a wayfarer's prayer

home

2008-07-09T20:30:00.012+05:30

if home is where the heart is, then where are we?

it has been two weeks since cara and i arrived back in the good 'ol U.S of A. and it's been a whirlwind. after landing at JFK at 5:00 a.m, we hit the ground running and ended up looking at two apartments for rent that same day!

the good news is that after inspecting more than 30 flats, most depressingly small and expensive, we found the perfect space at 38 W74th St. it's a nice duplex with a small third floor loft and patio and it's about fifty steps from central park. steven spielberg, steve martin, and bono live next door and i'm sure that they are just thrilled to have us in the neighborhood. i kind of feel like i'm crashing some aristocratic, hamptons party every time i walk home from the subway.

but just where is home? where are our hearts? new york? winnipeg? pittsburgh? india? laos?

thinking back over the last 10 months makes your head spin. so many new friends. so many beds. so many places seen. so much learned. so much of our love and energy spread around so much of this blessed world.

maybe tom waits has it right when he sings:

"oh, but anywhere i'm gonna lay my head, i'm gonna call my home."

so, here's to our newest home - 38 W 74th St - and to all the homes we've had along the way.

... and here's a special toast and tip of the hat to all the homes we will make - G-d willing - in the years to come

life is so much better than good.

delhi

2008-06-17T15:43:00.005+05:30

delhi gets a bum rap.

people seem to think of delhi as one of the armpits of india; a megalopolis to be avoided at all costs. but as we've discovered over the last many months of passing through, delhi is anything but.

it is a city to be discovered slowly, uncovering wonderous neighborhoods and sights as if by accident. who knew that delhi has more and greener parks than almost any big asian city ? who knew that delhi is the poster child for clean air reclamation in light of the fact that all rickshaws and the entire bus system are now powered entirely by compressed natural gas? who knew that delhi now has one of the most useful and well-designed subway systems in asia?

not us.

and so, our love affair continues.

as cara and i prepare to fly to NYC this evening, we are already mourning our departure from this beautiful and magical land. surely we are changed forever and so is she - this mighty subcontinent.

and as if to symbolize the pain of loss we will each feel in our absence, the monsoon arrived on sunday - the earliest it's ever begun in recorded history.

so, as the warm, insistent rain falls on this sacred land and her people, the symbolism is not lost on us.

...as we walk the final steps of this journey and prepare to return to north america, india is crying for us and we for her.

kashmir

2008-06-14T18:46:00.020+05:30

pahalgam

"Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My shangri-la beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that floats high and true, when movin through kashmir."

-led zeppelin "kashmir"

lo and behold, paradise does exist in kashmir and its name is Pahalgam.

only a three hour drive up into the mountains from srinagar, pahalgam is probably the sort of place that jimmy page and robert plant had in mind when they wrote their ode to this magical land.

the Lidder river rages through the greenest meadows and biggest forests that we've seen in asia. sheep herders walk their flocks over the hills and through the trees. we pass time sitting in a small village home sipping the green tea, cardamom and ground almonds that is served to us - complete strangers who just happened to walk by.

surely this is the mythic paradise of kashmir.

the cross roads between north and south, east and west; land of the most beautiful and mysterious eyes in the world; a shangri-la battered and bruised, but still glowing after decades of war.

and as the song goes...

da da dum, da da dum da, da da dum, da da dum da, da da dum, da da dum da, da da dum, da da dum da, da da dum...

"oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream.
i am a traveller of both time and space, to be where i have been.
to sit with elders of thegentle race, this world has seldom seen.
they talk of days for which they sit and wait, and all will be revealed."

a tale of two cities

2008-06-13T22:30:00.007+05:30

chillin' in srinagar

first there was Leh. it was all warm and fuzzy and buddhist. smiling, shining tibetans. gentle monasteries filled with sweet incense smoke and gently chanting monks.

even the rickshaw drivers are honest to a fault, with their wide, toothy smiles and stickers of H.H. Dalia Lama on the windshield.

no place could be more peaceful and no people could be sweeter.

...and then there is Srinagar.

immediately we are greeted by submachine guns and armored personnel carriers. literally thousands of indian soldiers line the streets, some even have their faces covered by black bandanas. there are more rifles than purses on people's shoulders and everyone is on edge.

of course lake Dal is beautiful and there is nothing like a shikara (canoe ride) around it's floating markets and vegetable gardens. but, the army special forces that are hiding behind every plant, bush and tree are a bit of downer.

i'm not sure why people don't smile much in srinagar. maybe it's because of the fact that they have been forced to endure a brutal war for the better part of the last 50 years.

... or maybe it's because half of the women are covered head to foot in black burkas.

whatever the reason, srinagar gives me the creeps.

photos out of time

2008-06-08T10:36:00.007+05:30

Ladakhi still life

Leh

last light - Nubra Valley

crayola - Zanskar Range

Thiksey Gompa, Ladakh

a place out of time

2008-06-08T10:12:00.005+05:30

prayers on the wind

if you really want to get away, there are few places as away as Ladakh.

we were transported to a place out of time, where the sights and sounds echo through the centuries. safron robed Tibetan and Ladakhi monks living in high mountain gompas (monastaries); precarious roads - the highest in the world - cut through rough-hewn, himalayan granite; the sun rising over the Karkorum range, Pakistan and the most imposing summit in the world - K2; double-humped camels still walking the sands of the former Silk Road through the Nubra Valley; the space, the silence, the thin, crisp air...

the magic of it all.

may we carry it with us forever.

dreaming of fresh fruit...

2008-05-30T11:13:00.006+05:30

while in the mountains of Ladakh

dragon fruit

(both photos taken in hanoi, vietnam)

a few more photos while you wait

2008-05-23T16:14:00.009+05:30

internet is spotty at best in Ladakh, so i hope these photos tide you over for a while.

bangles galore

prayer wall with blue sheep skull

preparing for aarti (evening prayers) - varanasi

mani stone - annapurna region of nepal

holy men (sadhus) on the ganges river - varanasi

la la ladakh

2008-05-23T16:14:00.004+05:30

cara and i just arrived back in delhi yesterday and tomorrow morning we are flying north to ladakh.

ladakh is a region in the indian state of Kashmir which is bordered by Tibet to the east, Lahaul and Spiti to the south, the Vale of Kashmir and Jammu to the west, and across the Karakoram Mountains to east Turkistan and central Asia in the north.

formerly a major stop on the "silk road" between central and south asia, Ladakh is one of the highest plateaus in the world and few people realize that it is geographicaly part of the tibetan plateau. because of this fact and because Ladakhi culture is primarily Tibetan, it is often referred to as "little Tibet."

it has been a dream of ours for years to travel to ladakh and it's hard to believe that we'll be there tomorrow!

..after all, this is our final "victory lap" around india.

from Ladakh and Leh we will work our way over-land through Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and finally back to delhi.

and from delhi we'll be working our way to the new second avenue deli in nyc!

make it a matzah ball soup and extra-lean corned beef on rye for me, please.

buddha's birthday in buddha's house

2008-05-21T16:27:00.006+05:30

i forgot to mention that yesterday was Buddha's birthday, and for those of you who don't know, nepal is where buddha was born.

Baishakh Purnima, as the day is referred to here, is celebrated by lighting candles, spinning prayer wheels, and of course, as is the case with all good holidays, eating lots of food.

we climbed up to Swayambunath and walked in circles around Bodhnath - the two holiest buddhist sites in kathmandu - as people crowded, chanted and danced all around us.

we stood in ancient Gompas and listened to safron-robed monks chant and blow conch shells as the devout smiled and celebrated.

we took everything in with big smiles and wide eyes and cara couldn't believe that this was actually her second Baishakh Purnima in nepal!

yet another birthday to remember.

you go, buddha.

keep those home fires burnin'

2008-05-21T14:05:00.005+05:30

it's official. we just purchased our return tickets to the states!

as hard as it is for us to believe that we've been on the road for nearly nine months, it's even harder for us to contemplate even a fraction of what we've experienced and learned during this journey.

but, it's almost time to come home.

we'll be landing in NYC on the morning of july 3rd, just in time for some cold beer, some baseball and the 4th of july!

and who knows, perhaps the irish novelist, george augustes moore, was right when he wrote,

"a man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it"

see you soon!!!

trek itinerary

2008-05-21T13:43:00.002+05:30

for those who are interested, here are the specifics:

besi sahar>
kudi>
ghermu>
tal>
timang>
chame>
pisang>
braga>
manang>
telicho base camp>
khangshar>
yak kharka>
thorung phedi>
muktinath>
marpha>
larjung>
ghasa>
tatopani>
beni>
pokhara

a few photos while you wait...

2008-05-20T16:33:00.011+05:30

holy shit! where's the trail?!

cara goes up and up and away...

speechless

love on the pass

making apple brandy in marpha, mustang

Coming down the mountain

2008-05-20T11:12:00.006+05:30

on the way to tilicho lake

i realize that i have been AWOL from this blog for slightly over a month, but i promise i have a very good excuse.

as you already know, cara and i spent a few weeks, 21 days altogether, sauntering through the himalaya. no, not hiking, sauntering. for in the immortal words of one of my heroes, john muir, the great scottish philosopher/naturalist and father of america's national park system:

"Hiking - I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them mindlessly. "

amen, john.

...and, just for the record, cara and i just sauntered our asses off.

on the treacherous trail to tilicho tal, at 4,945 meters/16,138 feet and the highest lake in the world. over the completely snow-covered 5,413 meter/17,769 foot thorong la pass. through the imposing manang valley and the mysterious lands of southern mustang.

for days and weeks we strolled through villages and gompas (buddhist temples) and turned prayer wheels along the side of the trail. we lived with the sounds of the marysangdi and kali gandhaki rivers as we first hiked up one all the way to it's source and then down the other from where it began as a tricklet to the raging torrent it became below.

we lived in the granite and amongst the peaks of the himal (nepal for "snow-covered") for almost an entire lunar cycle. and while i'm writing about the granite and peaks of the himalaya, how's this for a fun fact:

to comprehend the enormous scale of the himalaya mountain range, consider that Aconcagua, in the Andes, at 6,962 meters is the highest peak outside asia, while the himalayan range includes more than 100 mountains over 7,200 meters!

now that's big.

but weren't we afraid at times? wasn't the new trail to telicho lake (the previous two "easier" trails were demolished by landslides) so insanely, out-of-control, precipitously steep and dangerous that even our gurkha guide said he'd never go back?

yes, but i think that mr muir was also largely right when he preached,

"to fear not, therefore, to try the mountain passes. they will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action. even the sick should try these so-called dangerous passes, because for every unfortunate they kill, they cure a thousand."

but what does that say about an ounce of prevention?

one year on...

2008-04-19T13:18:00.002+05:30

while cara and i are in the mountains, my mom's yartzheit - the anniversary of her death according to the jewish (lunar) calendar - will take place.

my mamma died the day after passover last year, which is unsurprisingly appropriate for a woman who had such love for family and friends, particularly since the observance of passover may revolve more around family and friends than any other jewish holiday.

we all have so many memories of gathering together around crowded tables while my dad led the seder and mom did everything else.

she was in her element, she was in her glory and...

she will never be forgotten.

i love you, lady.

pesach in kathmandu

2008-04-19T13:01:00.003+05:30

tonight we will be participating in a seder with 1,500 people in kathmandu, nepal!

chabad is organizing the event and i can't imagine the scene. one of the world's biggest seders in kathmandu - a city with no indigenous jews?! talk about an incongruity.

trust that i will have much to say about pesach in nepal, but it will have to wait for a few weeks.
cara and i are leaving monday for a 24 day (or so) trek around the Annapurna circuit - or literally, the Annapurna himalayan range. the walk is about 300 km's in total and hopeful it will also take us to lake tilicho - the highest lake in the world- and up and over Thorung La Pass.
at 17, 769 ft, Thorung La is the highest mountain pass in the world.

for us there are few more appropriate or meaningful ways to observe passover and contemplate the underlying meaning of the ritual than by hiking in the wilderness.

so, until the second half of may when we return from the mountains, we wish all our jewish friends and family a happy Pesach and everybody a good life!

110 degrees in the shade

2008-04-19T12:32:00.003+05:30

after many hugs and laughs my dad finally had his wish come true and he got to ride in an old Ambasador car on the way to the airport.

cara and i were sad to see pops go, but we couldn't have imagined a better indian rendezvous, for him or for us.

along with my dad, we also said goodbye to our 5 star accomadation in benares. although this hotel was an exception on a trip where, more often than not, we stayed in modest lodgings, we all certainly enjoyed the regal ammenities at the taj ganges after days (and in our case months) on the road.

and we couldn't have picked a worse time to downscale.

our move to the old city coincided with a heat wave hitting benares. temps hovered aroud 110 degrees in the shade. the breeze was AWOL and the city was crippled with nearly continuous power outages.

the air was filled with soot and ash and smoke from diesel generators. the Navratri festival brought tens of thousands of hindu pilgrims to the river and the thousands of Shiva temples which line its banks.

there was no room to move. there was no air to breathe. we didn't even open the windows of our non AC room because the waves of heat they let in when ajar was worse than the simmering heat they trapped in the room when closed.

and forget about going outside. our one sojourn of the day (aside from very brief forays) was from 6:00 am until about 7:30 am. by 8:30 we were already sweating through our clothes.

what the f%$&?!

our throats became scratchier by the minute. we each literally sneezed 50 times a day and ten times at once (hello yee!). the air quality could not have been worse. our sinuses were clogged and our noses blew black grime. the floor of our room was not fit for bare feet and we were covered in dust and wrapped in spider webs.

and then on our last day before leaving for kathmandu, nepal, we counted every penny, debated the issue for about 15 seconds...

and then ran for the Taj Ganges!

the city of light

2008-04-19T11:49:00.003+05:30

from agra, the three of us boarded a night train to benares. as we stood in the dark at a small station about 30 km outside of agra my dad summed up the scene perfectly. He referred to it as something "straight out of a Dickens novel!" talk about painting a picture with words!

cara and i had long since thought benares, or varanasi as the city is called today, would be the perfect bookend for my dad's first trip to india.

after all, benares is the religious, spiritual and historical center of this great subcontinent.

considered by some to be the "oldest living city in the world," benares is the birthplace of hinduism and budhism and undoubtedly one of the most palpably spirtual places on earth.

much like jerusalem, the city oozes antiquity. walking the narrow, stone streets of the old city, as thousands of faithful bathe in their holy river ganges and funeral pyres burn all day and night, is to be transported to a very different world from the one back home.

as we each lit small, butter candles for my mother and set them afloat on the ganges with rose petals and marigolds in bowls made of dry leaves, words were pointless.

instead, we listened to the cacophany of ringing bells signaling the evening, hindu aarti prayers taking place on the ghats (the steps which line the river).

the hindu priests slowly twirled brass pots of flaming ghee (clarified butter) as we gently floated down the ganga enveloped in the timelessness of the moment.

if i were to hazard a guess, i would say that none of the three of us will ever forget this night or this trip.

anytime that we close our eyes and let our minds wander back to these magical memories we will be there...

again and again and again.

thanks, dad!

the paradox of the taj

2008-04-19T11:23:00.003+05:30

the taj mahal is the most beautiful building in the world.

hands down, without a doubt, by a long shot, the mausoleum that shah jihan built for his wife is otherworldly .

the taj mahal transcends architecture.

on any scale, macro or micro, this wonder of the world stands apart from other construction in that it, dare i say "she," really seems to live and breathe like the trees of her garden, the clouds and sky above and the amazed tourists who clamor in bare feet over her cool marble skin.

it certainly does feel as if the Taj is a bit of heaven on earth.

and now for the paradox.

the taj mahal is located in what may be one of the biggest urban cesspools in india, if not the world. put quite simply, Agra sucks. there is absolutely no reason to visit apart from the taj and many, many reasons to stay away.

but, who knows, perhaps this an analogy for life. amidst the large scale destruction, desecration and pollution of human society, glimpses and slices of heaven abound.

welcome to agra. this is the taj.

blue in jodhpur

2008-04-19T10:56:00.004+05:30

the color blue featured prominently in our visit to jodhpur.

in one sense, we were surrounded by it since most houses and buildings in the old city of jodhpur are painted a brilliant blue to ward off mosquitoes.

and in another sense blue is how we felt when we discovered that our flight to agra was cancelled and that we would have to take a 12 hour car journey instead.

but, as the indomitable head of this family, my dad set the tone for the unforgetable experiences which were to follow.

instead of becoming upset at the news, my dad had a smile on his face. as i lost my patience with the insanity of indian bureaucracy, howard rieger said the ride would be "fun."

...and i guess you could say he was right, although i woud also add the word "terrifying," particularly since the last few hours of the trip were completed in darkness.

for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of speeding with your lights off down the wrong side of an indian "highway," dodging boulders, cows, pedestrians and every other means of obstacle, i don't recommend it.

sure, i was more excited and scared than i've ever been on any roller coaster, but the safety record on this ride wasn't as good.

disneyland india is not.

udaipur - a welcome fit for a king

2008-04-19T10:21:00.003+05:30

this city of white dazzles.

even after spending more than a week exploring these same palaces and streets 8 years ago, i feel as if i've never set foot in this town.

i guess there is simply no way to ever get used to the magical glow of the sun as it sets on lake pichola and the surrounding white-washed architecture.

this place aint called the "city of romance" for nothing.

as the three of us took of our shoes and settled onto the cushions of the turreted, rooftop balcony for dinner, we commanded a kings view of udaipur. lights and stars twinkled while small fires glowed in the distance. a cool breeze blew from the lake as we drank another kingfisher. none of us could believe where we were and none of us could think of a better place to be.

and just then, fireworks lit up the sky.

manvar

2008-04-18T18:45:00.004+05:30

as if the nowhere that we were in the middle of in rohet wasn't enough, we decided to head to manvar to spend the night in a tent in the middle of the thar desert.

note to all folks who may be visiting rajasthan in the future: go to manvar to spend the night in a tent in the middle of the desert.

walking and running over the scalloped, white sand dunes. watching the sunset on the thar while riding through the desert on a camel. dancing the night away with local dancers and musicians. wow.

any dreams you may have ever had about Arabian Nights are alive and well in manvar.

opium, sandstorms and rabies in rohet

2008-04-18T18:22:00.003+05:30

about 150 km's away from bundi, in the middle of nowhere, is the small villiage of rohet.
there are no hotels or guesthouses, but the former rulers of the surrounding desert have opened up their ancestral home to visitors - the same home, which the family has lived in since 1622.

and how to encapsulate what went down during our stay?

the welcoming ceremony in the middle of the dessert, where we each slurped opium water out of an elderly brahmin's hand?

the sandstorm that engulfed us as we listened to an amazing trio of road musicians from jaisalmere?

or how about the fact that my dad was bitten by a dog on his morning run and forced to begin a cycle of rabies shots?

in any event, my dad now knows what we've been saying all along:

this journey has a life of its own and, in some ways, we're just here to watch it all unfold.

bundi

2008-04-17T20:57:00.002+05:30

when cara and i planned the itinerary of our trip with my dad through rajasthan, we made it a point to deviate from the conventional tourist trail. although, perhaps this was merely self-interest because we had both spent a considerable amount of time in rajasthan on previous trips.

as a result, goodbye jaipur and hello bundi!

bundi is a small town of approximately 88,000 people located about 200 km from jaipur. early on my birthday, we woke up in delhi and boarded a train - my dad's first - for kota. 6 hours later we arrived and met sumer - our erstwhile driver and soon to be family member.

we drove 36 km to bundi and checked into an old havelli (house) which was situated at the foot of a giant mountain palace. immediately, cara and i knew that we were in the right place when we didn't see any other white people. after all, in rajasthan this is nearly impossible.

a few hours later, i was filled with immense pride - and a bit of surprise - as i witnessed my father in his glory. having just arrived for the first time in india, i figured that he might naturally be a bit hesitant to venture out on his own. so, soon after checking in to our room, i went upstairs and knocked on his door to see if he wanted to go out for a walk. there was no answer.

oh well, i thought, perhaps he's taking a nap or a shower. i went out on my own, climbed up to the palace and watched my first beautiful sunset over bundi.

and that's when it happened: as i was walking down the mountain towards the town, i saw my dad out on his own, snapping photos with a huge smile and wide eyes. he looked like a kid in a candy store, and surely, india felt the same way about him.

like father, like son.

howard is in the house!

2008-03-30T15:51:00.006+05:30

as some of you know, last month we met cara's parents in vietnam and enjoyed two-weeks traveling together.

now it's my turn!

two days ago we rendezvoused with my dad in delhi and yesterday we took a train south to a small rajasthani town named Bundi, which we are exploring now.

my dad's reaction to his first trip to india is even better than cara and i could have hoped for; it is a mix of euphoric amazement and child-like wonder.

in fact, it's kind of like our reaction to india!

so, for the next two weeks we'll work our way across rajasthan, up to the taj mahal and finally to the birthplace of hindusim, varanasi.

i'll try to post when i get a chance, but in the meantime i'm gonna be soakin' up special time with my pops and making memories to last a lifetime!

yay!

mount abu and the dilwara temples

2008-03-30T15:27:00.005+05:30

dilwara temple - mount abu, rajasthan
(no photography was permitted during our visit, so this photo is borrowed)

another day, another six hour bus ride.

today we left ahmedabad and gujarat, for mount abu in the indian state of rajasthan.

unless you are indian tourist who wants to escape the heat of the plains and stroll around nakki lake eating cotton candy and ice cream, there is only one reason to visit mount abu...

the dilwara temples.

although not the most spiritually significant jain temples (those are in palitana), the dilwara temples are the most spectacular examples of jain architecture - perhaps any architecture - in the world.

carved entirely out of solid marble, by tens of thousands of skilled workers over more than 15 years, these temples are simply beyond description.

the marble is so delicately and minutely carved that, in many places, it appears to be fabric lace. it is literally transparent.

it also reminded me of the delicate, caramelized, sugar-lace-type creations which garnish many expensive french deserts. as i stumbled in awe around dilwara, i found my mouth watering and had to resist the urge to take a bite!

wow. marble never looked (or tasted) so good!

epilogue: the price we pay for holiness

2008-03-30T14:45:00.011+05:30

there is a price to pay for everything in life and our two days in palitana were certainly no exception.

after arriving at the local bus stand at 7:00 am for a six hour journey back to ahmedabad, we discovered that the regularly scheduled bus had been canceled. instead we sat in squalor until the next bus pulled up at 9:30 am and by this time quite a big crowd had formed.

but, before the bus even had a chance to pull into the parking lot, it was completely mobbed by those waiting for a ride. men pushed aside women who pushed aside children who pushed aside anybody they could.

if a 100 year-old, blind, deaf quadriplegic had been waiting for that bus, they too would have been trampled.

luckily, waiting with us we had a tough and cunning Jain friend who was able to literally slip in front of the hindu and muslim masses in order to save us two seats. if not for him, we'd probably still be waiting for a bus outside of palitana.

but none of this is the price of which i speak.

our seats were located over the rear wheel-well, which means that our knees were touching our chins for the entire ride home.

and even more ominously, the seats were in the sun...

for the entire ride to ahmedabad.

i forgot to mention that gujarat is one of the hottest places in india and late march is the beginning of hot season. unfortunately, today hot season was getting off to a good start; the newspapers were predicting a high of 115 degrees farenheit.

i also forgot to mention the obvious: local busses do not have air conditioning.

needless to say, the trip was hell, except maybe hotter.

and for the third post in a row i must also confess that i cried today, albeit for very different reasons.

oh, the prices we pay.

yet another brush with holiness

2008-03-27T12:17:00.007+05:30

mount shatrunjaya at dawn

the day after purim, we boarded a local bus and set off for Palitana.

deep in the heart of Gujarat, Palitana is considered to be the most sacred Jain pilgrimage site in all of india, and as such, the air is filled with an intense devotional energy.

but, it occurs to me that most readers of this blog have probably never heard of Jainism, let alone studied its precepts, so here is a short description of both:

Jainism, along with Judaism and Hindusim, is one of the oldest religions in the world and also one of the smallest. with 10 -12 million followers worldwide, there are less Jains in the world than Jews. however, what these people lack in numbers, they more than make up for in moral clarity and commitment.

While Gandhi gets most of the credit for promulgating the philosophy of Ahimsa, or non-violence, it is actually the Jains who introduced it to the world more than several thousand years ago. but, devout Jains take the notion of Ahimsa to a whole new level, making even other dedicated pacifists look like barbarians in the process.

During our stay in Palitana, we met many Jain holy men and women who have given all of their worldly possesions to the poor and now occupy themselves solely with spiritual pursuits. but that alone is nothing unusual in the devotional cauldron that is south asia. what sets these Jain monks apart from all others is the extent to which they practice non-violence.

for starters, these men and women carry long, woolen-combed brushes to sweep the ground in front of them as they walk, lest they accidently step on an insect! Some of them also wrap white muslin around their mouths and noses to prevent the possibility that they might accidently inhale a tiny insect!

further, all observant Jains refrain from eating root vegetables, such as garlic, onions and potatoes, because they believe it is a sin to prevent a plant from growing and as a result they do not cultivate or eat leafy green vegetables either.!

and you thought veganism or kashrut was a tough committment?!

in the end, cara and i collected more unforgetable and transcendent experiences in Palitana. we met a young Jain family on the bus to town and when they realized that we were interested in learning more about their faith and also sharing ours with them, they asked us to join them at their guesthouse. now on the surface this wouldn't be so unusual, but the guesthouse was actually a Jain dharamshala - literally translated as refuge - which is closed to non-Jains, and according to the owner, cara and i were the first to ever stay there!

we woke at 4:00 am with the others to climb Shatrunjaya mountain and watch the sunrise at the holiest Jain temple in the world. believe it or not, Dholis - or chair swings supported by bamboo poles - are hoisted up all 3,500 steps of the 1,800 ft. mountain by paid laborers who carry those faithful too elderly or sick to make it to the top on their own.

and as cara and i stood in the main temple absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of one of the holiest gatherings we've ever been fortunate enough to witness, we experienced a moment of holiness ourselves.

...just then, a very elederly woman was brought into the temple on a dholi carried by two men. she was led to the the center of the sanctuary and everybody made room for her to offer what might have been the final prayers of her life at this, her holiest of holy temples. her lips muttered slowly in prayer as her wise eyes sparkled and ours welled up with tears.

after a few minutes in silence, she was carried out again and cara and i looked at each other in disbelief. no words were necessary to share the enormity or beauty of what we had just witnessed.

it was just another day in india.

another granny on a dholi

purim in ahmedabad

2008-03-23T19:36:00.015+05:30

so very far away, and yet, right at home.

ahmedabad is a sprawling city in the indian state of gujarat, located on the banks of the sabarmati river. this town is the birthplace of mahatma gandhi and also the location of his fabled ashram, Satyagraha. ahmedabad is also home to more than 6 million people...

...and 120 jews.

as luck would have it, we found ourselves in ahmedabad on the days leading up to purim and having heard whispers of a very small jewish community here, we set about finding Magen Abraham synagogue.

in retrospect, our search for Magen Abraham is a perfect analogy for the glorious, cultural kaleidescope that is india.

it turns out that the synagogue is located in the muslim quarter, directly across the street from a Parsi temple and just around the corner from a Hindu temple. and to make this story even more remarkable, when we found the front gates locked, a devout and smiling muslim man led us around the block to the rear entrance where were he shook the hand of the rabbi and told him in Gujarati language that we were jews from america who wanted to visit and pray!

not surprisingly, as is the case throughout india, the rabbi reports no instances of anti-semitism in ahmedabad and for the most part, neighbors in this incredibly diverse city live in peace and with mutual respect.

the rabbi then asked us if we would be staying in town through purim and invited us to attend services and a celebratory dinner afterwards. of course, all of this sounds perfectly ordinary: a rabbi, a synagogue and purim services. but, just try to imagine that this synagogue is in ahmedabad, india, this rabbi looks and sounds like any other indian man and this purim is only being celebrated by a few dozen jews in the midst of 6 million people!

surprisingly, the megillah reading (the scroll which retells the story of purim) sounded much like any other and, of course, the children and congregation made riotous noise at every mention of Haman's name (the villian of the story). there was an insightful purim drash (speech) made by one of the elders of the synagogue and as the rabbi mentioned, there was also a dinner after the service.

but, that's where the similarities between this purim service and any other we had ever been too ended. the women all wore silk sari's, they served sweet chapati's instead of homantashen (the traditional purim pastery), there was no booze to celebrate (gujarat is a "dry" state) , outside of the service most people spoke in gujarati and, of course, we were in the middle of india with 50 other indigenous jews, surrounded by over 1 billion people!!!

as cara and i sat looking at each other across Magen Abraham synagogue, while a little indian rabbi read the ancient story of our people's miraculous survival in persia, we both had tears rolling down our cheeks.

how lucky were we to be there? how many jews will ever have the opportunity to celebrate our redemption with one of the smallest, least known and furthest-flung jewish communities in the world?

but in the end, it was the underlying symbolism and joy of the occasion which caused our tears to flow.

if ever we needed proof of our people's resiliance - the same divine resiliance which we celebrate every purim...

we found it last thursday in ahmedabad, india.

we're back...

2008-03-19T12:08:00.003+05:30

mumbai coastline - somebody call greepeace!

IN INDIA!

as if to contrast with Singapore's cleaner-than-operating-room sidewalks and it's rolex-wearing populace, we landed in calcutta and were greeted with the glorious dirt, smoke, disrepair and overwhelming cacophony that is india.

chewing gum against the law, punishable by a $1,000 fine?

HAHA!

here you have to avoid the lakes of red, beetle spit that slime over the sidewalks and cover the walls.

a clean subway floor that you can sit on?

HAHA!

here the grime envelops you - becomes part of you - until you slowly surrender long held notions of what it really means to be dirty.

But, you gotta give india credit. no misrepresentation here. she is what she is.

this country grabs you by the shoulders, looks straight into your eyes and shouts, "this is how WE do it! no pussy-footin' here, fella. if you don't like it, you can leave, but if you cringe and resist, i'll make your life miserable before you're able to get your anti-bacterially-cleansed white ass on that departing plane!"

it's a good thing for cara and me that we we don't like this queen of a country...

we love her!

phew

singapore

2008-03-15T15:49:00.006+05:30

i have to admit, before this week i probably couldn't have pointed to singapore on a world map.

like most people, i knew it was somewhere in asia - maybe china? - but i couldn't tell you exactly where.

well, here's the lowdown:

singapore is an island off the southern coast of malaysia. it is one of the few remaining city-states in the world and at 272 square miles, it is the smallest country in asia.

...and it might just be the most bizarre country i've ever visited.

singapore's reputation as being one of the strictest countries in the world is well deserved; it is true about gum - it's against the law to sell it, let alone chew it! and what about the punishment for possessing a gun or drugs?

DEATH

but, on the upside, singapore sure is safe.

and clean. as a local shopekkeper said to us "you can sit on the floor of the subway, no problem." he wasn't lying. after riding the train, i can safely say, that as a new yorker, you could probably eat off the floor of the subway!

and the food? it might be the best "chinese" style food that i've ever eaten in my life! literally everything we tried, from wonton's to congi to fish to delicacies i can't even pronounce, was better than the last. and all of this food was prepared and sold on the street in what they call "hawkers" markets; the cleanest and cheapest food stalls you could ever imagine.

but, that's where "cheap" ends in singapore. the island/city/country is also home to more luxury stores and malls per square mile than anywhere else on this planet.

dolce & gabana. rolex. gucci. prada. tod's. ferragamo. armani. the list goes on and on and on and on.

and each of these stores is about the size of your average Costco back home! they're huge. forget about boutiques.

in terms of conspicuous consumption, singapore makes your average americn city look more like calcutta.

and the airport! oh, the airport... i'm still dreaming of it. in fact, the next time i'm in singapore, i might just skip a hotel and stay there.

there are free internet kiosks everywhere. free foot massages dot the palm-tree lined hallways. the sun cascades through the glass and solar panneled roof and waterfalls crash down through thousands of orchids and other plants.

i think our luggage was waiting neatly at baggage claim before we had even gotten off the plane and they must have a law against lines, because there aren't any at changi internatinal airport.

and get this, after passing through customs and having our passport stamped immeditely by a smiling officer, we were actually given a handful of delicious candy!

hmmm... maybe the bosses of JFK and Laguardia should take a trip to singapore.

phu quoc

2008-03-13T20:25:00.009+05:30

phu quoc still life

so, after travelling from the chinese border in the north of vietnam all the way down to the mekong river delta in the south - the same place where the river, which has been such a big part of our lives since those long ago days in laos, finally pours into the sea - we said goodbye to margaret and paul in saigon, boarded a twin propeller plane and flew to the isolated island of phu quoc.

phu quoc is one of the few remaining shangri la islands in south-east asia. the deserted, white sand beaches are considered to be some of the finest in the world, and for the moment, the forested island is still devoid of the kind of tourist infrastructure and development that has plagued the rest of this region.

in short, this is due to the fact that there is no international airport or deep water port in phu quoc. but all this is slated to change soon. plans have been underway for the last two years to build a new airport and with it the sleepy character of this paradise will change forever.

multi-national, hotel conglomerates and high-end resorts are lining up to build, build, build, but for now, the absence of a deep water port and the ability to send container ships full of materials is delaying that development. but this will certainly all change in the next few years.

in the meantime, we swam and back-floated our days away in the crystal-clear, turquoise water
of this beautiful island and i couldn't help but wonder how the slated development could possibly improve upon mother nature's architecture.

does the world really need more golf courses?

cu chi tunnels

2008-03-13T16:55:00.021+05:30

this is not a sight that i would have wanted to see 40 years ago.

as we walked through cu chi, winding around B-52 craters and over this haunted land, the scenes of every vietnam war movie i've ever seen were playing in my mind. my mood was solemn as i thought about the many, many thousands of american GI's and vietnamese whose blood had soaked this very soil.

still, i couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the viet cong. in the face of unimaginably superior fire power, these peasant soldiers dug a network of underground cities and connecting tunnels that are hundreds of kilometers long.

if you think that Apocalypse Now or Platoon are evocotive, just try taking a walk through cu chi or crawling through these tunnels.

p.s. that's me entering the tunnel in the second photo.

p.s.s may the memory of those brave people who died in combat at cu chi forever be a blessing to those who survived

hoi an

2008-03-13T16:47:00.003+05:30

hoi an, vietnam

the former harbour town of hoi an was an important vietnamese trading center in the 17th and 18th century, where chinese, dutch, japanese and indians all settled.

in 1999, hoi an was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO due to the fact that it is a well preserved example of a south east asian trading port from the 15th to 19th centuries, whose buildings display a brilliant conglomeration of multicultural architectural styles.

...and as you can see in the photo above, hoi an is as quaint and picturesque as any town we visited in vietnam.

the 14th parallel

2008-03-13T16:25:00.007+05:30

hue, vietnam

as we arrived in hue and drove south towards danang, we crossed the infamous 14th parallel in vietnam - the location of the former dividing line between north and south and the epicenter of some of the fiercest fighting and american bombing during the war.

the ghostly echoes of hundreds of thousands of people ultimately killed for no reason at all still reverberate in the stillness of the march rain.

but, perhaps, when all is lost, all is not lost.

even through the horor and the suffering and all the depravity...

this lotus still blooms.

ha long bay

2008-03-12T22:08:00.014+05:30

ha long bay is a UNESCO world heritage site located in quang ninh province in northern vietnam. the bay features thousands of limestone karsts in various shapes and sizes and it is one of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world that i've ever seen.

we took a luxurious two-day cruise through the bay, exploring floating villages and gignatic caves and the four of us even did some kayaking in the rain. i could go on and on, but perhaps i'll let the photos do the talking.

view from my kayak

"secret" cave

view from our ship

Sa Pa

2008-03-12T21:47:00.002+05:30

cara and friend at can cau market

Sa Pa id a frontier town and district in the Lao Cai province in northwestern vietnam. straddling the chinese border, Sa Pa is also one of the biggest market towns in the area.

Sa Pa is a quiet mountain town and home to a great diversity of ethnic minorities, including the Hmong, Dao, Tay and Giay people.

these people live side by side, but with very different and intact cultures and, as you can see in the picture above, dress. they are basically agrarian societies, with rice and corn the main staples.

and, lord, how they grow rice! these paddies are beyond anything that i've ever seen before. with mountains terraced as far as the eye can see, it's hard to describe the feeling of slogging through them on a cold, damp afternoon.

hanoi

2008-03-12T21:26:00.007+05:30

ho chi minh's tomb - hanoi, vietnam

i never thought that i'd make the trip to vietnam.

maybe it has something to do with the fact that my country murdered several million vietnamese in my lifetime, but i never figured that i'd be welcome and i never thought that i'd feel comfortable touring the country.

certainly i felt a bit uneasy when we landed in hanoi and walked through ho chi minh's house and garden, with the crisp, hammer and sickle national flag flying everywhere.

and certainly i felt more uneasy touring the hanoi hilton, the infamous prison where american POW's (most notably john mccain) were held during the vietnam war. but what's this? you mean in vietnam they refer to that war as the american war?! i guess that does make sense from their standpoint.

there is no doubt that the vietnamese economy is exploding - economic growth was nearly 9% last year; but so is inflation - almost 15% at the moment.

so while new louis vuitton and dolce and gabana stores open everday, working-class vietnamese are struggling more and more to make end's meet.

but make no mistake about it, vietnam is still a tightly controlled communist state. information is censored. vietnamese are not allowed to have sattelite TV or to purchase an american newspaper...

but if they have enough dong (vietnam's currency) they can buy all the nike and armani they want.

thank you, paul and margaret

2008-03-12T21:17:00.003+05:30

parents make the world go 'round.

...and after spending two weeks travelling through vietnam with cara's parents, margaret and paul, it's also clear that they make us who we are.

what a treat to be able to rendezvous with them in hanoi and to be able to explore vietnam from the chinese border in the north, to the mekong river delta in the south.

when we tell other people we've met on this journey that we are meeting both of our parents at various points of our trip (my mom is with us all the time), people are uniformly amazed. they can't believe that our parents have any interest in meeting us in these far corners and they also can't believe that we have any desire to meet them.

but, i guess we're lucky that way.

exasperating, perplexing, interesting and entertaining, parents are parents the world over.

...and we love them for it.

were we really there?

2008-03-05T22:36:00.003+05:30

varkalla, india

great news!

2008-03-05T16:27:00.004+05:30

i just learned that i have been accepted into Columbia University's graduate school of international and public affairs!

i decided to apply on a whim while travelling through Laos and with no GRE's and a 20 year-old, crappy GPA, i was a long-shot at best. but, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

in any event, i'm looking forward to continuing this adventure in an academic setting this coming fall.

...and more than anything, i'm looking forward to putting the requisite skills that i acquire at columbia to use on behalf those less fortunate the world over.

after all, to whom much is given, much is asked.

vietnam is beautiful...

2008-03-02T16:54:00.002+05:30

but damn do we miss the food in india. this is a typical thali lunch in kerala, served on a banana leaf.

mysore flower market

2008-03-02T16:52:00.002+05:30

surreality at the market

one tree hill

2008-03-02T16:48:00.002+05:30

hanuman temple - hampi, india

hanuman temple

2008-03-02T16:45:00.003+05:30

the magic of hampi, india. watching the sunset over the birthplace of Hanuman.

don't steal my bike!

2008-03-02T16:37:00.005+05:30

bombay, india

this is not performance art. we found this bike on a street in mumbai.

bombay: a city to savor

2008-02-20T16:49:00.003+05:30

i can count on one finger the number of positive accounts i've heard about mumbai. "it's hell on earth," "unmnanageable," "terrible," according to only some of the feedback we've gotten from other travellers. but you know what?

don't believe the hype!

we found bombay to be a beautiful city, absolutely full of things to do. we scurried around the metropolis visiting temples, mosques, victoria station (the busiest train station in the world), a synagogue, the national gallery of modern art, the gateway to india and other independent art galleries that would give those in chelsea and soho a run for their money.

as we prepare to leave tonight to meet cara's parents in vietnam, we are missing india already. even though we will be returning to calcutta in 3 1/2 weeks, we don't want to say even a temporary goodbye to this magical and welcoming land.

i can't say enough about the conglomeration of beautiful cultures or the kindness and openness of strangers that is india.

our mighty western countries certainly have a lot to learn.

gokarna

2008-02-18T12:14:00.003+05:30

gokarna street

gokarna, literaly translated as "cow's ear," is named in light of the hindu mythology which states that in this beach-side hamlet, Shiva once emerged from the ear of a cow.

according to the gokarna purana, "by mere entrance into this Ksetra (holy place), one becomes liberated from hundreds of sins, including even brahma-hatya (the killing of a brahmin)." moreover, it is said that one becomes free from rebirth just by "hearng the roar of the arabian sea."

the Mahaballeswara Siva Temple in gokarna is said to be the holiest in all of india aside from the Vishwanath Siva Temple in Varanasi.

we won't forget our nightime walks through the quiet, ancient streets of this holy, brahmin town. peeking inside windows and quietly watching the hindu faithful as they devoutly honor their religious traditions. stumbling upon colorful temple processions in the pitch dark, the earnest faces of the participants illuminated only by the flames of oil lamps and torches.

most foreign tourists come to gokarna for the beautiful beaches, but in our opinion, the beaches pale in comparison to the town itself.

after all, who wants to sit around with a bunch of dreadlocked, pale skinned westerners when you can lose yourself in the winding alleys of a quiet holy hindu town?

hampi

2008-02-16T20:53:00.006+05:30

hampi's boulders and Virupaksha Temple at sunset

hampi is a village in northern karnataka and it is within the ruins of Vijaynagara, the former capital of the vijaynagara empire. hampi is also sometimes referred to as the "city of ruins," and as a result it is a UNESCO world heritage site.

the city was an ancient capital of southern india and home to traders from all over the world. the reign of the kingdom lasted from 1336 to 1565 and the ruined city is still quite a site to behold. unfortunately, the moslem sultan invaders thought otherwise and destroyed the city along with all of its 500,000 inhabitants. i'm sure that Allah would be proud.

in a way, hampi remined me a bit of angkor wat. the history, the ghosts and the transcendent beauty were similar.

but the topography reminded me of another region altogether: joshua tree national park. granite boulders are strewn as far as the eye can see in hampi, and if it wasn't for the forests of banana plants, date palms and rice paddies, i would have sworn we were in that southern californian desert.

cara and i enjoyed some spectacular runs through the aforementioned boulders, bananas, paddies and palms and we marveled at the ancient architecture of the town. we met some beautiful, fellow travelers and we even celebrated shabbos with 60 israelis!

but as our dear friend, and indian "mentor," didier, told us afterwards, "hampi is a very beautiful and special place, but it is also imbued with the blood and suffering of 500,000 massacred souls. it is best to see it briefly and infrequently."

although i couldn't put my finger on it at the time, cara and i felt that same "strange" energy during our 5 days in hampi. i will never forget the beauty of the topography and the magic of the ruins, but there is something larger that i won't miss at all.

whether it was symbolic, or foreboding, or merely coincidence, i don't know, but i certainly won't miss the menacing black crow that landed on our porch every morning banging its beak against our window as if it was trying to communicate something urgent.

i'm not sure what that bird was getting at, but i do know that it spooked the heck out of me.

bananaman

2008-02-08T15:48:00.001+05:30

mysore

2008-02-08T15:09:00.001+05:30

a riot of colors in mysore's devaraja market

after a two-day bus journey from kodaikanal - we spent one night in coimbatore - we finally were able to wash off some of the dust and soothe our aching behinds. for those of you who don't know, indian busrides are, well, challenging to say the least.

for a country whose economy is growing at approximately 9% this year and poised to someday possibly become the world's largest, you sure wouldn't know it by surveying the infrastructure.

let's put it this way: the roads in karnataka wouldn't pass for bike paths back home.

oh, but the markets....

kodaikanal in the clouds

2008-02-08T14:34:00.000+05:30

kodaikanal lake

from munar, we bid farewell to kerala and wound our way through the mountains back into the indian state of tamil nadu.

we arrived in kodaikanal at 3:00 p.m. and were surprised to find the town enveloped in clouds. the temperatures dropped precipitously and we bundled up as best we could.

the next morning we were graced with two hours of sunshine and we both ran 6 km around the lake. but, no sooner had we finished our run and stretched, than the clouds started blowing in again. needless to say, the sun remained hidden for the rest of our stay.

such is life in kodaikanal.

munar

2008-02-05T15:47:00.000+05:30

the hills of munnar

a four hour drive from cochin and nearly 6,000 feet up in the western ghats, we traded the heat and humidity of the lowlands for the unique beauty that is munar.

The name of Munnar is believed to be derived from the Malayalam (spell that forwards and backwards!) words Muunu (three) and aaru (river), referring to the town's location at the confluence of the Muthirappuzha, Chanduvarai and Kundali rivers. The area is surrounded by vast jungles and amazingly remains wet and cold during most of the year.

...and, oh yeah, it might just be the greenest place on earth.

tea is the name of the game in munnar and it is everywhere. as you can see from the photo above, the mountains of the region are almost entirely covered by tea plantations and this makes for an oddly surreal landscape.

on one hand you are running through completely deforested mountains - but on the other hand they are among the most beautiful mountains you've ever seen!

how can i describe morning runs on narrow trails which snake over and through endless tea plantations?

it felt as if i was swimming through a sea of green and i had to stop several times to shout for joy, say the She'ma and shake my head in disbelief.

more photos!

2008-01-29T17:12:00.001+05:30

varkala beach - kerala, india

friends - kanyukamari, india

you can't get any further south in india - lands end - kanyukamari, india

dancing shiva - menakshe temple - madurai, india

yes, i'll have the magen david pasta, please

body surfing accident - varkala, india

photos!

2008-01-29T16:33:00.001+05:30

i apologize for the delay in posting photos. i learned the hard way that cyber-cafes and their viruses can wreak havoc on memory cards!

the one and only Pala Llama

ketchuberry lake - sikkim, india

om ma ne pad me hum - sikkim, india

cara at Pala Llamas meditation retreat - sikim, india

mount kanchendzunga / the third highest peak in the world - sikkim, india

Dawa Llama and Moomo - darjeeling, india

high tea in the himalaya

jew town

2008-01-26T16:23:00.000+05:30

after limping into cochin, cara and I decided to cool our heels - and knees – in the ancient sea side fort for the week.

we rented a nice room, set cara up in front of the television while she awaited the removal of her stitches, and basically enjoyed our forced siesta.

interestingly, cochin was the centre of the Indian spice trade for many centuries, and was known to the Greeks as well as Romans, Jews, Arabs, and Chinese since ancient times. so ancient, in fact, that purportedly, the first jews arrived in cochin in 70CE just after the destruction of the second Temple! it is amazing to think about the fact that jews have lived here since the time of king solomon!

the pardesi synagogue is on every tourist's itinerary and it did not disappoint. while I always thought that there were no jews left in “jew town” (the actual name of the neighborhood where the jewish community lived and where the synagogue is located), I was mistaken.

there are 13 elderly jews who are very much alive in cochin.

we had the great honor to help make a minyan and attend shabbat services at the synagogue which was built directly next door to the king’s palace in 1592. can you imagine what it meant that a vegetarian, brahman king would allow a group of meat-eating jews to live and pray directly next door to him?! i’m aware of no other society in the world where jews have been greeted with such hospitality and enjoyed an equal degree of peace and mutual respect for such a long time.

in fact, according to octogenarian, cochin resident, samuel halegua, whose own family arrived on these shores in 1592, there has never been any indian anti-semitism in kerala - just another reason to love india! of course, when the portuguese came to town from 1503-1663 it was a different story.

we also took a long rickshaw ride into the forest to see two different synagogues that served the 5,000 strong community for hundreds of years. Most of the jews of this area decided to make aliya after the creation of the modern state of israel, but there are still a few proud residents hanging on.

lest we had any doubts, we were able to watch 85 year-old sarah cohen light her shabbos candles and earlier in the day, cara was able to help her with her kippah embroidery work!

we spent saturday afternoon sitting in the home of Mr. Halegua listening to his tales of life in kerala. we marvelled at the similarity of our jewish experience and the enormity of our cultural differences. Samuel’s wife, Queenie, poured us homemade apricot wine and we snacked on pakora as the sights, sounds and smells of india wafted through his large windows.

…And just when I was feeling a world away from america and new york city, samuel told us that his daughter lives on west 79th street in the upper west side of manhattan!

And if that wasn’t enough, samuel halegua, an 83 year-old, lifelong cochin resident and jew, who traces his family’s history on this very street back to 1592…

Told us that he "adores" zabars!

the memory scar

2008-01-17T15:42:00.000+05:30

as if to prove the maxim, "expect it when you least expect it," cara fell while getting out of a rowboat in the backwaters and badly gashed her knee.

the first moments after she fell were excruciating for her (obviously) and for me as i simultaneously worried about my wife and tried to plan an emergency escape from this very remote location.

i held on to cara tightly and assured her that everything would be alright, even as i had my doubts. her knee was bleeding badly and the gash was more than deep enough to turn my sqeamish stomach. few onlookers spoke english and my shouts of "hospital!" were met with smiles and responses of "no problem. don't worry."

as josh began to administer first aid, i frantically packed our bags for the unknown journey which lay ahead. we reboarded the boat and slowly made our way to a "clinic" in a small hamlet named nedumbury.

the sun was setting as we slowly made the 20 minute journey to what we hoped was competent medical care. having spent as much time in india as we have, we knew better than to expect cleanliness, and instead i began to pray for novocaine.

we docked the boat, i helped cara inside the "clinic" and both of us tried our best to calm ourselves. no starched whites, or sterile, antiseptic waiting rooms here, folks. instead, chameleons climbed the walls and curious onlookers gawked as the "nurses" began to painfuly probe the wound.

doing my best not to look as the nurses poked and prodded her gashed, bloody knee, i held onto cara and kept reassuring her that everything was going to be ok, although, in truth, i'm sure that i was really trying to reassure myself.

Thank God there was no damage to her bone or ligaments. instead it was decided that cara would need a few stitches. as i produced a sterile syringe for the novocaine injection that i hoped was available, the "nurse" reached into a box and produced a packaged, sterile syringe of her own. a good sign.

as the "nurses" injected and stitched and i squirmed, cara exhibited the strength and courage that is her hallmark. the chameleons climbed closer for a better inspection and the dirty room filled up with curious onlookers.

i have no doubt that vast majority of other north-american jewesses would have died on the spot.

the doctor finally entered, prescribed cara 2 rounds of antibiotics (Amoxicillin and flagyl) as well as some vitamins and said that she would be fine.

the entire process, i.e. boat ride, stitches, novocaine, three prescriptions and doctor's consultation cost us a whopping $12 and took no more than 45 minutes!!!

although we would have gladly traded the geckos, grime and gawkers for a dose of western medicine, would we really? in retrospect, the care we recived was competent and the price we paid was, well, remarkable. and forget about the time it took; if this accident had happened in nyc, we'd probably still be in the emergency room!

post script: cara is doing great and her wound is healing very well. we are staying put in cochin (a larger city in kerala) until this coming monday, when the stitches are due to be removed. shortly therafter, cara's knee should be as good as new.

the backwaters

2008-01-17T15:01:00.000+05:30

most tourists who travel to kerala take an overnight houseboat through the "backwaters." The Kerala backwaters are a chain of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast (known as the Malabar Coast) of Kerala state in southern India. The network includes five large lakes linked by canals, both manmade and natural, fed by 38 rivers, and extending virtually half the lengthof Kerala state.

although we all wanted to spend some quality time in the backwaters,we wondered if a 20-hour, overnight trip on a colossal houseboat would be the best way to do it.

in the end, we decided to leave the houseboats for the hoards of package tourists and we opted to take a local ferry deep into thebackwaters in search of a village where we could absorb the sublime beauty and cultural intracacies of this part of the world at a slower pace.

after nearly two hours on the local ferry we reached an isolated island and began walking two miles to a village named vellamathara, where we were lucky enough to meet a kind, local family who agreed to let us stay with them. over the the next several days we lived the lives of locals: swimming and bathing in the river, walking through the lush greenery and alongside seemingly endless canals and rivers, sitting in the shade and hiding from the afternoon sun, and eating banana and coconut with every meal.

in fact, i feel as i've just earned a Ph.D in bananas! who knew there were so many varieties?! big one and small ones (some only as large as my index finger), green ones, yellow ones, orange ones and red ones,sweet ones, sour ones, soft ones and crunchy ones. it's amazing! we all agree that we've eaten the best bananas of our lives in kerala and specifically in velamathara.

as we sit in our "families" home (we've even taken to calling the mother A'ma - mother in the mayalayam language) we chat and laugh with the neighbors, learn a bit of the malayalam language, ask endless questions about life in vellamathara and answer endless questions about life in america.

as the gigantic, tourist houseboats chug by with no more than 2 or 3 lonely westerners trapped onboard looking out, we feel so fortunate to have taken the time and made the effort to truly explore the backwaters.

we have not a care in the world...

varkalla

2008-01-10T16:11:00.000+05:30

the name alone intrigued me.

as we made our way north again, this time up the eastern coast of the sub-continent, we suddenly entered the indian state of kerala.

i didn't think it possible to see more palm trees than in Tamil Nadu, but i did. i didn't think it possible to see more bananas, but i did.

keralla may actually deserve it's nickname, "Gods own country," and the southern cliff of varkalla, which we called home for 5 days, is definitely heaven.

each day started with a jog in the palm forest - on a shaded, sandy trail through fishing villages and spectacular bluffs overlooking the sea.

for breakfast we'd slice a pineapple, papaya and some bananas and serve them all with the biggest and best cashews i've ever tasted in my life.

and happily for us, varkalla marks the first destination where we've rendezvouzed with a friend from home. my great friend josh decided to follow our lead and take a couple of months to explore the south of india. we decided to meet in varkalla.

...and, as if we really need any more proof that the world gets smaller and smaller every year, we found him at a juice stall in the middle of town.

a bath to remember

2008-01-10T16:08:00.000+05:30

We woke up early on 1-1-08 and walked to lands end on the Indian subcontinent.

The sky was blue, the early morning air was still crisp and the water and waves of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal lapped at our feet.

We each entered this holy confluence and washed away 2007.

kanyukamari

2008-01-10T15:17:00.000+05:30

The bus wound its way south through the Cardamom Mountains and the densest palm forests I’ve ever seen in my life. During one rest stop I count 15 varieties of banana hanging for sale inside the tea stall. Big ones, small ones, red ones, green ones – they all taste different, yet delicious.

We are a world away from the mountains of Sikkim and the chaos of Calcutta. As we make our way to lands end at the southern most point of india, the surrounding people and culture are unrecognizable. Skin is darker, hair is curlier, languages are different, and to our astonishment, the food is even better.

There is also another difference – the air is, um, more than a bit warmer.

Two weeks ago we were shivering in the shadow of the third highest peak in the world -mt. kanchandzonga - and now we are sweating uncontrollably. The heat is all enveloping, yet this is the coolest time of year.

pass the coconut.

mamallapuram

2008-01-10T15:12:00.000+05:30

the drunk fisherman wouldn’t stop hugging me, or rather, he couldn’t. it was 11:30 p.m. and we were standing on the shore of the bay of Bengal, waves crashing in front of us. the moon was rising over it all like a scoop of orange sherbert. immense fishing nets were tangled at our feet as the tamil fisherman pointed to the moon and said, “nailah.” His right hand draped around my shoulder and his left holding a bottle of whiskey, he then pointed at the stars and said, “nachitika.”

we stood in silence for several minutes, our heads thrown back staring at the heavens.

with a final hug, the ancient, leather-skinnd fisherman turned and walked into the darkness, still pointing at the sky and whispering,

“natchitika, nailah…”

Pala Llama

2008-01-03T14:12:00.000+05:30

from darjeeling we made our way north into Sikkim - the indian himalaya. bordered by nepal on the west, tibet on the north and bhutan on the east, sikkim is a world away from the cacophany and congestion of the rest of the sub-continent.

we spent two days in pelling hiking and staring in awe at mount kanchendzonga - at 28,208 ft. the third highest mountain in the world.

...and then we made our way further up north to Pala Llama's house.

it's far too long a story for us to describe here how we discovered Pala Llama or how we made it to his 7,000 ft. ridge-top property, but as always, serendipity and fate figured prominently.

Pala Llama is in his 70's, and like Dawa Llama, he is also one the most special, and yes holy, people that we've ever met. Pala is the highest monk in all of sikkim and he is also the guardian of the oldest and holiest Gompa in sikkim.

it also turns out that Pala is a central player in recent tibetan history. not only was he a tibetan soldier who fought the chinese in the 1950's, but it also turns out that he was the Dalai Llama's personal chef for over 30 years!

and as if that wasn't enough, we were in total awe to discover that Pala escaped china for india with the Dalai llama in 1959! that's right, Pala Llama was in the Dalai Llama's party as he secretly fled china - an event immortalized in numerous books and films. in addition to everything else, Pala Llama is a witness to history.

But how can we describe climbing straight up a 1,200 mountain, covered in dense forest, to arrive at Pala's house? How can we describe huddling around the fire with his family listening to the tales of his life? How can we describe climbing another 2,000 ft. to Pala's meditation cave, where he spends three months in solitary contemplation every monsoon season? how can we describe waking every morning at 4:00am to hear Pala chanting his morning prayers? how can we describe the freezing cold and the delicious, hot food? how can we describe living at the foot of mt kanchendzonga? how can we describe the sunrises and sunsets, the sound of thousands of flapping prayer flags, or the power this place?

we can't... and so we won't even try.

suffice to say that we lived in the home of the highest Llama in sikkim - the home of the personal chef of H.H. Dalai Llama - the home of one of the most powerful human beings we've ever met.

and suffice to say that we will never forget Pala llama.

darjeeling and Dawa Llama

2007-12-29T11:53:00.000+05:30

cara and i settled into the second class sleeper compartment of the darjeeling mail express as we prepared for the 11 hour overnight train ride to new jalapagiuri station in northern bengal. this was a special moment for both of us because we each have so many amazing memories of riding the rails through india.

nothing has changed since we last rode the IRTC and the experience was deja vu. as chai wallahs (peddlers) walked back and forth serving steaming tea in disposable clay cups and the masses settled in for the journey, we both felt at home - strange since we were the only caucasians amongst thousands of indians!

we woke after a nights sleep on the train and soon thereafter arrived at NJP station. from there we took a rickshaw to a town named siligiuri and boarded a taxi with 12 other indians for the three hour twisting, turning climb to darjeeling.

at 7,100 feet, darjeeling is the crown jewel of indian hill stations. as we shouldered our packs and climbed still further up the narrow alleys of the town, we set about finding a place to stay. we looked at several guesthouses, but something compelled us to knock on one more door. we thought it was just another hotel, but when a little old tibetan woman answered the door it was obvious that this was a private residence. before we realized our mistake we asked, "do you have a room?" the old woman motioned us in and disappeared inside the house. a moment later, an even older tibetan man walked outside and greeted us. little did we know that we had knocked on the door of a local legend - Dawa Llama.

He showed us a room in his house and told us that we were welcome to stay. he looked so sweet and we both thought that this homestay could potentially be such a memorable experience that we said yes on the spot.

Dawa llama, or dawa Jockey as he is known by everyone else in darjeeling is 82 and his wife is 81. he is a former champion horse jockey and he is also a high Llama.

he led us into his meditation room and asked us to stand as he lit incense and prepared various gold vases. the walls were covered with with photos of the dalai Llama and holy places throughout nepal and tibet, along with various thongkas (tibetan paintings).

Dawa Llama asked us to hold out our hands and he poured a few drops of dark liquid from a gold pot into our palms. he recited a lengthy tibetan blessing and told us to touch our tongues to the liquid and then to rub it on our forehead and back over our heads. only afterwards did dawa Llama tell us that he had just offered us a blessing for long life.

of course we also enjoyed high tea at the elgin hotel and the wonderful company of fast, new friends anita and jagdish thanks again for the wonderful company and dinner, guys!). we hiked through tea estates and spent an afternoon wandering and getting lost in the colors and smells of the local market.

after four days of wandering and climbing through the alleys of darjeeling, our stay ended as it began - with a blessing from Dawa Llama. As he placed his white, silk prayer scarves around our necks , blessing us with another tibetan mantra , there was no doubt that we had shared the home of a very holy family.

we posed for one more photo, clasped hands with Dawa Llama, and as we made our way to the jeep stand, promised oursleves that we would never forget these moments.

the last jews of calcutta

2007-12-25T10:13:00.000+05:30

"there are only 30 jewish souls left in calcutta," david nahoum told us as he sat behind the cash register of his family's 110 year-old bakery in the heart of the old market of calcutta. this fact is even more amazing when you consider that there are over 15 million people living in the former british capital of india!

david, a man in his early seventies then told us that none of those "30 souls"is younger than him. once numbering nearly 5,000 in the 1940's, the jewish community in calcutta will soon be no longer. but, to see david , a jew born in calcutta, whose grandfather came to the city in the 1800's is to witness history and the unique nature of jewish peoplehood.

arriving in calcutta from iraq, david's grandfather built nahoum's bakery and as david motioned at the still bustling shop, he told us that the last time it was remodelled was in 1906! but that certainly hasn't affected business. the bakery is a calcutta institution and it was packed with people buying sweets before christmas, which is a widely celebrated secular holiday in india.

cara and i had hoped to attend a shabbat service while in calcutta, but david told us that the remaining jews are too few in number and too old to hold regular services and longer. so, instead he gave hand written directions to the two old synagogues along with instructions for the caretaker to let us inside.

against all odds, we fought our way across this chaotic city and found the giant mogen david synagogue. it is cavernous and you can still imagine thousands of people worshipping inside. the caretaker even showed us the brick oven where passover matzah is still baked!

nearby beth-el synagogue was smaller but no less impressive. even as i approached the ark to give thanks for our multitude of blessings, i could still feel the power of the prayer that had taken place here through the years.

cara and i said Shehechiyanu, took a few photos and jumped back into the frenetic insanity of calcutta.

there are only thirty jewish souls left in calutta, but today there were two more.

david and jacob nahoum

India

2007-12-16T18:32:00.000+05:30

not all readers of this blog know that i travelled to india in 2000-2001. during that journey i happened upon the Grand Maha Kumbh Mela - the largest gathering of human beings in the history of the world! an estimated 80 million hindus made the pilgrimage to the confluence of the ganges, yamuna and (mythical) saraswati rivers in order to take a dip in the holy waters.

in order to give you a better idea of the scope of hinduism, the next Grand Maha Kumbh Mela will be celebrated in the year 2144!!! that's right, the event occurs once every 144 years!

interestingly, in 1885, there was one particularly famous, american tourist at the Maha Kumbh Mela by the name of Mark twain!

here is what he wrote about india:

“This is indeed India; the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations—the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.”—Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897

I couldn't agree more with twain. cara and i landed in calcutta three days ago and all of our senses have literally been swept away. the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes - india is the grandest cultural cacophany we've ever witnessed.

this is truly a land unlike any other.

on the road again... and again...

2007-12-13T17:56:00.000+05:30

so, as the southeast asian leg of our journey comes to an end (don't worry margaret and paul - we're still looking forward to a late february rendezvous with you in vietnam), we can't help but look back at the last three-plus months and marvel at where we've been and all that we've seen.

since september 23rd, when we landed in bangkok for the first time, we've travelled overland in a giant clockwise circle through thailand, laos and cambodia. in case anyone cares, this was our SE Asian path:

THAILAND
bangkok>
koh chang>
bangkok>
sukhothai>
chiang mai>
pai>
soppong>
pai>
chiang mai>
chang kong>

LAOS
huoy xai>
luong namtha>
oudomxai>
nong khiaw>
muong noi>
luong prabang>
vang vieng>
vientianne>
pakse>
nakasong>
don det>
don khon>

CAMBODIA
stung treng>
ban lung>
kratie>
phnom penh>
siem riep>
sihounoukville>
phnom penh>

and then our first flight in 2 1/2 months back to bangkok.

of course, we haven't forgetten about the first leg of our trip in israel.

ISRAEL
tel aviv>
misgav>
jerusalem>
dead sea>
rosh pina>
kiryat shemona>
metulla>
ma'sada>
jerusalem

wow! shouldn't we be exhausted right now?

the killing fields

2007-12-11T16:22:00.000+05:30

in an attempt to be as incongruous as possible on her birthday, cara and i visited S-21, the infamous khmer rouge torture chamber of the killing fields.

the former high school, turned into a prison by Pol Pot in 1976, is largely untouched since it was liberated by the vietnamese in 1979. blood stains on the floors. shackles still chained to steel cots. photographs taken during the liberation show mutilated bodies laying in the same rooms in which we stood, on the same cots in front of us, and on the same floors under us. only seven people survived S-21. i began to feel sick.

first we wound our way through various, preserved, prison cells and past used torture instruments, including a big water tight box where they drowned people. by the time we got to the exhibit of various maimed skulls, some with bullet holes, others displaying wounds from being hacked to death, or simply bludgeoned with hammers, because the murderers did not always have bullets, i thought i was going to vomit.

sure, the squeaky white sand and warm, crystal-clear waters of southern cambodia are beautiful. angkor wat is hands-down one of the most impressive wonders of the world. the forests in the north of cambodia are as dense and remote as any in southeast asia...

but this country gives me the creeps.

unidentified prisoner #0202

happy birthday cara!

2007-12-11T16:12:00.000+05:30

32 is such a beautiful number.
keep shining, shuckett.
we all need you.

the festival of lights

2007-12-05T11:39:00.000+05:30

"first day of chanukah view"

sihanoukville, cambodia

angkor wat photos

2007-12-05T11:29:00.001+05:30

stolen moment #1

stolen moment #2

bayon temple

ban melea temple

to phaphom temple

trees march on

sanskrit inscription

angkor wat

2007-12-05T11:13:00.000+05:30

to phaphom temple - angkor wat

i was never anxious to visit angkor wat. sure, it's one of the wonders of the world, but for some reason, it never called me.

but after spending one week exploring this ancient capital, we have a new perspective. angkor wat is utterly miraculous! the scope and majesty of creation is as incomprehensibly beautiful from 1 mile as it is from i inch.

of course we also lucked out and had sunsets to oursleves and many special hours climbing over and through the ruins and exploring this magical land.

the spirits are strong in the forests and fields of angkor wat. there are many ghosts of the people who lived here and created this wonder of an ancient capital. at the time, around 1,000 years ago, more than 1,000,000 people lived in this city - more than in london or rome!

and you can still feel them... everywhere.

ratanakiri province

2007-12-04T20:05:00.000+05:30

the dust of ban lung - ban lung, cambodia

so, you're at the most remote border crossing in cambodia. the other people in your party are all heading back to civilization in pneomh penh. what should you do?

well, true to our form we opted for the path less traveled - in this case ratanakiri province and the far northeastern, cambodian town of ban lung. the main attraction in ban lung is a gorgeous , crystal-clear, volcanic lake hidden in the middle of the forest, but by the time we got there, i still hadn't recovered from the commute.

the next time you're one of seven people cramming in an old toyota camry for a 5 hour/50 mile drive on a dirt road with wet "potholes" so big you can fish out of them, don't do it. run away. fast.

in all honesty, cara got the worst of it since she was stuffed in the front seat with two other adults. the poor woman was in the middle, literally on top of the stick shift. every time the driver had to change gears, she had to contort herself in a very painful position. the really crazy thing is that she was smiling the entire way! while i fought back tears in the middle of the backseat, cara seemed to relish the adventure.

we were all sweating buckets and with no AC you'd think that all the windows would be rolled down. but no. with the windows open the car was engulfed with clouds of orange dust from the "road"and it was impossible to breathe. we made most of the sweltering afternoon journey with no AC and the windows rolled up.

when we finally made it to ban lung that night i was traumatized... and cara was still smiling! we were covered from head to toe in orange dust, and with my bright-colored curly hair i looked a bit like ronald mcdonald.

sure, the lake was glorious, but i found it a bit difficult to shake off the hard journey and revel in the moment. all i could think of was the fact that we had to leave the same way we came!

border crossing

2007-12-04T17:27:00.001+05:30

full load? - kratie, cambodia

there's something special about crossing a border over land... especially when nobody knows where the border is.

evidently, national boundaries matter, even in a region as undeveloped and remote as the laos/cambodian border - dense thickets of forest with no apparent strategic interest. there are more king cobras than people in these parts and this rutted dirt road to nowhere feels like it will never end.

finally, in the middle of the overgrown jungle we pull up to a wooden shack - the laos border patrol. after stamping our visas and demanding $1, we are instructed to walk to cambodia. yes, walk to cambodia.

now, in past experience, such as the nepal/india border, this walk is usually no more than 50 meters or so, but in this case, we're pointed in the direction of the jungle and there is no sign of the cambodian border outpost, let alone civilization. others in our party are hesitant to proceed and as i lead the way i wonder if i'm heading in the right direction.

i have to pee, but fearing landmines and old, unexploded ordinance i decide to hold it. after 5 minutes there is still no sign of anything but forest, but at this point we've all taken the leap of faith. finally, after walking about a quarter of a mile i see a tattered cambodian flag hanging from a dead tree.

...welcome to cambodia.

si phon don

2007-12-04T17:03:00.000+05:30

sunset from our porch - don khon, laos

the mekong river runs nearly 5,000 km's from the tibetan plateau to the south china sea. nowhere is it wider than in southern laos at the area known as si phon don, or "4,000 islands."

stretching nearly 15 km's from shore to shore, si phon don, is no lie. the entire region is dotted with sandy specks of land and swaying palms. a few of the larger islands are inhabited year-round, including our temporary home, don khon.

electricity is non-existent in si phon don and so are cars. we lived with sun for over a week and reconvinced ourselves how important it is to spend at least some of our lives "off the grid." we had a fascinating conversation to that affect with an american psychiatrist who believes that, in addition to all of its medical and scientific benefits, electricity has also negatively impacted the human psyche through a quantum change in our sleep cycle and lifetstyle. interesting.

as for us, we had a magical existence in the islands. soft, sandy paths leading around gorgeous , palm-fringed, largely uninhabited islands. delicious meals with a beautiful, local family and the time and space to collect our thoughts.

of course, the islands were inhabited with king cobras, but we also listened to fresh-water irawaddy dolphins (yes dolphins) breathe and sing as they frolicked beneath us in the mekong.

after dinner, we walk back to our bungalow by torch light, open all our wooden shutters and let the moonlight and soft breeze flood inside. we each take a seat on the porch in two well-worn hammocks and listen as the quickly flowing river crashes into the islands surrounding us. we count shooting stars as the moon rises in the south. if we talk we whisper.

soon cara starts to yawn. she goes to sleep under the breezy mosquito net, while i sit outside all alone. sometimes i close my eyes and melt into the night's sounds. everybody on the island is asleep. i listen to tom waits sing some lullabies and miles quietly blows his horn.

i float in this stillness and realize that these moments will never end.

my favorite waterfall photo

2007-11-24T16:50:00.000+05:30

i was standing on a big rock in the middle of a deep pool. a gentle rain was falling as these giant cascades thundered behind me. my heart was pounding in my throat as i gave thanks to our Maker. i doubt that i'll ever forget this moment. click the picture to see a larger version.

Bolaven Plateau, Laos

a few pictures while you wait (click pic for larger photo)

2007-11-24T16:25:00.000+05:30

si phon don, laos - sunset #1

si phon don, laos - sunset #2

si phon don sunrise

cara - don khon, laos

me - don khon, laos (i swear i haven't gained weight, it's just the shirt!)

3 beautiful girls - don khon, laos

afternoon rainbow - don khon, laos

bolaven plateu, laos

vientiane sunset - laos

vang vieng, laos

the overnight shuffle to pakse

2007-11-12T19:10:00.000+05:30

one of the great joys of backpacking through asia are the overnight bus rides. i'm not sure that sarcasm translates on line, but trust me, the last sentence is dripping with it.

with cara and i heading south to pakse and then the 4,000 islands, we needed to either pay $100 for a plane ticket on laos air or $15 for a 10 hour, overnight bus ride. we figured that the responsible thing to do would be to save our money by riding the bus and save our lives by not flying laos air.

let's just say that we were pretty unhappy to board our bus, sit down and notice that the bus next to our, which was also going to pakse, had beds instead of seats! i ran up to the ticket counter and tried my best to communicate our desire to ride the "bed" bus instead of the "seat" bus to no avail. it seems that the "bed" bus was for the chinese tourists! at this point i decided that i don't care what the demographic or economic data says, china has already become the dominant power in the world.

and so, 1 ambian and 10 hours later we arrived in pakse at 6:30 a.m. after finding a room in one of the crummiest guest houses of our trip we made the decision, not to sleep. shower or take it easy for the day, but to go on a 9 hour day trip to bolaven plateau (cara's idea not mine).

the company and trip were great. we visited three more waterfalls, a tea plantation and a coffee plantation. we also had our laundry done for us for the first time since leaving new york. we are able to keep quite clean by hand washing our plastic clothes in the sink, but the time had come for a full wash and rinse cycle.

as i type this entry, we are thinking about leaving tomorrow morning for the 3 hour journey south to si phon don, otherwise known as the "4,000 islands." at that point we will be a stones throw from the north cambodian border. i'm told that the mekong river is as wide as 15 kilometers in that part of the world and, that after the monsoon season ends, when the waters recede, thousands of islands appear in its place.

if half of what we hear is true, si phon don and the 4,000 islands should be a highlight of this trip. we're following everyone's advice and leaving ourselves more than enough time to enjoy it and since our laos visa expires on november 21, we should have the better part of a week to do so before making our way overland into cambodia.

however, electricity is sparse if at all existent on si phon don, so be forewarned, this may be the last blog entry for a little while.

ventiane - the sleepiest capital

2007-11-12T19:03:00.000+05:30

there is definitely less happening in ventiane than in any other national capital i've ever visited. in fact, there is less happening in ventiane than in most other towns in laos. of course, i am exaggerating, but not by much.

there were two highlights of our 48 hours in ventiane:

1. watching a thai telecast of the "Ms. Queen" transvestite, beauty contest, where the deputy mayor of bangkok crowned the winner.

2. riding the only escalator in laos.

vang vieng

2007-11-12T18:51:00.000+05:30

the nam song river winds its way through the jarring karst mountains which surround vang vieng. karst is the type of limestone which constitutes much of the rock in laos, and it's unlike anything i've seen in north america.

giant caves bore through these mountains turning them into a sort of swiss cheese and, oh, the swimming holes! whether they are at the bottom of one of the countless waterfalls in laos or merely in one of the rivers, the combination of limestone and crystal clear water makes for the best swimming i've ever enjoyed in my life. emerald greens and turquoise blues; i simply can't describe the beauty with words.

...and the same goes for vang vieng.

if you ignore the short strip of tourist restaurants and bars serving every type of marijuana/mushroom/opium shake, and believe it or not - i swear that this is true - playing endless reruns of the t.v. show friends to stoned patrons, vang vieng is still as beautiful as any national park in the u.s.

of course cara and i scoped out a beautiful guesthouse on the banks of the river; a world away from the commotion of the backpacker's ghetto. we spent 4 days tubing down the river, biking to distant caves and swimming holes - one aptly names "the blue lagoon" and eating fresh, spring rolls and delicious coconut custard cooked in front of us by two women who became fast friends.

vang vieng is definitely the beaten path, but surely it's just as beautiful as it ever was.

impossibly beautiful

2007-11-07T19:31:00.000+05:30

our guide book describes tat kuang si falls as "impossibly beautiful." surely this is an apt description for the entire park, which is located about 30 km outside of luong prabang in northern laos.

with all due respect, cara and i had to laugh out loud as we were swimming and rope swinging in these emerald pools because we realized it was monday... sure beats the heck out of a staff meeting in the city!

but seriously, we're here to vouch for the fact that this world is beyond gorgeous. not a day goes by that we don't thank G-d for this opportunity; this time to discover and revel in the miraculous nature and sublime beauty of the far corners of our collective home.

by popular request... more photos!

2007-11-05T17:26:00.001+05:30

drying banana chips

a steeler fan in laos?!

sheer beauty

how to fix a broken axle in laos

the one road of muong ngoi

some photos...

2007-11-04T15:30:00.001+05:30

chillies drying in the road

our truck before it broke

muang ngoi, laos

pak ou cave, laos

bananas!

laos: a land of contradictions

2007-11-04T10:25:00.000+05:30

"in vietnam people plant rice.
in cambodia they watch it grow.
in laos they listen to it grow"

-southeast asian saying

laos truly is one of the most peaceful places on earth. the lao people emanate a warmth and sense of serenity that i've never felt anywhere else. if you didn't pay close attention, you might think these people haven't a concern in the world. but, laos is a land of contradictions.

take, for instance, the fact that laos is the most bombed country, per person, in the history of warfare. according to military historians, the U.S. dropped 2,093,100 tons of bombs on laos at a cost of $2 million dollars per day for 9 years and more than 1/3 of lao civilians became internal refugees during and after the second indochina war.

or how about this: the People's Democratic Republic of Laos (the government) banned pop music until 2003.

or how about this: there is an 11:30 p.m. curfew in luong prabong.

or how about this: many lao were forcibly resettled to the north and imprisoned in work camps after the second indochina war (including the family of our guesthouse manager).

or how about this: the PDR of lao persecuted buddhists and severely curtailed buddhist practice for years.

or how about this: no freedom of expression, association or the press exists in laos.

or how about this: 75% of lao citizens live on less than $2 per day.

...so there is certainly more to this green paradise of mountains and waterfalls than meets the eye. if anything, the lao can teach us all something about patience, perseverence and dignity in the face of immense challenge, for these warmest of smiles are rooted in a poverty and suffering that, thank G-d, we cannot conceive.

if the lao can radiate so much joy and equanimity, why can't we?

since we last checked in...

2007-11-02T13:29:00.000+05:30

our path has led us from:

chiang mai > chiang rai > chiang kong > huay xai > luong namtha > udomxai > pak mong > nong khiaw > muang ngoi neua > nong khiaw > luong prabang

chiang kong - a six hour minibus ride north through chiang rai. we arrived late at night in this sleepy border town. our first glimpse of the mighty mekong river took our breath away. after so many years of dreaming about laos and the mekong, we're finally here.

huay xai - after having our passport stamped out of thailand, we boarded a small boat and took the 60 second journey across the mekong, but it may as well have been 60 years. our first steps in laos were met with a tangible difference in atmosphere from thailand. once in laos, almost every other tourist headed straight to luong prabang via slow boats down the mekong river. cara and i opted to first head further north to luong namtha. we made our way to the local bus "station" and waited for the "bus." only two other westerners were on board as we wound our way north toward luong namtha province on the almost completed "road." the journey took six hours; much better than the 14 hours it would have taken last month before the "road" was nearly completed, but there were still many sections where the blacktop gave way to dirt and mud.

luong namtha - a gorgeous valley of rice fields nestled beneath the nam ha mountains and nature preserve. very few tourists in luong namtha - probably less than 30 others. we took a 15 mile bike ride through tribal villages and rice paddies. the poverty is as striking as the beauty of the people and the natural surroundings. we also took a day trek with guides up into the mountains where we visited a remote village named ban sina. in many ways, it reminded me of mountain villages in nepal; poverty probably being the common denominator. we were also in luong namtha for the biggest celebration of the year: the seasonal full moon boat races. great fun and festivity. tribe people from all the surrounding villages hike down to the banks of the namtha river to witness the boat races and celebrate the change of season. we ate every strange food imaginable and drank many beerlao.

luong namtha>udomxai>pak mong>nong khiaw - this is where the journey got even more "interesting." we took a 5 hour "bus" ride to udomxai where we were hoping to catch a "bus" to nong khiaw. ...the only problem was that there was no bus to nong khiaw. but no worries, we were told, "my friend will take you if you have 5 or more people." what good luck, we thought, there are three others with us!

our perceived luck gave way to fear when we saw the vehicle which we were chartering; a pickup truck with a canvas roof over the bed. often called a sangetaw in these parts; good for a twenty minute trip, horrifying for a 5 hour journey up and around mountains on a twisting, rutted, dirt "road." oh well, we all thought, "at least we'll make it to nong khiaw today."

...almost. all was going well enough, aside from the nineteen other people who were stuffed into and on this sangetaw. i had the last seat in the back. one of my butt cheeks was hanging off the truck and i was employing every meditation technique i could muster not to vomit.

"we're halfway there," someone announced in a cheery voice as our collective spirits picked up for the first time since we pulled out of the bus station. just then, we heard a loud crack and crash and the truck began to skid. my first thought was that we hit an animal, or that we had a flat tire. we should have been so lucky. we all climbed out of the truck and were horrified to discover that truck had broken it's front axle. i looked around for a place to sleep on the side of the road, figuring it was going to be a long night.

but, once again, we were graced by miracles, or maybe this is the way things always happen in laos. the driver actually had a spare part! ...but his only tools were a wrench, hammer and machete. he disappeared into the jungle for a few minutes, probably to relieve himself, i figured, but soon reappeared with two logs hacked to size with the machete. "what's going on," i wondered?

within 15 minutes he had the logs supporting the axle and the wheel and within an hour and a half we were back on the "road." that right, folks, our driver repaired a broken axle with one wrench, one hammer, a machete and two bamboo logs! i still can't believe it, but we did arrive in nong khiaw 12 hours after we departed luong namtha.

nong khiaw>muong ngoi neua - we spent a quiet night in nong khiaw and set off first thing for muong ngoi neua, which is a one hour boat ride up the gorgeous nam ou river. giant, limestone, karst mountains covered with impenetrable forest. there are no roads to muong ngoi; the only way to get there is by boat. the village itself is completely of the beaten path. no more than 20 - 30 other tourists there. no electricity. a place out of time. as i sat on our bungalow steps before bed, looking up at the jagged, black silhouette of the mountains surrounding us, i wasn't sure that i had ever been in a more peaceful, quiet place.

... but that impression changed at 4:00 a.m. the next morning. we were first awaken by a single rooster. then we heard another... and another. then ducks started quacking, pigs started oinking and bullfrogs started croaking. all this was capped by the sounds of wood being chopped and boat engines firing up for the morning catch. it was a veritable cacophony of sound. kind of like an orchestra crescendo and the daytona 500 all rolled up into one.

we spent the day hiking up a crystal clear river, yes, in the river, to a glorious waterfall where we took an invigorating shower and ate fresh bananas and oranges. there was no trail, so we put on our sandals and walked through the rushing, knee-deep water, aided by the great traction of the limestone river bed; climbing slowly for about an hour until we reached the falls.

muong ngoi neua>nong khiaw>luong prabang

we decided that we would much rather make the trip to luong prabang by boat. this 6 hour stretch of the nam ou river is supposed to be sensationally beautiful... and boats don't have axles. after finding a handful of others to share the cost of chartering the boat, we set off down river. the scenery was transcendent; bigger and bigger mountains covered with every shade of green, contrasted by the brilliant hues of the limestone underneath. hour after hour of barely inhabited forest occasionally interrupted by pastoral, village scenes.

we made a quick stop at the pak ou caves and finally arrived in luong prabang at dusk.

now it's time to shower and head to chabad for kabalat shabbat and dinner.

hallelujah!

2007-10-23T09:33:00.000+05:30

it ocurred to me to repost this picture, because i think that, in many ways, it symbolizes our approach to this journey and to life and i think it deserves more than just the lighthearted post below.

at the moment that cara snapped this photo, i was saying the jewish prayer, Shehecheyanu, which is translated as follows:

"Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us and enabled us to reach this season (moment)."

i had so much for which to give thanks at that moment and i do now as well. ...and i'm sure i'm not the only one.

friends, family, people we don't yet know and whoever happens to stumble across this blog: may you all enjoy the precious moments of this blessed, miraculous and mysterious life we share.

now, maybe we should all join each other in a collective "amen."

...we're off to laos in 30 minutes.

we're riding off into the thai sunset

2007-10-22T16:41:00.000+05:30

...and by thursday we should be crossing the border into laos. from there, our plans are to get way off the beaten path and head north. not immediately to luong prubong with everyone else, but all the way up to luong naamtha. as far as we can tell right now, the journey should consist of:

1 six hour bus ride from chiang mai to chiang kong
spend the night in chiang kong
obtain visa and cross laotian border the next morning
anywhere from a 10-14 hour busride or pick-up truck ride (although i will be intensely praying that this is not the case) to luong naamtha.

let's just say that the roads in laos are sometimes more theoretical than actual. in any event, we'll see for ourselves soon. for what it's worth, the ride is supposed to be spectacular. i anticipate seeing some of the most beautiful forest in all of southeast asia. we'll soon be about as far "away" from nyc as we can possibly get.

from luong naamtha we plan on journeying south to luong prabong, although we don't know when this will be or how we'll make the journey. most likely, we'll be taking a combination of ground transport and river boats.

seeing as though we will be out of touch for a while, i thought i'd leave something to hold you all over. i spent many hours uploading and organizing all the photos we've snapped so far (all 435 of them!) and my work is now complete. let me know what you think (there is a tab for comments with each photo).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13907351@N02/

or you can search www.flickr.com for "member" "alecandcara"

enjoy the photographs and wish us luck!

another day, another waterfall

2007-10-17T19:18:00.000+05:30

sure beats a shower in the bathroom!

rebbe nachman

2007-10-15T10:29:00.000+05:30

"as often as you can, take a trip
out to the fields to pray.
all the grasses will join you.
they will enter your prayers
and give you the strength to sing
praises to G-d"

-rabbi nachman of breslov

sure sounds like good advice to me, rebbe. and seeing as we are living, for the moment, in a world of beautiful grasses, this may be the perfect place to follow your edict.

of course, as fate would have it, cara and i were able to locate a kabbalat shabbat service here in pai. far off the beaten path, in a little corner of the world where chabad doesn't even have a presence, two breslov jews have established a bayit yehudim, or "house of jews." they've been here since before Rosh Hashana and they will be leaving soon. it was our good fortune to meet Chaim and Zimora and 12 others for a beautiful kabbalat shabbat service and dinner last friday.

as we sat together in a large hut-like treehouse, with a roof made of dry leaves, i was reminded what a lucky people we are; able to travel to the lost corners of this beautiful planet, able to pray freely without threat of persecution, and maybe most importantly, able to share experiences, insight, laughter and love with others.

friday night was just another example of the "fruits" of this journey. as i've said before, the views and abundant physical beauty on our journey are surely of lesser value than the human connections forged along the way.

and what's more, Zimora is a b'nei menashe jew, originally from manipur, india. she moved to israel in 2001 and still has deep roots and many connections back in india. seeing as cara and i have always thought about travelling to manipur and mizoram, india, to visit this "lost" tribe, we asked a million questions and took a bunch of notes. suddenly, a logistically difficult trip, became tangibly easier with the names, directions and advice offered by Zimora.

the path will reveal itself...

i spent most of saturday reading the writings of Rebbe Nachman, and there is another quote that jumped out at me, particularly in light of the fact that i have some dear ones who, at the moment, are dealing with the pain and uncertainty that life inevitably shares with us all.

"growing spiritually can be like
a roller coaster ride.
take comfort in the knowledge that
the way down is only
preparation for the way up."

-rabbi nachman of breslov

hang on everyone, for many challenging twists and turns await us all, but as the rebbe also said:

"know! we walk in life

on a very narrow bridge.

the most important thing

is to not be afraid!"

amen!

Chaim and Zimora Yaish

pai

2007-10-14T17:36:00.001+05:30

rice fields and mountains behind our guesthouse

view from our bungalow window (note the thatched roof)

view from our private porch

cabana and pool at our guesthouse

looking out our window at dusk

well, just when we were ready to move on from thailand, we've made our way to pai.

nestled far up in the mountains of the northeast corner of thailand, along the burmese (myanamar) border, pai is truly a world unto itself. fields of green as far as the eye can see. beautiful mountains with waterfalls and bubbling hot springs. wild elephants and butterflies of every color combination imaginable. once again, cara and i have stumbled into paradise.

once known as part of the "golden triangle" (along with northern laos and eastern burma) because of the fact that virtually all of the world's opium was grown here, pai still glows brightly. it's not too hard to imagine vast fields of poppies blooming along with the pineapple, papaya, guava, banana and other plants that thrive here. in fact, it seems like everything grows in pai. the soil is so rich that we could almost eat it for dinner!

...and as for our accommodation, we are staying at a guest-house named Pai Chan. from the pictures above, you can see that it is stunning. it is situated alone, in a giant field of blooming rice. lush mountains rise in the distance and together with the clouds and mist, they play a revolving game of hide-and-seek throughout the day.

there is a gorgeous pool, cabana and hammocks and our bungalow is tucked away, all alone, in the corner of the rice field. we have a private bathroom with a rain shower and changing room that is tiled in blue and larger than our former apartment. we also have a private porch, pillows and a handmade picnic table in the front. trust me when i tell you that Pai Chan is every bit as nice as any Four Seasons resort.

what's really funny is that before we left, some people had the idea that we'd be living in poverty, like filthy hippies in disgusting conditions. of course we've had some short term, sub-par rooms, and i'm sure that we have more ahead (especially in india), for the moment we are truly living like royalty.

...and the cost of our opulent estate?

$10.00 per night.

my momma

2007-10-11T18:03:00.000+05:30

tina susan rieger

october 11, 1943 - april 11, 2007

her love endures forever
and her spirit is the wind

"even in our sleep,
pain that we cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon our hearts.
until against our will,
through our own despair,
comes wisdom,
through the awful grace of G-d."

-aeschylus

fantastic fingers

2007-10-10T11:30:00.000+05:30

i've finally seen the light, and it is spelled:

T h a i M a s sa g e

yesterday cara and i walked all around chiang mai, from dawn 'till dusk. we visited local markets ( including the beautiful flower market) chinatown, more Wats (buddhist temples) than i can count, noodle shop after noodle shop and silk emporiums as we repeatedly got lost within the soi (streets) of this quaint city.

when we finally returned to our guesthouse at around 10:00pm, our feet and legs were tired and stiff. hmm... what to do?

"how about a thai foot massage?" we thought. perfect. fortunately, every block in chiang mai has trained masseurs waiting to ply their craft. and lest you think this is all for the benefit of farang (tourists), it's not; massage is a regular part of day-to-day thai life.

so in we went and down we sat in plush reclining chairs. our feet were placed in buckets of warm water and our feet were scrubbed with lemons. from this point on all i remember is a series of ahhhs and ohhhs. our feet were worshipped and pampered in a way that i never thought possible. every toe, every tendon, every muscle from my pinkee to my my knee was rubbed, shaken, scraped and massaged back to life.

45 minutes later we were waken with a cup of tea and a smile.

...and the cost for this royal treatment?

$3.00

tell that to all the boutique, soho day spas!

sukhothai

2007-10-06T14:07:00.001+05:30

located about 470 km north of bangkok, sukhothai was the first capital of thailand. the ancient city is about 45 square km and it is filled with ruins dating back to 12th and 13th century.

cara and i rented bicycles and pedaled silently through the lush landscape and gentle rain. we saw at least 6 new (for us) types of exquisitely colorful birds, a very large snake (which bore too much of a resemblance to a viper for me), orchids galore and a spider the size of a softball.

perhaps the best thing about sukhothai is that we are finally off the tourist "trail." a few small guest houses, a cute night market and no horde of backpackers. the path less traveled, as they say.

tomorrow we take another 6 hour bus ride further north to chaing mai.

creepy european white guys

2007-10-06T13:27:00.000+05:30

if there is one thing that i hate about thailand, it would have to be the creepy, european, white guys who come here to shack up with thai prostitutes. fortunately, i've never seen anything like it before.

now, i think that we are all familiar with the form of prostitution which takes place in the west: men paying for sex, usually of the wham-bam-thank you, ma'am variety. although i've never paid for sex (aside from dinner and drinks) i can admit, that this institution makes sense to me. after all, it is the world's "oldest profession," right?

but, what i can't understand is paying for sex with a prostitute, who does not speak a word of your language, and then going on a two week vacation with her!

i'm not sure if i can possibly convey how creepy it is to sit next to some pudgy, pasty, british guy and his thai "girlfriend" as they eat dinner silently; not a word exchanged between them except for an occasional smile or giggle.

it seems like the ultimate nightmare to me; sex with someone you don't love, who doesn't go away!

in any event, the arrangement seems to work for those participating in it. the thai women earn far more money than they would otherwise, and sometimes even score a minimally disgusting western husband, and the "men" get to copulate with women whose beauty is so far out of their league that it is actually painful to imagine them shaking hands, let alone sleeping together naked.

unfortunately, from what i'm told, the men often lie and play on the feelings of these women, i.e. "i really love you baby. of course i want to marry you."

lame.

PICTURES!

2007-10-04T21:02:00.000+05:30

cara at her great-great-great grandparent's graves on the mount of olives in jerusalem

dov weidman's grave

rachel weidman's grave. taken on the 103 anniversary of her death.

the view from dov and rachel's graves. as i said in the post below, they have a 50 yard-line view of the temple mount. (note: the mosque in the middle with the golden dome is the dome of the rock, quite likely built on the exact site of the Temple.)

view across the mount of olives cemetary

am yisroel chai!

view across our koh chang beach

our kachapura bungalow in koh chang. another moist morning...

the opposite view of our beach. shhh... don't tell the developers.

a misty morning kiss

and now for my favorite: my bailan beach sunset chair.

...and don't worry, there are more photos to come soon!

koh chang

2007-10-04T19:43:00.000+05:30

well, we're back in bangkok after one week on koh chang, a mountainous island, covered with the lushest tropical tropical rainforest we've ever seen, in the northeast corner of the gulf of thailand.

i've never seen anything like it. we spent our days bathing in waterfalls, swimming in an emerald green sea which is as warm as a winter's bath, eating delicious fresh food and hanging with beautiful people. i know that i've blogged about this before, but it really is amazing how fast and true are the human connections made on the road. i'm talking truly impressive people from all over the world. yesterday, for instance, we had dinner with a 53 year old aussie man living in chang mai (northern thailand), his 40 year old french friend, three israelis and a 23 year old german just returning from a two month trip through laos and cambodia.

what you quickly realize out here, is that despite our different backgrounds and different cultures, we are all on the same page. in fact, we probably all have more in common with each other than we do with the majority of our respective citizens back home. spend a few days at the tree house in koh chang, for instance, with a few of the world's travellers/nomads and you will be overwhelmed by the energy; the sense of adventure, the openness, the curiosity and love that emanates from the entire bunch.

we, actually spent hours blessing our good fortune and wondering why all of our neighbors, friends and family often don't make time for these "walkabouts."

we stayed in a gorgeous bungalow, right on the sea, with a desserted beach, all for $10/night. sleeping with the windows and door open, listening to the waves and the occasional monsoon rain was glorious, as was winding down on the white sand beaches which meet the lushest, moistest, juciest forest we've ever seen. and the mountains... impassable during monsoon (and most other times of year) capturing the clouds and shielding the wind.

take a walk, or ride, down the road in koh chang and you're likely to see a wild elephant grazing, tropical birds, more flowers than a greenhouse and iridescent (sp?) butterflies that actually look like birds! i know that i've been promising to post some pics, but internet access on koh chang was spotty and i think we're heading out of bangkok tomorrow. but, trust me, the photos are well worth the wait!

as for the coming days, cara and i are heading by bus (we think) to sukothai (an ancient capital of thailand with supposedly spectacular ruins - think angkor wat) tomorrow. from there we will head up to chang mai, to rendezvous with our expat friends who live there (and cara wants to take a cooking class), before journeying to pai (on the thai/burmese border) and nan (on the thai/laotian border). from there, most likely, we will enter laos (which i've been dreaming about for years)! of course, you can google any of these cities for more info about where we are.

in the meantime, we are sending gargantuan hugs, the warmest of thoughts and all of our love to everyone reading this blog! ...and please leave a comment (for all you technologically challenged folks, just click on the word "comments" below the individual posts) they make us smile and more!

...and remember, as this blog proves, time and space got nothing on love.

sukkot on koh san

2007-09-28T19:55:00.000+05:30

Wednesday night we celebrated the jewish holiday of sukkot in bangkok... and when i say celebrate, i mean celebrate.

who would have thought that in the middle of thailand we'd be praying, eating and celebrating in a succah (the "hut" like structure that jews build and eat in during the week of sukkot) with upwards of 200 other people?!

surely, these events are even more meaningful when one is traveling through a distant land, especially one with very few jews. how fitting that we would be observing sukkot, the holiday which commemorates the nomadic history of our people, while being nomads ourselves!

and in keeping with the miraculous nature of our journey thus far, there was another amazing experience to add to the list.

after we found the location of the celebration, at the chabad house near kho san road, we sat down and marveled at the number of israelis who were present. soon, we found a fellow american, who introduced himself as yoni katz. of course the next question was "where are you from in the states?" when yoni responded, "crown hights," we weren't surprised. we laughed about being very far from the five buroughs and continued talking about sukkot and the meaning of the holiday.

after further talk about nyc and brooklyn, yoni volunteered that he actually didn't grow up in new york, but in pittsburgh! you can imagine our mutual amazement, which was further heightened after we realized that our parents know each other and that we share many of the same family friends!!!

of course, within two minutes talk turned to the steelers and we exchanged "high fives" on our team's 3-0 start!!!

dinner in the succah was delicious and the intense spirit of those present lifted everyone.

afterwards, cara and i sat with yoni and his friend, saadya notik. we talked until late into the night about the meaning of life and what it means to be a human being and a jew. sometime during those four hours lifetime connections were made and real love was shared.

surely, this is why we're traveling; opening ourselves to new experiences and relationships while learning more about who we are and making life-long friends in the process. there is no way to describe the the speed and depth of human connections which are made on the road, when people are outside of their "comfort zones." it's simply incredible. we live and work next to people in "real" for years without developing the depth of connection that can be created in a few hours on the road.

yoni and saadya are two of the most beautiful human beings we've ever met. during the time that the four of us spent together, cara and i were transported out of our physical surroundings to another higher realm.

time flew by and eventually it was time for sleep. after hugs and promises to keep in touch, cara and i stepped outside and we were literally shocked by the hustle and bustle of bangkok. it was as if we forgot we were. the chabad house offered us a refuge; a place to celebrate and get to know ourselves and each other a bit better, and for this, i will always be grateful.

whoa...

2007-09-24T18:07:00.000+05:30

we're in asia!!!

almost seven years to the day since i first landed in bangkok, cara and i have returned!

it's sensory overload in every way; the sights, the sounds, the smells... and the best tasting pad thai we've ever had for 60 cents!

it's hard to believe that this is just the beginning!

much love to everyone.

yom kippur at the western wall

2007-09-23T03:01:00.000+05:30

after services this afternoon, cara and i decided to walk to the western wall, in order to daven (pray) neila (the final yom kippur service) and to bid farewell to this magical city.

barely a car on the street in jerusalem and the scene at the kotel (wall) was far beyond words.

thousands of jews, a sea of white talit (prayer shawls), makeshift services in every corner of the plaza... and cara and me.

it was nearly impossible to follow any one service because every minyan (group) was praying at a different pace and at the top of their lungs.

in the end, i found a spot at the wall, placed my hands and head on those ancient, holy stones and listed to the cacophony.

at 6:13 p.m (when yom kippur officially ended in israel -- i wonder what Maimonides would think about that! coincidence?) shofar's (rams horns) began to blow in ever direction. one tekiya gadola (long note) after another as the singing and dancing began.

i can't communicate the intensity of these moments, but i'm sure that they will live with us forever.

...and now it's time to pack. we leave for istanbul and bangkok tomorrow!

atonement

2007-09-21T18:02:00.000+05:30

as we prepare for yom kippur and our last day in israel, the theme of the moment is atonement.

to our family, friends and anyone else that we may have harmed in any way, please accept our sincere apologies. life is messy, feelings rage and communication is the most difficult task at hand. undoubtedly, we've come up very short on more than one occasion.

but, life is about conflict and resolution... and never forget that the hardest, yet most important person to forgive is yourself.

may every one of our jewish readers have a meaningful yom kippur and a sweet year.

...next stop bangkok!