in such a village. After the climbing we spoiled ourselves with a massage - it was a lot better than the one in Luang Parabang and we came out happy and relaxed. At the evening we arranged with the rest of the tourists we met to take a boatride together back to Luang Parabang, the guy that owns the massage place also has a friend with a boat, and a new young family member only 15 days old, and he invited us to see a ceremony they do for him. Their custom goes like this - after a baby is born the mother has to sit with the baby in her arms and her back to a small fire for 15 days straight, they say its good for her stomach, and after 15 days the baby gets a name and some other things are happening. We went to see the ceremony the next morning and it was very nice, and right after it we went on the boat ride back. Taking a small boat down a river with mountains all around is a must! Every once in a while you put you hand in the water and it sprays you, the view is beautiful and constantly changing, the atmosphere is relaxing and you feel whole. You can teach some French people how to play Yaniv on the way, it's also pretty nice. 

Luang Parabang

Luang Parabang is a pretty town by the Makong river, with a morning market and a night market, young monks walking barefeet in the streets collecting pieces of sticky rice donated by the people living in the town every morning, many hostels, restaurants, massage places, a couple of clubs and a bowling place. The town of small attractions, we had our first massage here, 3 young ladies constantly laughing quietly while massaging our chair-looking bodies. Me and Inbal got addicted to Nam coc - a mixture of sticky rice, coconut milk and sugar, boiled into a thick mixture, and later fried a little - you can never have enough of it. We went on a 2 day trip including hiking to a local village, sleeping there, and continuing to a nice location with many small waterfalls, and an elephant ride. Our cherry on top was definitely our guide - corn (yes, like the vegetable). A crazy horny singing cursing English speaking Lao that claims he was born in a ricefield, raised as a monk for 6 years (12 to 18) and now he is 28, has 6 girlfriends, a band (he played us his songs) and everything he likes is "fucking nice!". While hiking in the jungle it is a true treat to hear Lao singing echoing all around us. We reached the village - it has a generator, an old tv, and a radio, it doesn't have anything else that reminds technology. There are many kids at the age of 4 carrying their 2 year old younger siblings on their hands, and backs. They have heart melting smiles, feet made of steel, they have no fear of getting hurt. Nobody is telling anyone to not do anything, walking out in the middle of a game is as normal as staying in a game, winning looks the same as losing, frustration doesn't seem to exist. I tried playing their game - like volleyball, only with the legs. My team had to run many rounds around the field for losing. Everytime we started to run the younger kids joined us yelling and laughing, some were pointing and laughing. Amit and Inbal became counselors, around 15 kids played "qua qua de la omer" and chased Amit-the-roaring-zombie. At night we met a few more tourists in the village, nice people- Americans, one girl is even living in Tel Aviv and knows a little Hebrew. We drank some wiskey the guide brought with him, if I had to guess first what was I drinking my guesses would be (in this order): gasoline, piss with alcohol, or alcohol with piss. Nevertheless we had a great time, our guide has a twisted sense of humor and a laugh that will make you wake up in the middle of of the night frightened with cold sweat. By the end of the night we were all trying to laugh like him. It is truly unbelievable to see the connection to nature here, their food and water all comes from the forest, they grow their own rice, and Corn- our guide, simply explained "no sticky rice - no life".  Sticky rice- their source of life. They have pigs and chickens running freely around the village, human puppies running around naked, or just a shirt, or just with a piece of paper, or a piece of sticky rice. Every once in a while some kids are starting a fire, and no one seems to be bothered, no one is worried that someone will get hurt.  The next day we walked to the beautiful waterfalls and had a short ride on elephants. They are the weirdest creatures, you can go to the zoo all you like, but walking by them, feeding them, touching them, it's a whole different experience, I'm glad we did it. Our way back to Luang Parabang we did with kayaks and again the singing of our guide was making the experience 10 folds more awesome, at night we planned to all go out together.  I miscalculated the dates, when I got back I noticed Yom Kippur is just about to start, my last meal was at 12, before the kayaking. After consulting some key Jewish authorities in Israel I decided to continue fasting, I missed out on the going out, but the next day I broke the fast with the smoothest banana shake and sweetest chocolate pancake I've ever had.  I've almost finished reading my book, it's awesome, reading a good book while traveling is an experience that cannot be mimicked. You have to be on the road to enjoy a book so much. 

Vang Vieng

After a long ride that included passing the border in crazy rain, and then later switching from a comfy bus to a back of a pickup truck we reached Vientiane, a small touristic capital city. Spending a day there was nice, we ate pretty good food, not so cheap though, we were hit by crazy rain again during a walk that started in a sunny weather, and then the next day continued to drive to Vang Vieng where we were supposed to meet Inbal the next day. Vang Vieng is a pretty little town, located next to a beautiful river, surrounded by steep mountains, the scenery is breathtaking in almost any direction you look. The ground's color is reddish and the plantation is dark green, and in one of our trips here, we found the ultimate neighbor's grass - no greener grass can possibly exist. The town consists of layback hostels, that play reruns of southpark, friends, how I met your mother, and jackass. The food is tasty and rather cheap, the attractions include mountain climbing, massages, kayaking, parties at nights that continue to after parties either on an island or next to a small lagoon, and the main attraction - tubing. We met up with Inbal and the following day was the tubing day. Basically, you take a tube, and stream down the river, there are bars on the sides of the river, and locals that throw a rope to you with amazing precision to pull you out of the water to their bar. Each bar had his own "thing" - in one I played soccer - the locals versus the tourists, surprisingly the tourists team was built of one british dude stuck being goaly, and the rest were Israelies... In another place you had to reach a bucket hung on a rope over the river, using your hands - monkey style. Everyone makes it to the bucket, no one makes it back and so they fall Ito the river and later again pulled out. Another bar had a hand swing that shot you into the river. There were others but we didn't do them all, and when the bars ended we just kept going until we were eventually supposed to reach all the way back to town. Somewhere in the middle the weather became a little cold and Amit and Ziv (an Israeli guy that joined us during the Vang Vieng days) managed to fall off their tube and almost lose it, and at one point Amit was scared to die for an unclear reason ( his legs touched the bottom the whole time..) but in the end we reached town safely. Tubing is awesome! People spread the word about this attraction for a good reason. After tubing you are worn out and tired, so lying on mattresses eating hamburgers and watching how I met your mother is the perfect way to refresh before you go out to yet another night of parties. Details about parties are usually boring, but In this case two details are rather unique - in one after party we were taken to muddy soil by the lagoon and danced around a fire like hell is rising on earth, and in a second party I did a fire show with a long stick that had fire in both ends! and I didn't really burn myself at all!  We had another day in Vang Vieng before continuing to Luang Parabang, so we decided to spend it by the blue lagoon, which also has a very amazing cave by it, and inside the cave sits a layback (literally) statue of budha. After 3 days here I can understand how people can lose themselves in such places, the sensation of freedom is all around and the cycle of the day can easily become addictive. Lucky for us, plan manager and administration specialist Inbal is keeping us on schedule, and in the time that these words are being written, we are after almost 9 hours of driving in a VIP bus that has no air conditioner,an overheating engine, and a mixture of people, bags, extra plastic chairs for the truly unlucky, and lots of smells - some unpleasant, some are somewhat life-threatening. Lucky for us - we got the back seat for being the only white people on the bus. Unlucky for us, the engine is exactly underneath us so by putting our feet down we will eventually fry them. 

Ninh Binh - the legend continues

We had a plan to be in Vang Vieng - Laos at the 2nd of October, so we decided to stay one more day in Ninh Binh. We didn't really have plans so again we rented bikes and rode north, to the villages. We stopped at a "shirt store" located on the side of the highway, and bought a few light long sleeves shirts, and continued. We passed by a small street when Amit said he thinks he saw some ceremony going on, so we went back to take a look. Turns out we came just in time for lunch. Hundreds of people, lots of noise and strange odors, a huge statue of Jesus, and just one person that speaks some English. We were offered a seat of honor with some locals at the center. They gave us food and beer, and made us drink whole cups of it in single sips. They gave us rice wine shots and together we emptied them, everyone was laughing excitedly, trying to figure us out. When we said we are from Israel their eyes opened widely and they noted that this is the land where Jesus came from. They asked us if we are also catholic and to avoid religion clashes we crossed our hearts and said yes. After a loud meal and a lot of alcohol we went into a small cave carved in a boulder nearby where statues of Maria where located and "prayed". The whole scene was ecstatic, their excitement and hospitality were overwhelming, together with their ability to use a camera. It was a true walk into the past, the only sign of modern life there were motorcycles and a few people holding a cellphone, but their lifestyle is that of farmers from the previous century. After that we thanked them a lot and kept going. We saw their church - it was huge and well taken care of considering the size of the town. Next we met a few children playing and we took some pictures together, a couple are a must see - but I give the honor of posting them first to the photographer - Amit. We kept on going until we got to the far ends of the town, and we reached a small Buddhist pagoda by the river, where a couple of people were writing, and one girl was standing on a small canoo in the river, maneuvering only with a long stick. We didn't want to break the harmony of this place so we stood there until a lady signed to us that it was ok to pass. Around the corner we saw another small canoo, and with our hands we asked for permission to use it. We got it, and slowly crawled into the canoo, at first it seemed like it wouldn't be able to carry both of us but if we didn't do sharp moves we managed to stay above water. I tried using the long stick on board, apparently it's a lot harder than it looks, we barely moved one inch but we manages to twist around ourselves a few times. The girl that ignored us up until then silently came near us and handed us a couple of small rowing sticks, and started to sail down the river, we tried following her, one was using the rowing sticks, the other the long stick, but we couldn't keep up, eventually she disappeared and we found ourselves in the middle of a river, with a canoo that had a little too much water in it. We found a small artifact that looked like half a bucket that was good to take water out of the canoo. We started heading back, with a little more experience one was responsible of going forward with the rowing sticks, and the other who was using the long stick was responsible for the direction. Every once in a while we stopped to take some more water out of the canoo. The job was really exhausting but we reached land with our iPhones dry and our spirits elevated. We kept going. The rest of the day we saw some more beautiful sites on the countryside and eventually came back to the hostel just when it started to rain. Our day was amazing, we've seen so much, and we have planned nothing of it. This was our last day in the first phase of Vietnam. Tomorrow we are heading to Laos. Vietnam is special, it's amazing and authentic and full of small heavens, all you have to do is get there, the way to do it - get lost.