Friends and Family,
We had a 3 day journey that was sold to us as the most beautiful boat
ride in south east Asia from Chaing Mai to Luang Prabang in Laos.
Although the journey was gorgeous, after 2 hours Mike was beyond bored
and we had many hours of travel ahead of us. The main part of the
problem was that they overloaded these boats that were supposed to
contain 60 people, with more like 120 people and cargo. It was quite
an experience. There were bodies strewn haphazardly on the floor and
thank goodness there was a breeze so I have no need to discuss the
possible odors created by too many bodies and foreign cargo amongst which were live chicken, a motor scooter, wooden planks and I‘ll leave the rest to your imagination.
We were thrilled to arrive in Luang Prabang and had only an hour
before Shabbat to secure a room, and get ourselves organized. When we
had originally booked the trip we'd thought there was a Chabad that
would be our focal point but alas, after some government objection,
there is no longer a Chabad house in Laos. So armed with a massive
pack of matzah and a bottle of kiddush wine we were prepared for our
solo Shabbat. We made it in the nick of time.
Shabbat turned out to be a fine rest for our weary, well traveled
bones and it was wonderful to rest in the luxury of our air
conditioned guesthouse. They were nice enough to include water, lao
coffee (delicious black, and does not even need any sweetening) and
bananas every morning.
On Sunday we hired a scooter and went off to explore the area. Their
large waterfall Kuang Si was exceptional. Its a series of falls, with
a few crystal blue pools to swim in on the way. We enjoyed our clamber
and were flabbergasted by the final falls, that were enormous in their
height and breathtaking in the way they meandered and created various
falls all in one. We got very lost and got to explore more countryside
getting back to town. We had very sore tushies by the time we finally arrived at our guesthouse.
The next morning we flew off to Cambodia. The airport in Luang Prabang
is probably the smallest I've ever been to. It has 5 connections. Laos
is counted as one of the 50 least developed countries in the world.
However, the people were exceptionally kind and welcoming.
We were impressed by Cambodian efficiency and their professional
handling of tourists as we arrived in Seim Riep. We hit a block though
when they took us down the typical tourist trap path which we did not
want to go on. Once we found our sea legs and figured out what we
wanted to do, things got less confusing. The people here are desperate for work and to earn money and try hard to sell pretty much anything, but many services are available and they know how to make things nice.
We spent the day wandering the temples at Angor Wat. We were up at
4:30am to be able to see sunrise at the main Angor Wat temple. It was absolutely worth it. We got hot coffee and chairs from a cute Cambodian who introduced himself as Rambo and we then witnessed the sky brightening with Angor Wat reflected in the nearby pond. Truly tremendous.
We also had some frustrating moments getting nickled and dimed.
Cambodia charges an exit tax of $25. We thought that was pretty
skeezy. An entry visa of $20 I understand and we paid without
complaint, but a $25 "passenger service charge" upon exit?? as Mike
said, what exactly was the service?
Anyway, we're back in Bangkok for Shabbat and we want to wish you all
a Good Shabbos.
We had a 3 day journey that was sold to us as the most beautiful boat
ride in south east Asia from Chaing Mai to Luang Prabang in Laos.
Although the journey was gorgeous, after 2 hours Mike was beyond bored
and we had many hours of travel ahead of us. The main part of the
problem was that they overloaded these boats that were supposed to
contain 60 people, with more like 120 people and cargo. It was quite
an experience. There were bodies strewn haphazardly on the floor and
thank goodness there was a breeze so I have no need to discuss the
possible odors created by too many bodies and foreign cargo amongst which were live chicken, a motor scooter, wooden planks and I‘ll leave the rest to your imagination.
We were thrilled to arrive in Luang Prabang and had only an hour
before Shabbat to secure a room, and get ourselves organized. When we
had originally booked the trip we'd thought there was a Chabad that
would be our focal point but alas, after some government objection,
there is no longer a Chabad house in Laos. So armed with a massive
pack of matzah and a bottle of kiddush wine we were prepared for our
solo Shabbat. We made it in the nick of time.
Shabbat turned out to be a fine rest for our weary, well traveled
bones and it was wonderful to rest in the luxury of our air
conditioned guesthouse. They were nice enough to include water, lao
coffee (delicious black, and does not even need any sweetening) and
bananas every morning.
On Sunday we hired a scooter and went off to explore the area. Their
large waterfall Kuang Si was exceptional. Its a series of falls, with
a few crystal blue pools to swim in on the way. We enjoyed our clamber
and were flabbergasted by the final falls, that were enormous in their
height and breathtaking in the way they meandered and created various
falls all in one. We got very lost and got to explore more countryside
getting back to town. We had very sore tushies by the time we finally arrived at our guesthouse.
The next morning we flew off to Cambodia. The airport in Luang Prabang
is probably the smallest I've ever been to. It has 5 connections. Laos
is counted as one of the 50 least developed countries in the world.
However, the people were exceptionally kind and welcoming.
We were impressed by Cambodian efficiency and their professional
handling of tourists as we arrived in Seim Riep. We hit a block though
when they took us down the typical tourist trap path which we did not
want to go on. Once we found our sea legs and figured out what we
wanted to do, things got less confusing. The people here are desperate for work and to earn money and try hard to sell pretty much anything, but many services are available and they know how to make things nice.
We spent the day wandering the temples at Angor Wat. We were up at
4:30am to be able to see sunrise at the main Angor Wat temple. It was absolutely worth it. We got hot coffee and chairs from a cute Cambodian who introduced himself as Rambo and we then witnessed the sky brightening with Angor Wat reflected in the nearby pond. Truly tremendous.
We also had some frustrating moments getting nickled and dimed.
Cambodia charges an exit tax of $25. We thought that was pretty
skeezy. An entry visa of $20 I understand and we paid without
complaint, but a $25 "passenger service charge" upon exit?? as Mike
said, what exactly was the service?
Anyway, we're back in Bangkok for Shabbat and we want to wish you all
a Good Shabbos.
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