Tailoring

We were told that the ancient city of hoi an is famous for its silk and tailoring. So if course, we have to try out the local trade.

We were also told that "you get what you pay for". So we're at the most expensive places here (1/10th the cost of the USA instead of 1/40th...still pretty good). Let's hope it's better than 1/10th the quality!! You be the judge when we get home. See if you can spot the new stuff. In the meantime, it's a fun experience.

Hanoi

We got great advice from a fellow traveler about agoda.com. It's kind of the Priceline of southeast Asia. We reserved $36 hotel room in a fancy hotel
in Hanoi. We arrived pretty late, but when we saw our room an the private balcony overlooking the old quarter, glass bathroom shower, and comfy bed and aircon, we were at peace. After we tucked ourselves into bed, we got a phone call from the reception around 2 am telling us they had make a mistake and given us the suite by accident and the other guest had just arrived and wanted our room. We kindly asked if we could wait until morning and they agreed. That's the second accidental suite we've had in a week. This one came without bed bugs.

Our first day in Hanoi, our hotel arranged a free waking tour with one of the college students studying English. Before the tour, we explored the blocks near our hotel looking for a local lunch spot. We joined the locals streetside and took a seat on the plastic stools. Jacob's immediately broke in half, and, despite the language barrier, it was universally understood that he was embarrassed and everyone was laughing together:). There is no menu. We tried to explain that we were vegetarian and ended up with fried pork. Jacob took a bite and tried to vomit the rest of the afternoon. Although, he admitted it tasted good. The rice noodles and fried tofu were tasty too.

The student, hien, gave us a tour around the city (see pic of us with her). We started in Silk road finding ourselves lost in Vietnamese art. We then walked to the temple on the lake which is one of the city's main attractions. There is an old legend of the turtle and the sword. Legend has it that the first king of Vietnam became king after pushing out the Chinese around 1000 ad. He finally did this with a magical sword that was given to him by divine intervention. The day after the battle was won, a huge turtle came out of the lake and took the sword back, returning it to the earth. The massive turtle's descendants are still alive in the lake today, and the many hundred pound 1000 year old turtle was fished out and bronzed and is on display in the temple to this day (see pic).

Val paid for us to enter the temple and had accidentally left a zipper of her purse open. About 30 seconds later, she noticed a poor Vietnamese young woman waking very close behind her. She turned around and saw her taking a 100,000 dong note (5 US dollars) from her purse. She said out loud, "she just took my money". Jacob snatched the money out of her hand as she tried to say it was hers. Thankfully, two Vietnamese women behind us immediately said they saw the whole thing and started speaking fast and pointing at the girl. Before we knew it, three guards surrounded the woman, grabbing her tightly while her young child watched, crying, not understanding what was happening. Val said she felt distraught because on one hand she saw this poor Vietnamese lady being held with her child watching over $5, and, on the other hand, she had just been pick-pocketed! We thanked the ladies and hien, our guide walked us into the temple.

The story wasn't over though. A few minutes later, a guard asked Val to follow him. He led us into a small room on the side, where he asked us to sit at a table, right across from the lady! It was serious and quiet, with four guards behind the lady. They were very focused on hospitality for us, it seemed, and so they served both us and the pick-pocketer tea and fruit. (we didn't drink, the lady did). They made Val confirm that the lady stole something, confirmed that she didn't take anything else, and then profusely apologized for the experience. They spoke to our guide who shared that they all wanted to make clear to us that this was not the image they promoted for Vietnam, as this is not something they accept, and they want to make sure it does not happen to other tourists. They really seem to put a lot of pride and emphasis on making their country tourist friendly.

Except for the scary room and serious tone, which brought weird images and fears to our Hollywood imprinted minds, the whole experience left us impressed with how seriously they handled the situation. We do feel bad about the girl and her daughter and wonder what happened to her.

Our trip coincides with a Vietnamese national holiday celebrating the reunification of north and south Vietnam after the war. (note: fascinating how histories are taught differently. The Vietnam children are taught that the war began in 1955 when the Americans arrived and lasted until the north won the war in 1975). As we were walking the streets with hien, we heard megaphones saying lots of things in vietnamese and asked her what it meant. She explained it was a government announcement that all citizens must hang Vietnamese flags outside their home on the upcoming holiday. We asked hien what happened if someone did not hang a flag. She said no one doesn't.

Another main attraction is the water puppet show which Val insisted we buy tickets to. We both fell asleep, but hien loved it:)

After amazing, cheap massages and a vegetarian rooftop dinner at our hotel, we boarded an overnight train to sapa.

Teaser

We know we are very behind on posts. So we will give more in depth posts soon. Details will include jacob being a large american and breaking the chair at a street side restaurant. a 30 km hike through sapa (rice country), and a failed attempt at an overnight cruise in halong bay (they're sending us home back to hanoi because of a reported "typhoon" warning, even though it's beautiful outside.).



So that's it for now. More later.

Jacob and val

Second bag complete

One bag!

We've got one! Clocked in at 63 minutes. One more to go. New Zealand beach volleyball team have gotten all their bags and left. This is a good sign.

Socialist airports

We have learned that in socialist countries, airport baggage claim workers do not like to be rushed. We are 55 minutes into waiting. About 10 bags from the whole plane have come out. Are they trying on all of our clothing?

Sunset

We mentioned the sunset lea showed us. Forgot the pics. Here is what you wake up to for 1500 baht/night if you stay at the Hansa lodge (note: Siri tried to change Hansa to "Hamas". Very different. Very).

Val wins the day

Contrary to what we were told, you cannot buy a visa for Vietnam at entry. You have to have it beforehand. Because I have the best girlfriend (in the world), we can now go to Vietnam. -Jacob
(Val and our visas, which are strangely also the visas for 9 other people)

4.22.13

To finish our statement from last night, if it seems to good to be true, we now know it definitely is. The beautiful utopia hotel was a disaster. We had hung our clothes out to dry and were getting ready for bed. Val pulled the sheets after taking a Benadryl (we counted her 170 bites this morning. 170!). She found 4 little ants crawling alive. I lifted the sheets to do a thorough search and found nests of eggs and tiny crawling things. (I think they were fleas). We're posting a few pics so you can all get an idea. We know these pics are what you're missing at home.

Anyhow, at that point, with Val about to pass out from Benadryl, we packed our backpacks and decided to leave. As Val headed down to grab the toiletries, she shrieked. There was a giant (about 9 inches in diameter) thick black spider crawling on the wall. We dropped everything and jumped on the motorbike at 2am.
We needed gas but still couldn't find a station until 2 nice girls from the 7-eleven drove us to an automatic pump station where you can fill up 24/7. They saved us!

The next issue is that hotels here don't have night shift people. So even though every place had a "room for rent" sign, we couldn't get someone to talk to to rent one to us. Two hours later, on the opposite side of the island, we found a nice, cheap, and clean (Jacob inspected the bed) place to stay.

We woke up the next morning, drove back across the island and got our money back and they paid for our bags to be sent to next hotel. We are returning to Palita Lodge tonight.
Everybody warned us that the trip would have adversity and we would have to see how we would react to it. So we want everyone to know that we survived and came out stronger and we're happier for it.

We also had a day we forgot to write about. It included amazing, cheap outdoor markets, a beautiful sunset at a resort lea showed us, and fresh local fish eaten on a table on a boat at a place called "fisherman's restaurant".

Safari

We also stopped at the safari. They had a 10 month old monkey. But he doesn't like girls so there's only pictures of Jacob.

Val shooting lefty

Then the lady told Val that her eyes are off and that she's really a lefty shot.

Ko phangan and the scooter

The post before was from April 20th
We wrote this post yesterday, April 21st. Just getting them online now.

For 150 baht a day ($6), we are the official owners (renters) of a scooter. Scared of it for day's, we were convinced of its necessity. now we are free to roam about the island, explore its various points, and maybe even move from haad rin.

The bike guy gave us 2 helmets and a tutorial. Now we just need to remember that they ride on the left side of the street here (already forgot that once).

Going out to explore. But after the first 5 minutes of riding, I don't think I ever want to leave.

(note: the above was written this morning. Out of deference to both sets of our worrying Jewish parents, we decided to hold off on posting until scooter day was done).

(cont)
There are no mobile stations in ko phangan (and we're all thankful for that, no offense meant, Lauren), but tonight, this fact almost did us in.

We spent the full day touring around the island. It's huge. It's not the size of a beach town, it's the size of a beach county. We went up the main highway road to try to get to bottle beach, with planned stops a la Lea's great tour guide recommendations. The main road is well paved so we thought it would be the best place to start our trek, and keep getting used to riding. The ride was amazing. Fresh, sea quality air, palm trees and the most amazing views you could ever imagine all around you. I was driving so Val got to soak it all in. We made stops for homemade ice cream made with fresh local ingredients, and at a Chinese church / lookout point (see pic). As you can see, there is sand and bugs flying everywhere when you ride, so we also made a pit stop to buy some authentic blue ray bans for 200 baht. ($7).

We finally made it to bottle beach, but after a few rain showers delayed us (not to worry, that's when we were ice-creaming it up), it was too late to kayak. So we kept going to our final stop: utopia resort. When we got here, we knew we weren't leaving.

Utopia is at the north west end of the island, about 25 km from our original hotel. It looks out over a private inlet and clicks to the east, and long views of the bay to the north and west. High up above a cliff, it's honestly breath taking. We sat for coffee and chatted with three Israelis fresh out of the army, and being us, started asking about the room rates. The guy said he wasn't the manager but could show us the rooms. The first one was incredible. Hard wood floors, Japanese decor, air con and fan and a private balcony overlooking the bay. that's the first floor. the basement has an outdoor shower, outdoor hot tub, and another balcony. We were sure it would be incredibly pricey for here. But maybe a normal price for us. We wanted to know. We walked back and I spoke to the lady. She told me the price: 1300 baht (about $45!!!). I went to share with Val, with the request that she not freak out before I told her the price, because we hadn't even negotiated yet. She smirked, contained herself, and I went back to lock in the room at 1200. A reasonable negotiation performance. Could have been better, could have been worse. But we knew it was still amazing.

So when we finished our coffee, wegot the key and went to the room, and to our surprise, the key did not work! We were confused. We had just negotiated, signed a contract and paid. She gave us the metal key. Why won't it work? Well, she was quoting the price for the regular room all along. And we were talking about the water side suite with jacuzzi. The real price was 2100. (still not bad). But sometimes you get lucky, and we got the room for our price for the night.

2 hours later
Correction: take the hot tub out of the awesome category. We turned it on and an entire ant farm came out of its pipes. Literally, the tub is now an ant cemetery. It's gross. I guess if it seems too good to be true...

Val would now like to talk about inequality. She has the same biological condition that my mother has: sweet skin and blood. All the buggies love her. I have about 5 mosquito bites. They're annoying, but bearable. Val has about 75. She looks like she has the chicken pox. The only thing that seems to frustrate her more than the bites, is the fact that I don't have them. (she denies this in words. But her eyes say otherwise).

Now, back to Exxon Mobil. We took an evening drive to a lookout spot on the west side we'd heard about. Like the rest, it was beautiful. We then found an amazing italian restaurant, il chiochio, run by a real Roman. He speaks in fast italian and makes homemade bread with gobs of garlic, and super thin pizza. ("real pizza doesnt take long to make", he says). It was awesome. And we now have a spot to tell lea, and share a local insight back her way. On the way back, though, we got a little lost. We asked some locals for directions, and they told us to go exactly the wrong way. So an hour later, we finally made it back, with one bar of gas in our little scooter. That will be our first stop tomorrow.

So that's it for tonight. Aiming to go kayaking in bottle beach tmrw. Write more then.

Ps. Sorry that these pics are not in order. We are posting from our phone and iPad and don't have the system down too well.

Val shooting righty

Went to the bow and arrow place to shoot. Haven't done this since we were kids

Bangkok and a trip to ko phangan

Today, we got a few weird looks.

We heard all about this great floating market outside of Bangkok. Our plan was to see it first thing in the morning before our flight. We didn't realize the market was 1.5 hours away so we decided to wake up early and hire a private taxi to drive us there and back so that we wouldn't miss our flight. First thing in the morning, we packed our bags and went down to the concierge to ask where to wait for the taxi. When they heard where we were trying to go by taxi, they gave us a look that said that we had three heads. They said it's too far and too expensive by private taxi. Of course, coming from US rates, we didn't think the amount was that expensive. We felt like Russian oligarchs. So heads held high, we walked outside and waited for the taxi. We saw a police man standing next to the curb, and ask for an opinion on how much the cab would cost. Again, he looked at us like we were crazy Americans. . You're going where? His eyes said. He chuckled as we told him and he walked away. And at that point, we looked at each other and said, "maybe this isn't such a good idea." We walked back into the girls of the desk, and they laughed at us.

We think they felt sorry for us, so finally, they gave us some suggestions of what to do. We said we wanted to see the Royal Palace. We also said that we wanted to see how local life was in Bangkok. They suggested that we take public transportation to get to the palace. So we did. As we waited for the bus at the bus stop, every head in every car seem to turn and look at us with a quizzical look saying, what the heck are you two white people doing? Either way, it was an awesome experience. The bus cost us the equivalent of about $.30 each, and that's because we got the more expensive, fancy bus, with "aircon".

Side note: There are two people that work on each bus in bangkok. The driver, and the toll collector. The toll collector knows exactly who you are, when you got on, and where you're going. She's also quite nice.

As usual, many tuk-tuk drivers blocked our walkway in order to book us. Jacob tried to negotiate with one of them by asking him to pay us 5 baht to drive us. The driver laughed at us, but thought we were funny.

As we were walking the streets, we noticed that Thai massages were about $20 more then what we had experienced the night before. We realized, as we looked into the sky, the Sheraton was only a block away. Location, location, location.

We finally found the ferry and took it down the river to the Royal Palace. When we got off at the royal palace, we attempted to steer away from the crowds and he came across a meditation retreat. We thought it would be fun to try and meditate in Thailand. Apparently, the teacher for foreigners was on vacation. We decided to try and sneak into the local meditation room. We were offered passes and told them that we had minimal experience in meditation. They made me wear a shirt to cover up my skin. We walked upstairs to the meditation room and sat down in front of the big Buddha where everyone else was praying. I sat on a brown cloth and Jacob sat on a white one. When we had meditated sufficiently and we're about to leave a man came up to us and let us know that men were supposed to sit on the brown cloth and women on the white. We felt like idiots. So we switched cloths and then left the meditation room.

On our way out of the center, we almost got had. We met a very nice man with a mustache. He pointed us into a big room with a big Buddha. He told us to go inside. We didn't want to. When we tried to walk away, he started a conversation and asked if we lost. We obviously were. So he pulled us aside and forced us to sit down as he told us all the places in Bangkok that we should see. He seemed like a jovial fellow. He told us how it was a national buddhist holiday. He seemed like he was being so generous because it was a day that he was just trying to do good deeds. And he was telling us all these great places to go. He told us about a great boat ride in Bangkok. He told us about the lucky Buddha. He told us about many other Buddhas. And he then offered to go flag down a took took, and he could probably negotiate a price of 80 baht for All of it. At that point, we told him that we appreciated his insight, but had to go as we were leaving town. He got flustered, very angry, and said "I not stupid. You stupid. I not stupid." It was weird. 20 minutes later, at the Royal Palace, we saw the sign, saying,
"don't trust strangers who offer boat trip, tuk-tuk, lucky buddha". That was close.


We ended up not going into the palace because it was too expensive and we were short on time before or flight We made our flight and then took a Bas from Surat Thani to the pier. At that point, we hopped on the ferry to Ko Phan Gang, The island where we were staying. The ferry was actually really nice and the view was stunning. We watched the sunset over the islands of Thailand. After two hours, we made it to our island and took a taxi to meet Leah, Jacobs cousins friend. Leah pointed us her favorite lodge on haad rin beach. We got a bungalow on the beach. We then met Leah and went to a local party at the secret Garden. We danced the night away. For a late night snack, we went to the famous Mamas schnitzel.


Yesterday we woke up, opened the blinds, and reveled in our bungalow's oceanfront view. We only had 20 feet of pearl white sand separating us from the Gulf of Thailand. We decided to get more acquainted with the island by starting our stay with a 6 hour beach-hopping boat trip on Sababa boat. Leah works for the company and was able to squeeze us on with a group of predominantly Israelis. This was no catamaran, but the wooden long boat had a good motor, a solid roof to jump from, and Israeli flags streaming from the straw canopy cover so we were happy. As we circled the island, we quickly realized there were many beautiful beaches to be explored with wooden bungalows, tents, and resorts lining the shores. Most of the beaches could only be accessed by boat, foot, or 4-wheeler. We snorkeled a reef on our last stop and followed the most gorgeous neon blue fish.

The sun wore us out so we took an essential 2.5 hour nap before we went to the Half Moon Party. We decided every day should include nap time. Luckily, Leah knocking on our door woke us up in time for the party. We joined hundreds of people on the taxi trek into the jungle. Going with Leah meant we were on the guest list (free entry) and got to hang next to the stage with the locals. The entry path into the party was lined with late-night food vendors to our right and fluorescent body painters to our left. The path opened up into an what seemed like a stadium of techno dancers and flame throwers and covered by a giant white snowflake. Fluorescent lit cut-outs hung from the trees and bars encircled the dance area. It felt like we were in someone's dream. As for the demographics of the estimated 1500 party-goers: 95% tourists, 90% under 30, 80% single, <1% doctors, 35% on drugs. We danced the night away until we were dripping sweat and realized everyone around us was swaying back and forth to their own music. That was around 4:30 am. We grabbed a late night plate of Thai noodles and pizza. There was a guy in a Jimmy John's shirt and Val immediately professed her love of JJ.

Thailand at last!

Day 4/2, April 17th, 2013

Today's note will be quicker, because it's 1am and we have to get up to grab a 7am taxi to the floating market tomorrow. So far, I think Took Tooks are our favorite thing, Israeli schedules scare us, and we have decided it's not easy to be kosher here. 

Tuk Tuks = go-cart with professional driver who will pay you to take you somewhere if you pretend to shop at his friend's suit store.

Israeli schedules = "how can you see a country in less than 9 months. 3 countries in 3 weeks??? crazy!"

Kosher Thai food = (well, it doesn't). We were so excited for our first street fare and accidentally saw the Wok of sitting pork and chicken remains that she was going to cook our veggie rice in. Buyer beware. I guess ignorance would have been bliss. We thankfully found another street with other street vendors that believed in cleaning their pots occasionally. :-)

The day has been long and exhausting, but also exciting and eye opening. We landed and made it to the hostel (note: yes, Val, my parents, my cousins, and pretty much everyone was correct that Thailand is cheap and normal people stay in hotels here, not hostels. Lesson learned). (Val still claims she's happy here. Dr. Libby, how do I interperet this?)

We were told that free outdoor Thai Boxing was going to be happening, but it wasn't going on, so we skipped via Tuk Tuk via random Suit Store with "best quality" suits to Khao San Road, the "backpackers ghetto." We were looking for the Israeli Connection, which was closed, but right next door was a string of israeli run travel agencies. they all told us that we're crazy, that we have too many plans, and that we should not ride in Tuk Tuks. To quote a wise woman (VL), "i'm not sure i like israeli planning anymore."

Fully stressed, we decided we needed either a nice dinner, or, better yes, a Thai Massage. As Avinoam would say, "the computer says yes". For a grand total of $4.50 each, we both had a 30 minute full body thai massage. I got the big lady, Val got the "slighter one." Val was jealous. For 30 minutes, my body was cracked, twisted, pulled, broken, stood on, and then massaged. It was fantastic.  Walking out, I felt like Gumby, and I cannot wait for our next round. Only the next time, Val gets the hefty one. 

We did Dinner on the Khao San street at the thai masseuse's recommendation for the most authentic, best thai in the neighborhood. The name of this establishment? The Macaroni Room. "The computer says yes." So there we ate, and sparked a conversation with a young israeli couple on their honeymoon; he's in advertising, she's an actress. so we're going to watch out for her.

Tomorrow we're off for our first day of inner-Southeast Asia travels. So the "live and let live" portion of our trip begins. We're looking forward to it.

Hope all are well in the states and israel. will post pictures when we can.

jacob and val

The trip begins

Day 1, April 16, 2013 (well... Really it's day 3, following Days 1 and 2 of the trip at Morris' 90th birthday celebration in Boynton beach, Florida).

So, actually, let's start with that: Florida. Once Paula had the West Palm Beach airport memorized from Friday's pick-ups, we all settled down for a fun dinner at The Station House.  After a long meal of delicious fish, (sorry alex, we know you wanted that 2.5 lb lobster), Azzy frightening the waitress (only sort of; she got it in the end), and Bubi mistaking Valerie for the waitress (no real commentary needed, Bubi just wanted to give Valerie "a Bubi story" of her own), we retired to catch up on much-needed sleep at the Courtyard Marriott.

Saturdary, also known as Paula's generous TLC day, started with a typical 11am wake up and visit to the gym.  Jacob then went for a brother sister lunch at ihop while I caught up with Jamie Brett Friedman and her 1 yr old beautiful daughter and husband. She was my best friend on Birthright a few years ago and it was so great seeing her.  We then all loaded into the minivan to make a trip to Bubi and Morris' new home at VI, an independent living facility in Florida. Their apartment was beautiful with tall ceilings, a sunroom, Etc. They just moved in 10 days ago, but it already seemed like a comfy home. Adorable baby pictures of Jacob were fun. We then went to the big 90th birthday party at an old 50s diner with poodle skirts and juke boxes.  We had the big banquet room with a bar, a lovely electronic keyboard player, and about 12 seated tables.  Delicious hor d'ourves walked around the room (including perogies!). It was great meeting all the cousins who flew in from California.  I was gladly passed the "new to the family" baton. Dinner and cake followed.  The speeches for Morris were touching and it was clear he is very loved and respected within the family. The cousins created a song to "the brandy bunch" theme song.  It was cute and I loved being included.  Morris' speech was mostly about how much he loved Bubi and how lucky he felt to have her.  So sweet.

We left the party, went to Pinky to pick up Jacobs new, sweet (and Men's) backpacking bag from his cousin, Alex, and headed home.  It was time for Paula and Val TLC time while Jacob had a brother sister meeting.  Paula and I went to Marshall's and limed up the cutest baby clothes for friends and family in Israel.  I then dragged her across the street for a frozen yogurt date.  I've decided the best way to bond is over yogurt;) Jacob loved hanging out with his brother and sister. We all gathered in Paul and Azzy's room for relaxed family time and a great conclusion to the day. I got an Adorable Dr. suess book from Dave's family that I can't wait to read!!!!

The next morning we left for NYC- LGA.  We quickly got off the plane, noticed that they had left my luggage behind (again Lga...this is becoming a thing...), then found my lost luggage which they had conveniently forgot to put on the belt, and headed to meet the contracted/builder for Jacob's Queens apartment.  It's so beautiful and Jacob is going to have such an awesome home! Hopefully, the work will be ready when we return.  We then picked up Eric on the way to the airport because he is using Jacobs car while we are away. We boarded the flight to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam day (aka "spend all the money for your trip in one day" day, aka April 17th, or so we're told). After a long and completely-restless-trip-partially-due-to-excitement and partially-due-to-too-much-light-in-the-cabin, and mostly due to watching django unchained, which kept us thinking and awake (and is HIGHLY recommended), we arrived into AMS.  It was only 6am, but we beelined for the train station and hopped on the hi-speed train to Amsterdam Centraal, their version of Union Station.  This took us to the epicenter of 6'5-blondes-in-suits-riding-old-bikes on their way to work. It was very interesting!  How do they make people that big???

 

Anyways we walked a few cobblestone streets away looking for some breakfast and fortuitously we stumbled upon a corner cafe called "Engligh Breakfast." Now, please be aware, we did attempt to go everywhere except the place called "english breakfast," but it was honestly the only place open. and lucky for us! Our waitress turned out to be the best city insider in the city. who needs lonely planet? She started with directing us to the bike rental shop. Game changer- everyone should rent a bike in Amsterdam. We rode around the city about 5 times throughout the day and saw so much more than we would have otherwise. Not to mention, we felt like gorgeous tall blonde Dutch people. We attempted the tandem bike (way harder than you would think) and quickly made a u-turn to pick up 2 individual cruisers. We rode through the canal streets to the Anne Frank house where long "cues" of people awaited entry. Since Jacob's last visit, they had expanded the exhibit to the neighboring row houses and it was amazing how popular this stop was. Actually, Jacob said one of his favorite parts of the day was seeing that when asked what we should do in our One Day in Amsterdam, 2 (seemingly non-Jewish) dutchman responded to go to the Anne Frank house. Very nice.   We saw the Secret Annex and reminded ourselves of this young girls story. she had 3 floors in comparison to Bubi's closet to hide in. Jacob had to keep reminding me that, even though  this was not a competition. after having recently read Bubi's memoir, I couldn't help but compare one to the other. 

 

We then went to a recommended coffee shop, Dampkring for awhile. We biked around the city and saw the Grand Palace then parked and went for an unforgettable stroll through the red light district. Windows of women eating their lunch, putting on makeup, and stretching their legs for the night shift made for quite the show. Signs of live porno shows and underage teens lined the streets. It was interesting, but within about 10 minutes we were ready to leave the red light district.  We made ourselves comfortable and passed out for a few minutes on the couches of the beautiful Krasnapolsky hotel. We saw the most spectacular garden room. Then, on our 3rd attempt of the day (it was closed the first two times), we walked down the side alley of the hotel and found the highly recommended Wynand Vockink bar and distillery.  A very old world bar with standing room only. We partook in a short juniver gin tasting which was very sweet and syrupy but interesting (Thanks, Prof David). We concluded our great day lounging, shmoozing with locals, and eating on the outside patio beds of a cute cafe.

The next stop was Israel.  We took a short 4-hour flight and landed in Tel Aviv.  Greeted at the baggage claim with "Yom Hatzma-ut" or happy holiday because of Israeli Independence Day.  Typically the day is full of beachside barbecues and parties and no one works. It was the perfect day for us to be in Israel, especially because the day before was a day of remembrance and mourning.  Anyways, since we arrivedat 2:30 am we decided to take a taxi for Jacobs' parent's apartment in tel aviv called Kfar Maccabiah, the hotel of the Maccabiah games with incredible athletic facilities, etc. When they aren't using their apartment, the hotel rents out their rooms.  It's gorgeous and exactly what we needed after so much traveling. We woke up 6 hours later and ran down to an enormous Israeli breakfast buffet.   lots of Israeli salads and cheese.  salad for breakfast!

We then took showers and packed up for our day trip to the South.  At precisely 11 am, The infamous Avinoam, Jacob's second cousin,  knocked on our door.  Dressed in high fashion, with a British accent, and a knapsack across his body, he greeted us with many compliments and smiles.  He has traveled to Thailand many times and was very excited for our upcoming trip.  He drove us down to Jacobs' family's Kibbutz Dvir about 45 min south of Tel Aviv.  When we arrived at the Kibbutz we were greeted with a huge Kosher barbecue with lots of Jacob's cousins.  Brit, who helped us arrange the flights from Israel to Thailand , was so great and her 10-month old baby, Haleli, was adorable.  We brought lots of cute clothes for her.  Brits sister, Eden, drove in from Jerusalem that day with her husband and they were very cool.  Their other younger sister, Tahal, and brother, Ufaz, were practicing their English for their upcoming trip to NY in August.  A very warm family, gathered around great food on the patio created a great day for us.  They gave us a tour around the kibbutz including the factory where they manufacture plastic shipping crates, chicken farm, dairy farm, grounds where the music and festival were going to take place later in the day, and Brit and her husband's new home.  We concluded with a few minutes of relaxing in Brit's parents house, Yossi and Dalia, the daughter of Azzy's older brother. They had a beautiful home and Yossi made homemade cake and the most delicious espresso.   They also had incredible homemade olive bread. We all gathered around the table and shared stories and laughed as Baby Haleli danced herself silly. I felt really comfortable here.

We left and went to a smaller city on the way to the airport where Jacob's uncle Moshe lives. Moshe is the most adorable, sweet, kind man and kept saying this was the best part of his holiday- seeing us.  We chatted over coffee and biscuits and he showed us the many pictures all over his walls of Jacob and his siblings growing up.  We had to leave to make our flight to Bangkok, but it was not without dancing to Avinoam's lovely collection of electronic music. When we got to the airport, there was an incredibly long line for check-in but luckily Avinoam walked us through the empty Israeli line.   We were questioned on things like "how long have you been together? Why don't you live with each other? Where did you go to Hebrew school? When do you attend synagogue? What is your rabbis name?" Thank goodness we both passed! Then we said bye to our wonderful tour guide, Avinoam,, and went into the terminal in search of Jacob's favorite- pargiot (baby chicken) in a pita.  Also, Avi connected us with his friend that lives on Kho Pa Ngan, an island in Thailand we are visiting soon. So great to have someone local to point us in the right direction.

Now we are on the flight to Bangkok and will check back soon! I think ive had 20 meals in the last 3 days because of all the flights and time changes, but Im ok with that.  We love and miss you and our thoughts and prayers are with those in Boston.

The trip begins

Day 1, April 16, 2013 (well... Really it's day 3, following Days 1 and 2 of the trip at Morris' 90th birthday celebration in Boynton beach, Florida).

So, actually, let's start with that: Florida. Once Paula had the West Palm Beach airport memorized from Friday's pick-ups, we all settled down for a fun dinner at The Station House.  After a long meal of delicious fish, (sorry alex, we know you wanted that 2.5 lb lobster), Azzy frightening the waitress (only sort of; she got it in the end), and Bubi mistaking Valerie for the waitress (no real commentary needed, Bubi just wanted to give Valerie "a Bubi story" of her own), we retired to catch up on much-needed sleep at the Courtyard Marriott.

Saturdary, also known as Paula's generous TLC day, started with a typical 11am wake up and visit to the gym.  Jacob then went for a brother sister lunch at ihop while I caught up with Jamie Brett Friedman and her 1 yr old beautiful daughter and husband. She was my best friend on Birthright a few years ago and it was so great seeing her.  We then all loaded into the minivan to make a trip to Bubi and Morris' new home at VI, an independent living facility in Florida. Their apartment was beautiful with tall ceilings, a sunroom, Etc. They just moved in 10 days ago, but it already seemed like a comfy home. Adorable baby pictures of Jacob were fun. We then went to the big 90th birthday party at an old 50s diner with poodle skirts and juke boxes.  We had the big banquet room with a bar, a lovely electronic keyboard player, and about 12 seated tables.  Delicious hor d'ourves walked around the room (including perogies!). It was great meeting all the cousins who flew in from California.  I was gladly passed the "new to the family" baton. Dinner and cake followed.  The speeches for Morris were touching and it was clear he is very loved and respected within the family. The cousins created a song to "the brandy bunch" theme song.  It was cute and I loved being included.  Morris' speech was mostly about how much he loved Bubi and how lucky he felt to have her.  So sweet.

We left the party, went to Pinky to pick up Jacobs new, sweet (and Men's) backpacking bag from his cousin, Alex, and headed home.  It was time for Paula and Val TLC time while Jacob had a brother sister meeting.  Paula and I went to Marshall's and limed up the cutest baby clothes for friends and family in Israel.  I then dragged her across the street for a frozen yogurt date.  I've decided the best way to bond is over yogurt;) Jacob loved hanging out with his brother and sister. We all gathered in Paul and Azzy's room for relaxed family time and a great conclusion to the day. I got an Adorable Dr. suess book from Dave's family that I can't wait to read!!!!

The next morning we left for NYC- LGA.  We quickly got off the plane, noticed that they had left my luggage behind (again Lga...this is becoming a thing...), then found my lost luggage which they had conveniently forgot to put on the belt, and headed to meet the contracted/builder for Jacob's Queens apartment.  It's so beautiful and Jacob is going to have such an awesome home! Hopefully, the work will be ready when we return.  We then picked up Eric on the way to the airport because he is using Jacobs car while we are away. We boarded the flight to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam day (aka "spend all the money for your trip in one day" day, aka April 17th, or so we're told). After a long and completely-restless-trip-partially-due-to-excitement and partially-due-to-too-much-light-in-the-cabin, and mostly due to watching django unchained, which kept us thinking and awake (and is HIGHLY recommended), we arrived into AMS.  It was only 6am, but we beelined for the train station and hopped on the hi-speed train to Amsterdam Centraal, their version of Union Station.  This took us to the epicenter of 6'5-blondes-in-suits-riding-old-bikes on their way to work. It was very interesting!  How do they make people that big???

 

Anyways we walked a few cobblestone streets away looking for some breakfast and fortuitously we stumbled upon a corner cafe called "Engligh Breakfast." Now, please be aware, we did attempt to go everywhere except the place called "english breakfast," but it was honestly the only place open. and lucky for us! Our waitress turned out to be the best city insider in the city. who needs lonely planet? She started with directing us to the bike rental shop. Game changer- everyone should rent a bike in Amsterdam. We rode around the city about 5 times throughout the day and saw so much more than we would have otherwise. Not to mention, we felt like gorgeous tall blonde Dutch people. We attempted the tandem bike (way harder than you would think) and quickly made a u-turn to pick up 2 individual cruisers. We rode through the canal streets to the Anne Frank house where long "cues" of people awaited entry. Since Jacob's last visit, they had expanded the exhibit to the neighboring row houses and it was amazing how popular this stop was. Actually, Jacob said one of his favorite parts of the day was seeing that when asked what we should do in our One Day in Amsterdam, 2 (seemingly non-Jewish) dutchman responded to go to the Anne Frank house. Very nice.   We saw the Secret Annex and reminded ourselves of this young girls story. she had 3 floors in comparison to Bubi's closet to hide in. Jacob had to keep reminding me that, even though  this was not a competition. after having recently read Bubi's memoir, I couldn't help but compare one to the other. 

 

We then went to a recommended coffee shop, Dampkring for awhile. We biked around the city and saw the Grand Palace then parked and went for an unforgettable stroll through the red light district. Windows of women eating their lunch, putting on makeup, and stretching their legs for the night shift made for quite the show. Signs of live porno shows and underage teens lined the streets. It was interesting, but within about 10 minutes we were ready to leave the red light district.  We made ourselves comfortable and passed out for a few minutes on the couches of the beautiful Krasnapolsky hotel. We saw the most spectacular garden room. Then, on our 3rd attempt of the day (it was closed the first two times), we walked down the side alley of the hotel and found the highly recommended Wynand Vockink bar and distillery.  A very old world bar with standing room only. We partook in a short juniver gin tasting which was very sweet and syrupy but interesting (Thanks, Prof David). We concluded our great day lounging, shmoozing with locals, and eating on the outside patio beds of a cute cafe.

The next stop was Israel.  We took a short 4-hour flight and landed in Tel Aviv.  Greeted at the baggage claim with "Yom Hatzma-ut" or happy holiday because of Israeli Independence Day.  Typically the day is full of beachside barbecues and parties and no one works. It was the perfect day for us to be in Israel, especially because the day before was a day of remembrance and mourning.  Anyways, since we arrivedat 2:30 am we decided to take a taxi for Jacobs' parent's apartment in tel aviv called Kfar Maccabiah, the hotel of the Maccabiah games with incredible athletic facilities, etc. When they aren't using their apartment, the hotel rents out their rooms.  It's gorgeous and exactly what we needed after so much traveling. We woke up 6 hours later and ran down to an enormous Israeli breakfast buffet.   lots of Israeli salads and cheese.  salad for breakfast!

We then took showers and packed up for our day trip to the South.  At precisely 11 am, The infamous Avinoam, Jacob's second cousin,  knocked on our door.  Dressed in high fashion, with a British accent, and a knapsack across his body, he greeted us with many compliments and smiles.  He has traveled to Thailand many times and was very excited for our upcoming trip.  He drove us down to Jacobs' family's Kibbutz Dvir about 45 min south of Tel Aviv.  When we arrived at the Kibbutz we were greeted with a huge Kosher barbecue with lots of Jacob's cousins.  Brit, who helped us arrange the flights from Israel to Thailand , was so great and her 10-month old baby, Haleli, was adorable.  We brought lots of cute clothes for her.  Brits sister, Eden, drove in from Jerusalem that day with her husband and they were very cool.  Their other younger sister, Tahal, and brother, Ufaz, were practicing their English for their upcoming trip to NY in August.  A very warm family, gathered around great food on the patio created a great day for us.  They gave us a tour around the kibbutz including the factory where they manufacture plastic shipping crates, chicken farm, dairy farm, grounds where the music and festival were going to take place later in the day, and Brit and her husband's new home.  We concluded with a few minutes of relaxing in Brit's parents house, Yossi and Dalia, the daughter of Azzy's older brother. They had a beautiful home and Yossi made homemade cake and the most delicious espresso.   They also had incredible homemade olive bread. We all gathered around the table and shared stories and laughed as Baby Haleli danced herself silly. I felt really comfortable here.

We left and went to a smaller city on the way to the airport where Jacob's uncle Moshe lives. Moshe is the most adorable, sweet, kind man and kept saying this was the best part of his holiday- seeing us.  We chatted over coffee and biscuits and he showed us the many pictures all over his walls of Jacob and his siblings growing up.  We had to leave to make our flight to Bangkok, but it was not without dancing to Avinoam's lovely collection of electronic music. When we got to the airport, there was an incredibly long line for check-in but luckily Avinoam walked us through the empty Israeli line.   We were questioned on things like "how long have you been together? Why don't you live with each other? Where did you go to Hebrew school? When do you attend synagogue? What is your rabbis name?" Thank goodness we both passed! Then we said bye to our wonderful tour guide, Avinoam,, and went into the terminal in search of Jacob's favorite- pargiot (baby chicken) in a pita.  Also, Avi connected us with his friend that lives on Kho Pa Ngan, an island in Thailand we are visiting soon. So great to have someone local to point us in the right direction.

Now we are on the flight to Bangkok and will check back soon! I think ive had 20 meals in the last 3 days because of all the flights and time changes, but Im ok with that.  We love and miss you and our thoughts and prayers are with those in Boston.