mush ado about fish

We looked outside yesterday and No snow. the elders of Cleveland don't recall the color of the ground on this day. Even rarer still is both I and Alla home on a weekday. to celebrate this combination. we got another kid. Nathan came for the day. with the 2 hell raisers together, we need significant play room. Chabad house, god willing, has lots of slides and we had there. but one of the lights explodes and glass is all over (we are told about this as we arrive) and we settle for 2 play rooms full of toys. the kids get to run around non stop and i get a bit of reading of under Tuscan skies.

about 2 hours of running later, outside slides included, we take them home.

the running around continues and i sit to continue a puzzle i started the night before.

the night before- I decided to do a puzzle, it's been a while . i took out the Simpsons puzzle, opened it and D'oh. it had a little vial of glue inside that broke and pieces were stuck together, not in the form intended for puzzles. with the puzzle being salvageable, I had to select between African trees or a dragon. since we need some white to supplement the snow. i choose the white dragon puzzle. 

we find with the cousins together it is easier to handle them, since you only have to convince Nathan to do something and Mattan will join. Nathan is much more agreeable and now they both eat soup and watch something. time for bed and we are jealous. we place Nathan in bed, he asks for a blanket and places his head down... so easy. Mattan does everything but sleep. I take Tal to sleep and get 2 hours myself.  Mattan remains awake.

very difficult day, i get up and do a bit more puzzle. Nathan wakes later all smiles and the boys begin to fight over a fish. its a bath toy with  a string, you pull it and the fish eats the worm string.

Nathan takes it and Mattan, who never plays with this fish decides that he wants it now and the anguish begins, "my fish" and other such sentences. i try to divert the attention, they dont want the crab, but for a while a tiny dinosaur is a good replacement.

Alla thinks Inna will owe her one for the day and i laugh a bit, what can you owe for few hours of kid sitting , but i plan to send both Mattan and Tal there for a week in return. inna is now enjoying the cold snow of the Rockies and missing the unexpected lack of frozen-ness here.

Building of train tracks and magnet mall begins and soon followed with destruction of same structures. the sky, water are done and the clouds begin to form on my puzzle.

bath time, and again, Nathan just goes in, while Mattan still clamors about the fish. results of no nap time, but finally relaxes after a shower. the Fish is still a cause of aggravation and when it falls under the couch, i "send the fish home" for the night. the puzzled kids are still concerned but then Nathan grabs a Thomas trains and immediately Mattan attempt to claim the train as his own. a truck distracts him and now they both ride along.

Alla's phone buzzes and i catch a glimpse of a text message from Colorado. "a bath too, I owe you one". apparently this day off is worth more than i thought, perhaps we can get two weeks back...

its time to go home and now the kids are all hugs and kisses, waiting for the next day together, forgot all the toy fighting .

we sit for dinner, main course is potatoes and ...fish.

how was your X-mass? 

happy holidays

 

on chipotle and cooties

its approximately 2 hours after event and i am still much upset.

i was entering chipotle  when a call came it. My phone is usually on silent and now i think i will forever keep it silent. I should have kept playing words with friend but i answered.

the IRS. i left the store with no bowl of goodies and set in my car for over 20 minutes listening to my dark looming future as a tax evasion criminal. the caller identified themselves as the IRS, gave me a case number and a list of violations i committed, but not following the tax code, omitting important details and cheating uncle Sam an impacting the US economy. I was told that I would be soon arrested, spend 72 hours in jails, then the evidence against me will be presented.

he advised me to get a Tax lawyer which would cost 20-30 thousands. said the IRS has send me mail which i supposedly ignored on specific dates and sound very formal and official.

the call ended with me asking my self the following questions- should i go to Canada right now? or stay go to jail for 5-7 years and have all my assets frozen.

much terrified, i called the person i knew might know who would know a lawyer. lucky Inna knew of this scam attempt.

I looked it up on the IRS web site and this is a common scam. what seemed legit to me is that they didn't ask for money in any way or personal info, though i did confirm my address and the fact that I don't have any issues with my postal service.

i filed a complaint with the Treasury department, but i am one of ten of thousands of suckers.

i spoke before about the Sucker written on my forehead, but i didn't know it extended to my cell number.

after the IRS web site and returning to semi normal breathing, drove out and got my chipotle.

last Week Alla proudly told me that she got cooties at Mattan's day care. i was a bit surprised, Lice perhaps , but not cooties. thought only girls get cooties- said Bart Simpson. Alla had a chat with one of Mattan's teachers and the Cooties became Kudos! they say Mattan is doing very well

he tells them when he needs a diaper change, or even when he gets his clothes dirty. that surprised us since at home he does not. he is much more childish with us, he regressed a bit since Tal joined the fray, but it is good that outside he acts more mature. in 2 weeks we will have a Diaper off weekend, targeted at de-diapering him- expects reports of carpet poop and watch where you step.

when i pick up Mattan, Alla asks me what the teachers say and i say what they said, but i don't know who said it.  an ancient problem of mine was to match people and faces. Mattan has 3 teachers. two of them look alike to me and i dont recall which is which. both brunette, aprox same height, aprox same age, aprox same build. Alla doesn't understand why i can spot a cheetah lurking in the savanna , but cant see a water melon in the fridge or tell the teachers apart .

Alla is trying to help and told me that Lauren just got blond highlights. sure, as if i would notice something like that. Alla got highlights before our vacation and i noticed it a week later...

after my last visit i tried to pay attention and truly one of them, not alex... has highlights, maybe now i will try to differentiate - i also think now the Lauren hugs Mattan more when he lives, she has a crush on him. well it could be the other one....

Tal has started sitting, crawling, holding his bottle and generally being aware of everything around him so it is harder to put him to sleep, but he is developing very nicely

well time to finish this report , going home soon and hoping i will not be arrested

p.s if you see me in Canada this weekend, you know why.

p.s.2 anyone got a boat or a private plane?

on beached whales and ownership

I am sitting here on the porch, the sun begins to shine, Palm trees are dancing in the wind and Mattan is napping so i can't go to breakfast.

Yesterday morning we left home for a short Florida excursion. how difficult can it get, the two of us and the two of them and some luggage. Mattan decided that today is all about mom, any check point, I want mommy. when mommy goes to get an extra wrap for the baby sit, he is wailing, even though he can see here in the next counter, so every step is harder. he also runs and runs… we finish security and he just starts running, he doesn't see all the do not come here signs. we didn't even board and i need a shower. 

on the plane, he doesn't come down for a second. playing with the back trays , touching every thing that looks like a button while Tal is mostly quiet , i take hikes up and down the plane with him on my shoulder. its a direct flight, lucky and Mattan falls a sleep in the last 10 minutes… and now he is cranky

we get the luggage, head out and then remember about the car seats, go back.. 2 people, 1 suit case 4 back pack 2 car sits and 2 kids… one of them a runner. so we pay for the cart, we walk 50 meters and get on the car rental bus. there is another ay cart as we land. but i will not pay another 4$ for 50 meters, i carry the whole thing somehow and now my back aches, but hey, i saved 4$..

there is a line at the car rental, and cranky becomes crankier.

on the way there, Mattan is troubled by the rental car. it is not ours he says repeatedly… 

lots of traffic today as we head north from fort lauderdale. we stop at a grocery store to de-parch the kids with yogurt and chicken fingers for us and continue driving. it takes us 3 hours + to get there, in the last 30 minutes the loud one finally sleeps..

at least club med.

after check in, we head right to dinner. Rattan is thankfully napping in the stroller and Tal has plenty of family now to entertain him so i can check the food. lots of it looks much better then it taste, i sample stuff and leave it out. but the bread is great and the butter is fluid.  the ice cream is also good, the rest is not worth mentioning.

We play Taki later on and spend time with everyone. it rained so i didn't go to dodge-ball. how cool is dodge ball at night, i am expecting to enjoy today

on the agenda, volley ball, football, trapeze, fun games and muscle pain.. perhaps some paddle boarding as well.

mattan, wake up!!!!

Alla said that when i watch the kids they sleep more, not just me , but others as well.

i tried to figure out why for her they sleep less. i think i may have some hints

yesterday Alla cleaned Tal's ears while he slept

she went to the kids and "gently" nudges them to check on them

and other such activities, so i think i have moved this riddle. I , on the other hand, will close the door, change the other's diaper in another room and do everything not to wake a sleeping child, except now, in my mind i am willing him to wake up…

my mind is weak, i guess.

Tall begins to crawl, he bobs front and back, leans on his side and even does a few crawl steps here and there, so adorable. and also grabs every thing he sees for an oral inspection.

guess who woke up?,,, cont later

and later..

sometimes plan and execution differ slightly. started the morning with 5k. i have not done 5k in over a year, that felt as 8 k but the sun was out , nice birds, green grass ,palm trees lakes. I ran the whole way at super slow speed, then my foot was aching and i began limping, 2 extra strength tylenol later… we played water polo which was fun. i tried some paddle boarding , but exhaustion got the better of me and i couldn't do it. i took a double ride as alla paddles and i sit. movies of my so called heroics are on a Facebook near you. lunch followed  and later while napping i missed the trapeze, but an hour of beach volley ball was a good cure.

dinner is shortly but tomorrow will fulfill the plan.

next day

After breakfast i took a sailing lesson, followed by beach volley ball. they had a competition at the end, there are several rotating couples and you only get points on the one side, these are all beginners, some better some worse and points are won more by luck then skill, at one point i get coupled with a tall guy and we start making points and finally get to 5 and crowned kings of the beach... after lunch i miss ping pong again with kids duty, then miss the trapeze again... but i do play volley ball once more in the after noon. in the evening there is an award ceremony, multiple awards for all the sports academy. they read out the names for tennis and some name like mine is mentioned and i get prompted to go on stage and claim a medal i didn't earn- but hey, i didn't lose a single tennis match! then i get my medal for volley ball. i will place it next to my ping pong champ from some cruise to the hall of fame...

in between all the activities, the kids are at the various pools, and play ground activities. but this night, Mattan has passed his bed time and is on a cry fit- "this is not our house" for a long time. he is right, this isn't, he believes club med is owned by Moti. when we place him in bed, he falls a sleep right away.

next day, started with ... more beach volley ball training, i get a bit better now and spike a bit, later i go on the paddle board and this time succeed! its fun but my legs are tired from sand jumping.I skip ping pong once more but do manage the trapeze. this is the most graceless display of acrobatics you will ever see, i swing, but did not manage to do a loop or anything fancy. i leave the device with a hurting finger and a booboo that i see only later. its time for volley ball again, free play in the after noon. at one point i try a fancy move, the ball is far and i try to kick it back. my other legs doesn't like the move and i pull my groin muscle.. ouch.. lucky this is the last evening.. but i am now with a serious limp.

the last day is just breakfast say good by and drive back. we get there early and spend an hour in a kids fun park for Mattan to blow off some steam and reach home to a cold Cleveland..

photos will be sent in a couple of days

cheers

about its all Byoncee's fault

you may notice that i don't like losing. even if i now go an attend a golf match which i have never done, i will hate to lose. losing in many past games has not change my feeling on this.

I was invited to go to a casino special event- A trivia night.

I went with Genady and igor and as we entered the casino, Gena mentioned that you need ID if you win to collect and i checked and had no ID, people in front of us of ID screened, but i was not. should i be insulted? we passed the 1st check points, exited on the other end and got to the 2nd check point, once again no ID, but no check. 

we are sent to the dirty harry group. each group is a movie name. 

got a shrimp, skipped the Asparagus salmon and the chicken with mushrooms finger food and let the games begin.

10 questions and you can bet on the answers all in the categories of entertainments. there about 15 teams and for six questions- most gets get everything right. some of the questions i was clueless about , but there is enough knowledge in the group. questions like what Hitchcock ended with O, what song written by Ringo star was  sang by others in an 80's show.

things look good for the team and then question 7 comes to break the tie. in some 80's family sitcom what was the name of the daughter added later in the show. why is this even trivia?  . we didn't know and the questions got very hard all of  sudden. after the bonus round we were the 5th team not that far from first. now we had to gamble on points for the final questions- on female Grammy winners,, we figure that at least one team will get an answer so we must be the max and we do. which two female artists won 6 grammies in a single night. i am sure my friend google knows this unimportant questions but that was not allowed. Igor Knew Addle - - we debated  numerous vocalists and somehow Taylor swift was our false answer. this competition hd some nice prizes- had  we put Beyoncee's name , we would have finished 3rd and split 600$ , but ended with nothing. i continued to feel unlucky and donated 10$ to the slot machines.

lost again... but i gained valuable Grammy knowledge... and had a fun evening

 

p.s - see the Martian, interesting movie...

Tal at six months

Six months already....

time for a Tal report...

average hours of sleep- 3+7   - late evening nap, feeding followed by a 7 hours nap... except tonight when he was hungry at 3 am... and lots of short naps during the day, for him, i wish i had those naps..

Favorite toy- right fist, sometimes the left

Favorite activity- rolling over.

recent activity- attempts at crawling, he is doing the yoga upward dog.

favorite word- screech sound

Makes him laugh- diaper change, smile at him, make sounds to him, see Mattan play, well lots of things he laughs a lot

Favorite place to be- outdoors- the best way to relax him is just taking him outside, he automatically quiets and loves to nap there, even (or especially) in cold weather.

Tal is a big, he is up there in the percentage and wears 9 months closing.

he is super quiet. big brother wakes and cats across the street here about it, but Tal is unheard even in the same room.

he sleeps on his stomach, grabs everything around and likes to jump on the bouncer (a.k.a jail). he is unfortunately too big for the swing

new foods includes apple, pear, banana, sweet potatoes, still new with the solids

Tal just had his 1st stroller hike of 8.5 k- slept the whole way

that is it, he is getting more and more active so i am sure there will be exciting things in up comings months

enjoy photos of the prince

https://picasaweb.google.com/104769303678729727539/TalAtSixMonths?authuser=0&feat=directlink

on missing boat on the river and uber

Sometimes, on extremely rare occasions, my car gets a bit messy. the usual things you find in every car, extra diapers, wipes, zombie costume, a kid's dinosaur finger puppet, every day things. Alla's mission in life is for me to clean the car.

She devised a scheme for this very purpose.

A while back we heard of a concert with my niece Pauline, a gifted violinist and the band Styx. I heard styx and I agreed right away.  all i knew what that her orchestra is playing with the band. we arrived at the Q arena and the basketball court was transformed into a skating arena. the orchestra was already in place. 130 teenagers! i had no idea this group was this big. how do you get 5 people to play the cello? and good ones.

then some guys slides in and begin to explain what most of the audience knows, but clueless me. this Scott guy, a former Olympian skater, had cancer, was treated in the Cleveland clinic was cured and now for 16 years hold a benefit for the cancer institute. why not support it?, especially with Styx playing :).

Styx sang several of their greatest hits, the orchestra was playing with them and a group of world class skaters were doing their thing, skating, jumping, twirling, twisting and twice, even falling. some phenomenal moves and i was singing along most of the show.

The band mentioned that recently a 5th moon of Pluto was discovered and the band was invited to attend a NASA event where the Moon was named Styx..

One of the ice dancers was the main dancers son, age about 10 and he was making wee jumps on the ice. Alla commented that it is nice that he has a special skill and following his dad. I agreed and told her that this is why i will teach Mattan dungeons and dragons... alla had a mild stroke :)

Overall, a great show. the big screens were zoomed in on the dancing and occasionally the orchestra, but the camera was showing a section of violinists, but not Pauline. some people say the saw a glimpse of her for a seconds, we need a new director.

The only missing song was boat on the river

Before the show, the schemer told me that we need to drive people back to the show, but didn't tell me whom, then said that since she has 2 car sits and i have only one, it would be best to take my car, and since i am moving the car sits, i need to make room for these strangers from Uber. 

Now I had to evacuate 2 boxes of crucial material (see first paragraph) and 2 bags of empty water bottles.

The Uber strangers turned out to be Alla's sister and daughter and after the show were enjoyed a nice dinner at Pickwick and frolic.

Now i have to work hard to get my car in working messy order once more..

enjoy this nice clip of the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Qs8-BkiLw&index=217&list=PLR_Y9679to-jybWHO-JzpeUj4RSFkwJBz

cheers

on records, zombies and rides

a rather interesting week

Tal started crawling... well he more or like pulls himself onward with his hands,still no real crawl but a most exiting moment.

a new bird came to the yard, it was a pack of them, 4-5 together, a bit smaller then a robin and  slimmer, with kind of polka dots on the nets and strange patterns on the wings, took a while to search the book to find it, a Starling i think. i didn't get a snap shot...

We went to boo at the zoo, a non scary Halloween event, still lots of pumpkins, ghosts, staff and many of the guests in customs. I took my crock outfit , fitting for the zoo, but added an extra hand sticking out of my mouth, you know, finger food. for 2 hours or so i chased mattan around and enjoy the great atmosphere. they had a little dance party, hay maze, dancing light show , a fun event but mattan refused his Thomas outfit.

yesterday, an event was held in a university dorms, trick or treating. the students sit outside their rooms and give candy. they also decorate the halls, this is done for charity, the visitors bring used clothing for donation. Elmo (nathan) came as well and Mattan finally agreed to wear a custom and took my crock head. the kids are 5 months a part, share some DNA but are so different. Mattan rushes forward and i have to chase him, while nathan takes his time and enjoys the moment.  we go from dorm to dorm , in each a floor or tow is filled with students and candy. one floor was a scary one with spider webs and students make things rattle. both were scared and i carried them through it, informing the students not to play tricks. but most floors were cheerful and the kids more not then often say trick or treat, say thank you and get lots of Ohhhs. both look adorable. i wore a custom my self, a zombie. well just the pants and shirt. it is hard enough to follow these runaways even without having the mask obscure my vision. but this suit is super hot, and i go up and down the stairs, chase them around and sweat hard, in minutes i smell like a zombie.. mean while mattan asks for candy and i open it for him, then he is eating lolly pops, has them for a while then gives them to me and asks for "new candy". with one student, i hand her the used lolly and have her give it to mattan, but he is not fooled.

on the way back, Tal is crying in the car and mattan says "poor Tal, he wants milk papa "(in hebrew) so cute.

the other day i went to a class at the J. Rip n Ride, its a spin class, but you make "stops" for squats, sprints, lifts , jumps and other forms of torture. next morning i was fine, but now 48 hours later i a a wreck.. so hard returning to shape.

Alla tried to make a cake. i am usually the every day cook, and alla makes the specials.

she got the material, and couldn't find to make it, and on occasion i pilfered materials for pasta, she got more materials and the cycle continued. a month later, last weekend she finally had ingredients and time and create a masterpiece... there is nothing left after two days... we now try to find more time for this cake, you must try it.

i am addicted to words with friends and i do ok. i average 375 points and above 400 is uncommon, over 500 is very rare. a month ago i had a 580 game and thought i would never have a better one and then this week. it started with lazier z on Triple letter and word, 122 points, decorator on a double and triple word 80+, noisier - 7 word bonus score 70+ points. but there was a zap by a triple word score and both of us of hoping for the miracle S. and when it did, i had Aqua with Q on the triple letter. new word record of 153 and new game score of 683. amazing personal best for me. i looked up scores online- someone did 1233 with a single word!!!! . the thing is that before i finished the game, i had 1 i left, i saw a message that i resigned this game. i was shocked!!! the app has some glitches but this, on my best game ever, the pain in the the rip and ride class that followed was not as bad as this. i didn't see it in my games to play or in the completed games, it vanished. a few hours later it appeared again and i was able to complete and have a huge sigh of relief.. 

enjoy some photos

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipMEHOaugYEpnUdJxAD1Sb1LZ63rjZhVON6m5Mpn

on 24601

blog began a few days ago...

in case you missed it, today is back to the future day, very exciting. 

on a trip to universal studio's once, we went to the tourist show and i volunteered, they put me in a Doc brown suit and the stage looked like the final clock scene, and i stood on the clock balcony and shouted "Marty, i am sending you back to the future", this is my only movie credit and it wasn't even the real movie, they do it multiple times a day but i loved it.

today is the date that in the 2nd movie they went to the future, with flying cars, hover board and large screen TV that work like phones. well we kind of have the last one with Skype, but i have not seen hover boards or flying car. well perhaps in 30 more years..

started to work out a bit, went to spinning and had a soar butt in about a minute and exhaustion in 30. it is so hard to return, body aches. next day i tried body sculpt, lots of easy moves that get pain full quick and now i am sore all over, the good kind of sore, but a bit much.

went to see a movie, in the Jewish film fest. dough - kind of funny. 

sometimes i re watch old Simpsons seasons, it is unbelievable how much details was overlooked by me in the past. for example, the prisoner number of Side show bob , where he corresponds withe Selma is 24601. as a kid i missed this reference to les miserable. when principal Skinner find a face mask that looks like -the man from the iron mask, that too had the number 24601 on it. i really enjoy spotting new details.

i spent the day in a toast masters convention. we had several lectures including one fro, a world champion of public speaking. some of these speakers are amazing. many of the speakers state that you can be good, its takes time and practice, but it is a whole new level to be "gooder" as one speaker noted. my vantage point is that i always wanted to be good in many things but i don't know if i want to spend that much time in any one area to be gooder. before i started my role this year as an area governor, i declared a goal and that is to be comfortable introducing my self to strangers. i am too self conscious. with these conferences i am making baby steps towards the goal. i felt more comfortable today.

at one point i stand by the gift raffle bags, trying to see which one to put my ticket on and i begin to talk with this elderly woman on diapers and bottles that were given with this specific gift bag. a few minutes later when the key note speaker of the convention is announced i find that this was his wive, but just a casual conversation is a big step for me. well worth the convention price.

in the convention prizes are awarded, one of them is are Governor of the year, my current role. and the winner is... not me of-course, this is a prize for last years.. is my predecessor in the role. there are about 30 areas in our district, and this year i am in her shoes. funny that she is a teacher and knows Inna's kids from there school. small world (janet wasserman). my goal this year was not this awards, but now that she won it, i feel obliged to try as well. see what happens in next year awards.

it is incredibly beautiful outside. the fall colors are amazing. in the after noon light the red tree glisten and in the morning cloudy days, the yellow trees have a halo. already we can see many trees without leaves, this period want last forever and some frozen-ness will strike again.

i did some yoga yesterday, my activeness cycle slowly kick starts and i can see the symptoms, i googled a trip, i blog more, i have event ideas in mind, the good momentum is here and i need to keep it going....

tomorrow we may even hike ....

beautiful photos will arrive shortly

good night

little bit on Poop and other bits

poop is usually a funny subject, but as parents it is an uphill battle. how do you get the little one to sit on the toilette? diaper money set aside, Mattan has a sensitive skin and Baboons are envious of him if we don't change him in time. he was doing very well till Taltal came along and regressed.

now when we ask him if he pooped he says no, always no. he said no the other day as well, but my nose detected something pre-flushed. i lifted his shirt for an inspection and saw the evidence gushing out from above the pants. i asked him if he is sure that he didn't poop and he reaches back with his hand and touches his back (which is usually poop-less), but not this time. he is alarmed by the unexpected material and i laugh, it is funny. i rush him up to the bathroom trying to avoid him touching my white shirt. i placed him on the sink and tried to carefully remove his shirt, bit to no avail. the material was filling his shirt and now the removal of the shirt smudged them all over his back, neck, hair and bits on both his arms. as hilarious a sight as the best Simpsons episode. he he was watching his mushy back in the mirror and complained about all the little its wanting to get them out. but still he resisted the bath, but i explained that he must use the shower, he does not like the shower in the bathtub, he likes the bath part of the dush, but not the combo, but a bath now would be a stinking sewage. so i washed him down and the bat was filled with bits and pieces.

after that i recorded his reaction and tried to have him explain what happened- the movie is here

(https://youtu.be/7pwALox9JW0)- movie should be available in 10 min

the next day when i asked him if he pooped. he still said no.

festival season is going on.

yesterday we went to a farm, then boarded a tractor trailer, holding a refusing to be held child and riding for a minute or two.the fun continued with a barn filled with hay and slides, Mattan went none stop up and down, walking inside huge hoses and sliding down. at one location they had three slides next to each other and three kids got on ready to slide, Mattan slid over a girl, sat in-front of her and had the gull to push her back then took his sweet time become sliding down.

after the hay, he played in a mock tractor, got in to a pool of large corn kernels and kept hurling the kernels out of the pool, the running in and out of the kids corn maze, and more sliding on very long slides in the woods ending with a pony ride. great time for him and fun for us chasing him up and down with a beautiful views of the fall

Last week i was solo with both poop makers and we went to another farm (so many festivals here...great) this one was a 19th century farm. first Mattan painted a pumpkin, he gets his drawing skills from me, the pumpkin looks like a purple mess. then we hiked around the farm and in various old barns and houses, local vendors were displaying ancient wares. one lady was making brooms from wheat, from the stems. mattan enjoyed sweeping a bit. then he totally ignored the black smith (What is wrong with him?) , the horse drawn carriage scared him, he didnt go into the big corn maze , despite my requests and was pushing the stroller all the time (and I carried Tal). we saw a pottery presentation, some chickens, goats and flowers. one guy was showing games from 2 centuries ago, all made of woods, a wheel with a stick to role it. things with horses hooves. i tried getting mattan to play but he cared only for the stroller. this guy's display was somewhat over the trail and Mattan tried to push it up. he couldn't do it and i helped him, he didn't like that so he pushed the stroller down back to the trail and then pushed it up again all on his own.  we walked back after this 2 hours farm walk and enjoyed fresh lemonade and locally made flavored milk (orange, berries, grape and some others) mattan sampled 4 sips and liked them all so i got a bottle. 

at home, when i tried to get him the orange milk, he rejected and asked for the red milk (4%) , if you want orange flavored milk, we have a bottle.

cheers

p.s the movie Mr turner, a slow English quality drama, good acting by the guy who played the rat dude in Harry potter (he did not need make up) . watched it while writing this and may have impacted my style. it is here by recommended

fall pictures will arrive later today.

 

on the catch and release program

about two weeks ago, Mattan wanted me to get toys from behind the couch. i took the most usefull tool in the house - the "rescuer" and grabbed what was in there, it had 4 legs and a short hairless tail, and was also dead. a debate begun, Alla wanted to call Arnold Schwarzenegger , gas the house and use some napalm on the chimney. i proposed that this is a field mice and the only one of its kind, we waited for more "evidence" which came the day before yesterday in the form of the parents of previous sample . i went to Walmart and found my self in the kill a rat isle.they had lots of choices, some are catch only and some are kill, the snappy kind. there was also poison and other friendly methods. i got one catch system and one kill system, but since Mattan goes everywhere,  opted to setup the catch one.the night was without luck and in the morning i found where it has been living, there is a little hole in the edge of the carpet  and i move the trap there and now there is a mice inside trying to get out. the trap says to release it two miles away, perhaps they can return if it is less, so today i will drive for a while and let it go somewhere.

last weekend i was with the kids while Alla was working, i placed Tal in the stroller as we were heading for a gultat "trip" to the duck pond. Mattan is becoming too independent and opened the door to go first, i rushed after him with the stroller and closed the door beyond me, only to realize that the door is locked on the inside, the garage door is closed and the back door as well. the only way in is via mouse pathways but mattan didn't want to crawl. lucky i had a phone with 10% charge. while waiting for rescue we admired the house across the street. strains of toilet paper were covering the trees, lots and lots of them. I heard about this prank and seen it in movies but never saw it for real, very funny if its someone else's house. high schoollers live there and they said the "soccer team" did that. so they called some friends brought ladders and started to remove the TP, they got most of it, but still a week later the tops of the trees are full of TP. if you need to go, you know where to get some.

 anywho, we walked to the pond, no ducks at this time and Mattan decides to baby him self up and sit in the stroller while i carry tal. two mile bottle and my phone are on the stroller.

at one point mattan decided to open the top cover and does it fast. i see the milk bottles and my phone fly out above the cart. i pick up the milk bottles and start looking for my phone, i comb the grass and nothing, there is a drain nearby and i look thorough and see something back glistening in the light , i cant believe it is the phone , the drain is too narrow,i am not that unlucky am i? few more minutes of search and then we had home and Dina comes with the rescue keys, i had back with Mattan and the rescue device, now without holding Tal it is easier to search, we increase the search area, and nothing, i can now better check the drain and find that it was a rock that resembled my phone in the water below. thought i am sure i saw my phone fly in the air, we go back to the pond and search the paths. nothing. there is only one place left, i decide to strip search the stroller and i find another opening i never knew existed and there in a pile of milk i see my phone, alive and ticking.

festival season continues. we went to an Armenian festival. were were there last year. Mattan slid on the metal slide and i caught him and would get static shock every time, now he can go alone. yeh, no more shocks.

yesterday we went to the fall fast. first to Eddies farm for apple picking. beautiful day, blue skies, nice and warm. we took some bags and started picking. the main battle was to slow down Mattan from filling the bag to fast, so i had him pick one in every few trees and run him a round, too much energy, we ate some apples straight from the trees, very yummi, feels much better then the store bought ones, we picked some pears and tried the grapes but they were the wine making kind, just too sweet. we end up with 2.5 bags of apples and no clue as to what to do with them.

 i took Mattanchuck to his first orienteering event. we did the easy course, but still over 2 miles , some in small paths and some in the forest, mattan wanted to find a big fat bear from one of his books which kept him occupied. this hike was in a very nice scouts camp. some people were shooting rockets that fly op a 100 meters of so and then parachute down most cool, cant wait for him to start scouts.

night feeding is a good time to practice skills, broke my record in Words with friends... 582  woowhoo.

cheers from the rat infested house -1

 

on direction, red and impact

sleep deprived and cant sleep at the same time is a strange mix. Alla is sleeping, Mattan needed a night change of diaper and clothes as well, then crawled to our bed. he is not a lie still sleeper, keeps turning and waking me up, Tall chuck woke up starving at midnight and again at 2 and after both feedings i find myself fully awake.  i am not relaxed and have not been for some time. i tried to write a few times but nothing comes out, mental block. my project pressure has finally decreased about a month ago, we moved to the next project where i don't have a lead role, so the pressure is on others and i am kind of costing and trying to recover but i don't really feel it. i think i need a change, but am clueless as to what. i am rambling, but this is maze is in my head and i need to get out.

took a little break, Talchuck is eating for the 3rd time since midnight, unusual, new food.. 

what is the path forward, i want to leave my profession for the last 10 years of so, finished a PMP and MBA but i have no specific thing i want to do. i love traveling , but a traveling job does not work well with the little ones. i was told i can be a teacher, a job i usually ignored as low paying, i just looked it up and top payed teachers actually make a nice pay check, but you dont start as top paying, this is part of my jam, any new field i am starting from a lesser position in terms of experience, but perhaps it is better to take the hit now then continuing to feel stuck.

i am too cheap to buy a sports car, is this my midlife crisis?, usually writing helps me sort my thoughts, but not this time.

well , what's new with the kids you ask.

Mattan fell and said "i fell on my Ama" ama is the name of the middle finger and i was most impressed with his knowledge of digits names, he knows them all. i tried to see if i knew the English digit names and it turns out i didn't , the ring finger is actually the grooming finger..

he is like a sponge, absorbing all languages.

our usually activity is "gulat" a walk out side. mattan likes to go to the pond and visit the ducks. last time mattan decided to takes his own stroller for a walk, wants to feel grown up so we did and we also took some bread for them and half way mattan decided to eat the bread, when we reached the ducks, he threw pieces at them while eating the other half, then he sat in his own stroller and wanted to nap. usually its fine, but i cam carrying tal and the other stroller. one stroller limit m had to convince home to keep going (the 3 minutes till home). on a different gulat, i heard some unusual music for this area, a high pitch melody of common songs, the ice cream truck has arrived! for 30 minutes or so we are waiting out side, we hear the music, but it is in the next street, i am explaining to mattan what the music means and he is excited, he wants the flavor Red. his favorite flavor. so he got a red Popsicle and i got my chocolate. 

Talush is starting to get mobile, trying to sit, he can do it when he is leaning on me, but cant yet from a laying position, he is now turning on his side nd is rumored to have turned over once, i will believe it when i see it.

on Sunday we went to a company fun family day at a small lake resort. came in early and spent the morning chasing Mattan around. we started with a tiny hike around the lake, then slides, swings, jumping on huge air mattresses, horse riding (well, swings that look like horses) , we did paddle boat, then again since Mattan wanted the purple boat.

he wouldn't stop running from one activity to the next and loved every minute of it while Tal was swinging with Babushka.

i had a DnD session later that day and Dina witnessed it for the 1st time and i think she lost all respect for me, thinking its beneath me, but i really enjoy it, need to find  job that is as fun as this.

Tal woke up again, got an ounce of the same food for desert and back to sleep

an ice cream truck, not the one i saw, was robbed in Akron, who robs an ice truck the reporter asked. the perpetrator was described as wearing jeans and a cavaliers shirt. if i were out that day i might be arrested, that is one of the most combinations here,

a teacher went to ceder point (the amusement park) dropped his phone in a ride, then jumped the fence to go get it and got hit.

he was a teacher and a guidance councilor, making an impact on youth. to bad he never learned to read warning signs, was misguided in his direction and the only real impact was the train hitting him. dark thoughts for early in the morning.  

i have a week or so in February planned for a new destination, i was checking out french guinea and asked my Uruguayans friends about it and they didnt know where it was. it is a country next to Guinea, Suriname and close to Venezuela . i'd expect a south american to know all the countries, there are not that many of them... i really cant find much about this place, except you can do jungle eco tours which sounds neat, but i my be going to Portugal instead too early to tell.

that is it for now, maybe i will close my eyes for a bit, its wake up time very soon

5:39 am , directionless in cleveland signing off

israel photos

https://goo.gl/photos/KHdSYDzKEJ2dGzJ1A

back on the trail photos

during the hike photos

https://goo.gl/photos/houhRNsGdNuM2r8ZA

parade de circle photos

https://goo.gl/photos/YTuCirzCzPZ2xA4N9

Mattan and Thomas photos

https://goo.gl/photos/JAxtTv7GyzY468n88

Brit family photos

https://goo.gl/photos/YdzC2AR1DgCHnJMW7

on milk , both in and out

We decided to take a family date on a rainy Saturday morning,  a place Alla was wanting to go recently, a place she never visited. With the kids tied in their car seats we drove till we reached CostCo.

Any of the mega stores can impress people on their first visit, but more so Costco since you see the entire space from the entrance, it seems bigger. I had my worries, how much would this cost… as soon as we entered my more spending half noticed a couch and chairs, after dodging the couch we reached the box isle. Never understood why we need boxes, now we need stuff to put in those boxes… we got 3 different sets of boxes. A set of lunch type boxes for Mattan, a set of filing boxes which are also good for keeping photos, or so the box says. Then we got big boxes, not sure why we need those, probably to hold the smaller boxes. Next Alla wanted to get cabinets to place the boxes it… that was my limit (we have a set of shelves waiting for assembly at home, but why, more shelves?  Argh, now the question is how much stuff we need to get to fit in this new storage nightmare.

Then the food sections, most everything is Costco is 10$ or close to it, piles of peaches, cherries, strawberries, peppers, the credit card chimes. Then clothes… a new sun hat to go with the cabinet full of hats and then some gifts. During this whole experience, Alla was in a must get things kind of mood and I was defending our bank account. In the end it could have been much worse….

 

Last week I took Alla and Tal to his 1^st rock concert at Cain Park. The opening act was a famous band that I never knew Gary and the playboys. They have 10 top 10 hits during the sixties and I like the sixties. I recognized some of their songs, but the fun was plenty of other songs by other artists. In shows my enjoyment is proportional to the number of songs I know and can sing along, the opening act was great ending with Sealed with a kiss. Now for the main act. Herman hermits. Coming to the show there were two songs I really like , No Milk today and, there's kind of hush all over the world. But I found lots of songs I knew. They also sang songs from other bands including mimicking their voice and behavior. Herman (forgot his real name) mimic Tom Jones, Mick Jagger, Elvis. He did the ring of fire with perfect impression. Between songs, he told stories and was extremely entertaining. If you get a chance to go, don't miss it. During the "no milk today" song, I got a selfie holding Tal and the band in the background, Tal was not paying much attention to the songs. He also sang 'ferry cross the mercy (not their original song) but modified the word to be ferry cross lake Erie, much to the joy of the crown. Great show! Ended with hush all over the world… btw, even with Tal there, we didn't even ding the average age…

Last 24 hours were rough, in the middle of the night, Mattan started crying pointing to his throat area. A day before he was playing with coins… so we are slightly on the alert. He wouldn't come down and asked for a doctor, we does not say doctor (in Russian) properly. Nothing was found in the X-Ray but the night is pretty much gone. Next Morning , Tal has  6 week checkup and gets a couple of shots, so he is somewhat fussy, I stayed to work from home and around 4 pm Alla calls saying she hit a kid…

Don't worry, there is no real harm. Apparently during school pick up, a kid dashed out and hit Alla's car. He got some bruises, nothing severe. Cops and ambulance came, and the kids dad (a lawyer) starts probing poor shocked alla, did she use the phone at the time (no), why didn't she see it and threatening a lawsuit, trying to obtain evidence, while his kid is being treated, so now we have chats with insurance and have to worry to what's the worst that might happen. It will be a question of money only.

Mattan started day care last week and so far doing ok, he cried a bit a few times , but that is normal.

After a very long time, my 2.5 year project is finally ending. I am mentally exhausted from never ending pressure and blame… now when they compare metrics, our project is up to par with other projects in terms of quality, so that is good, but during the last year, the perception was otherwise, that didn't much help my stress. Now we finally released to production and wrapping up paper work and the pressure is moving to other projects.

Since last year I am waiting for the project to end to reconsider my options, that moment has finally arrived, I need to start looking but before, its time for R and R and S, rest, Ra'anana and shwarma , we arrive next Sunday and need to forget about work…. Looking forward to have some fun.

 

At the end of this uneventful year, my toastmasters club presidency ended this week, but I am starting a new year as an area director (supporting 4 clubs) , I find I much enjoy this activity, unlike the dissatisfaction at work. I now an planning to hold an area humorous speech competition, so if you want something different on august 22^nd, come watch.. 

I still have my yearly report to give and I am very late…

Oh one more things, so far I absorbed from Tal, pee, poop, vomit, spittle, snot and tears, I think I am covered from all the liquids he can throw at me, but it is fun and relaxing sitting with him napping on me on the couch. He just started smiling (still rare) still waiting for the major functions to kick in. (turning over… to start)

Sorry my mind is clattered , I am jumping all over the place, writing always help me get some order. But enough for tonight

 

Good night 

lost in translation

after a short uncomfortable night flight from Ho chi Minh to Tokyo, i approached passport control and looked up at the trains to the city, some random blog noted that it takes 1:50 hours... what? i dont have this much time, it must be wrong. i pass passport control and find a train that takes 36 minutes! whoohoo and it leaves right away... in minutes i enjoy the green country side with the tiniest wooded hill.

some how i confused Oshiado station and shiodome station and i get the right instructions for the wrong place. i leave the fast train and get on the metro then realize my error, unfortunately , i realized it on a small station and have to wait a bit for the return train. after returning to the bigger station, then walking to the next station to get on a different line.. there are around 15 metro lines in this city, i find the ticket machine, select my station and go to place the ticket in, it doesn't work.. i ask the counter guy, and he tells me i must by a ticket on this machine. with no time to fight the system, i buy another ticket and reach my station within minutes and impressed by all the commercials within the train.

from shiodome station i walk to hamariku gardens- pay the fee and for the next hour walk around the green garden with  stunted trees and also cherry trees, very few of them, this is late in season, see the small lake, small bridge, the artists that color in this quiet place. walk the peony garden and after an hour board the water taxi towards asakusa. the water way is mostly tall buildings, not a single pagoda in sight, i am following a frommer guide, the guide says a concrete view but that this is the ancient way of coming in to the city, so i decided to follow along. i am a bit cold. due to a suit case mayham, i don't have anything with me other then short pants and a T, and an umbrella, which does nothing for the cold. after 45 minutes on the ship, i disembark and finally get to use my umbrella as light rain of big drops begins. this is a temple area, it has several temple buildings and lots of market type booths full of humans. the booths sell various Japanese souvenirs and food. the problem with the food is that i dont understand what it is, local signs, i see people eat strange looking stuff but decide not to risk it, after visiting the temple i spot a potato booth and decide that a potato is safe, which it appears to be but not filling, after more market wondering, i spot a line for a falafel looking thing, i ask and it has beef and curry, i risk it, its ok . i walk around the market for an hour or so, enjoy the masses then hop on the train to another area- of ueno where i have my fast train return ticket at 15:00. it is now around 13:00 and i walk to a large shrine then walk by some gardens, see the little swan paddle boats, bird feeders and an area of pagodas , shrines, temples , a zoo and several museums/ this is a very green area locals and tourists alike are walking the streets and enjoying the sights.

just infront of the national muesum, i get my trademark shot, enjoy dark choclate self serve ice cream and pass by a large whale, that was left here by tzunamy waves. 

it is now 14:20 and i hurry to the station, and get there by 14:35, then i see that this is the wrong station, a passer by tells me that my station is 1 k away. at this point after days of walking i am slightly limping , my feet are killing me, but no time, i run\ walk to ueno station and make it in time, place my ticket and it doesnt work. once again i talk to the guy, and he tells me that this is JR ueno (japan railways) and there is another ueno station for the fast skyliner train .... ahhh.. i rush out again and rush a bit more and reach my station, now the ticket fits , and i enter the train at 14:56... 4 minutes, i could have purchased something.... 

and japan makes 59- a bit short- i will be back one day to complete the tour but sometimes half a day is all you get.

i enjoyed the ride back and at the airport, eat the meal that i wanted on the original japan layover which was sold out then board the flight.

oh the horror, on the way over i had personal screens and watched 6 movies, now- no screens,,,, no!!!  without screen the time passes slowly but i do see into the woods and some movie with bill murry. i leave japan at 17:50 and land at 15:30 of the same day!!!

lucky, i find an earlier flight back instead of waiting 6 hours in chicago, land and see mattanchuck who comes to my arms then leads me to the much more interesting escalator, up down 4 times...

good to be home, but i am exhausted.. 

the answer to the riddle is Ron Thal- lead guitarist of Guns and roses, but not the original one.... the sign lied... well live and let die...

see you on the next trip

 

Tokyo photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6140958428189886145?authkey=CMXRx-2ghcyYCg

City of lions photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6140577352026600241?authkey=CPr1-pjY8J7GDw

on a guy, chicken rice and trees

after landing and taking the train into town, i reached my hostel, put the luggage in the room and took the metro to the marina. the city has a nice marina with hotels and business district and you can walk around it. lots of sea type chair our next to the marina and couple occupy everyone. the marina is mostly dark and during the walk i see couples hiding away in various dark corners enjoying the warm humid evening. 

i walk around and saw the symbol of the town a merlion - a lion with  mermaid body. btw, this is Singapore... i walked some more and passed the nice Victoria hall, city hall , war memorial and was impressed by the size of this city and its bustling night life. i watched the new Marina bay sands hotel and casino, the 3 towers with a ship for a roof!  from this place they have water and light show with lasers that light the entire marina, an impressive display.  after 3 hours of walking around which included a shwarma dinner , with the wrong kind of bread, i returned to the hostel for the night.

early morning i got up and was late for the Saturday weekly trip. lucky they were too. i grabbed a couple nutella sandwiches and join the hostel crew for a trip in the city. we took the bus to the start and this trip passes in the green corridor of the city, a large and narrow park , and you go everywhere on bridges within the canopy and see the town from all angles. I also saw some nearby islands. which are indonesia!!! a new place is within my sight, literally, not like S palin.  well next trip perhaps, lets not get too greedy. we were 4 guests and 5 hostel staffers, they do a trip every week and share SIngapore (lion city) history.after 2 hours of walking we stopped for lunch. the specialty of this place is chicken rice, rice cooks in oils that give it chicken taste. this mea comes with... chicken  and chicken broth soup. i liked it. for desert they ordered for us a treat of sorts. it is shaved ice with everything and i do mean everything. some of the ice is fruit flavored, the red and the green were good, but on top they had sweet corn in some sauce, black beans at the bottom and a bit more stuff. i like corn and sweet ice, but it doesn't work together. after this interesting yet i will never try it again desert, i left the guides who refused a tip!!!! and went to discover little india. this city has 3 ethnic areas, china town, little india and little malawi. i toured the hood for an hours, stopping at the temple which is actively in use, many locals were praying or meditating inside. from there i took the metro to marina bay gardens. these are new garden with a nice river , interesting vegetation, sculpture and some very unique items. the super grove tree are 7 or 8 huge trees out of metal and they let the vegetation and vines cover it to look like a real tree, and you can use an elevator and go up these huge pillars to the top and view the city. a most interesting design, but it was expensive to go up. they also had a rain forest and a flower dome that required a fee and i passed, little time. but next to it was a show. i heard music playing and came by to watch, a guitarist was playing and lots of cameras were pointing at him. i didn't know the guy, but so many cameras for a no one, no way. i saw the sign and took out my camera. at the end of a 45 minute free show where this dude joked with the crown, sang songs of his and his band and also any song the crowd asked for. if he didn't know the song, he joked and waved it off. i am not sharing the name, till AMit sees the photo- this is a quiz for one, no one of you will know the guy by his face, but most of you know who he is.

 

after a most enjoyable show where i sang along and got a great selfie with him i made my way back to the hostel after a burger late lunch, took a de-soaking shower since it is so hot and humid here and then walked 10 minutes to the train station where i was soaked once more.

i am now at the airport, boarding soon, returning to Nam for 2 hours then moving on to Tokyo

and Singapore happily makes 58

btw- the malai prince found this island after a storm and found many cats, his advisers thought they were lions (but they were just cats) and since this was a fisherman village, then=y needed a sea theme, so the lion mermaid was born

on stairs, steak and a shower hose.

originally , I was scheduled to leave Cambodia on the 18th and Shay as well. then the following occurred, Moti and mom moved their flight to the morning of the 17th and shay in retaliation also changed his flight to the same time, leaving me for a day + in Cambodia solo. that is usually ok, but we assess that we have a good coverage of the sites already and day 3 would be an over kill.

now the debate begun, what to do with a day of travel, go where...? Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, china are all within my booking finger tips. Thailand as well, to spend another day with the family was a front runner but the internal debates with a new destination won after a coupe of decision less hour as we had our last meal together in an Italian place with great lasagna.

we woke up a little bit after four am, packed and got on a tuk tuk to ANgkor Vat , THE temple, to watch the sunrise, even at 5 am the coldest tie of day , i am starting to sweat. tourist swarm on the place looking for the ideal sunrise shot, but since they all morning flights, we didn't wait for the sun and walked in. this temple as a single unit is by far the grandest, and the most complete, it has large grounds of grass, outer walls and 5 towers. inside the long corridors you will find massive carving of ancient battles with elephant ridden bowman.  the site is impressive, but some how not as pretty as some of the less known ones, perhaps it is the tourist swarm, or perhaps since several areas are off limits and i cant explore or maybe since this is day two, but this site was not my favorite, thought i did take my share of photos, respect for the world wonder candidate after all.

then it was time to go, for them, while i stayed for a few more hours.

the next temple was on a hill with a tiring climb followed by many stairs.  temple from which Angkor vat itself peaks from the jungle canopy. at this pyramid, i noticed a sweet spot for my trade mark photo and now the question is who will take the shot. a handful of tourist  nearby and i am approached by a Chinese girl wanting me to take her shot (standard view shot) and then i get my legs in the air photo, and for the next 2 hours we walk the temples together. she is a Chinese teacher in Laos, a destination i will not be heading to today.

the next temple is the most impressive in my opinion. , the site Bayon. behind large walls. this is the largest grounds area with several temples inside, usually there is one in every site, this one has several. the first, bayon itself is a Buddha frenzy place. there are 48 towers, each one has a Buddha carved on every corner, as you walk up and down in this place, Buddha is always smiling at you. after this impressive ruin where we tried to find shots with ore and ore Buddha's in them we exited and move to the next temple that should be known as hell on stairs.

these ancient Cambodians, build high pyramids, with narrow and steep stairs, in over a 100 degree weather. crazy nation. we climb up and down, resting a little now and again in the breeze and taking photos of symmetric corridors, unique carving and jungle views. it is not even 9 am and i finished 2 liters of water. at another temple we light the incense and pay the 1$ fee to ensure that Buddha listens. then walk on a long terrace with countless carved elephants.

at this point we go our separate ways and i continue tempelling, pass a coupe more then reach the last of today. i need to find the name, but this is a temple claimed by nature. huge ficus trees are growing from within the stone, in some areas they just break through and some they engulf the stone in a more impressive manner. i take lots and lots of shots before heading out.

at lunch time, i say good bye to Cambodia with a not so great Cambodian steak, but with a banana shake and a pine apple shake, so cool and yummi. then i head to the airport.

at this point after being soaked through the bone with sweat and i sticky and not qualified for plane travel, but there is no hotel here, lucky the Cambodian have a hose in the shower used for number two and i use it for a refreshing shower. the cleaning lady outside keeps banging on the cell door, since the device is not meant for showers and water goes everywhere. now much refreshed i am waiting in the lounge boarding in 45 minutes...

and Cambodia makes 57.. + world wonder candidate check.

Cambodia photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6138354829899760801?authkey=CLvzv76w5ImpNw

on short and talci

yesterday we took the bikes and rode into town, stopping for emergency souvenirs, then moving on at 1 SpM  that's store per minute. i decided to go alone to see stuff and found a couple of more unseen communal places and learned how to distinguish between pure silk and the kind they sell and has a 100% silk label on it but it is not. if you cannot trust a label, what can you trust. well you burn it, silk smells like hair and leaves only dark residue.  what i dint ask is how i can burn a scarf when offered one by the vendors. and also, how does she know how burnt hair smells like?

after a few shopping productive minutes , we all met and boarded the small boat for a river cruise. the slow moving boat took us on the river and some side canals, we got close to a fishing boat and had an offer to learn how to throw the fishing nets,  it didn't seem as an attractive proposition. the enjoyable ride in the nice breeze , passed fishing from boat, fisherman walking the river looking for shells and nice scenic views. when we got off we had an hour of shopping/ returning to the hotel and i used it to obtain my trade mark photo.

we ate lunch at the hotel and got on the shuttle to da nang, and a few waiting hours later we got on a propeller plane to  cambodia.  and Vietnam becomes country # 56, a beautiful country and very friendly people.

from the air, Cambodia , looks like  borderline jungle, forested areas next to fields. the airport from 1st glance looks like a Cambodian temple. we fill the arrival card, departure card, custom deceleration and a health deceleration. 4 forms to enter passport number and all details. i say that i am coughing in the health declaration and wonder what they will do, but the guy doesn't even look at the form. we pay the visa and get in, rent a tok tuk and reach the hotel in 30 minutes.

we leave for dinner and notice that this is a holiday, the Khmer new year!  what a perfect times. hoards and hoards of locals are filling the center. after a good dinner at a local fancy bbq place, we join the hoards. 

the fun thing here is the usage of talc powder. they buy large bottles of the powder and fill you with it, then put it on their hand and rub on your face. they also shoot you with water guns. after a few minutes i was left alone to go in to the denser sections, since the rest prefer dry land over fun wetness. i was hit with so much talc powder and had my face rubbed, but its fun, since they all scream happy new year at you and laugh with joy. they love when tourists join the fun and i was definitively participating. 

after an hour of crowding, i went back for a de-talcing shower and night night.

next morning, after great banana bread at breakfast, we got on a tuk tuk and drove to the temples. there is a short route including the famous Angkor vat and the long one. since every cambodian is going to the temple, the 1st hour was filled with traffic, but when we reach the long route, no more traffic and very few tourist. we did seven or eight temples, if you ask other people on this trip the opinion will differ, but from my perspective, each of these temples is amazing. they are in similar style, some small some large, with may carvings of Buddha, Vishnu and many other gods. temple guardians in the form of elephant, tigers and soldiers. these temples are filled with symmetrical gates, from one end you can see the other end, really interesting. and many of the towers contains a shrine in the middle  and the roofs have holes, at the right time of day sun light comes in hit the shrine, i didn't find the right one that opens the temple of doom, but i will keep on looking. huge ficus trees are reclaiming this jungle area and in some places they grow from within these abandoned temples and large roots break the stone.

local vendors, kids mostly are also here selling stuff, but not as many as in Vietnam

i take lots and lots of photos  and enjoy this super hot day. we stop for lunch and keep tempelling then return to the hotel which is where i am now.

soon we will meet for dinner and re join the crowd since new khmer year celebration end tonight.

tomorrow we do the short route with Angkor vat itself.

 

 

on the dragon city

i am sitting here by the pool at the start of our last day in vietnam. 

yesterday was by far the best day of the trip. after breakfast, we were picked up and supposed to go to cooking class. on the way (5 minutes) we had  change of heart. the reason was the weather. we didnt see the sun for over a week and had unusual amounts of rain, and now was a glorious summer's day. spend it sitting inside seems sinful. we cancelled the class and walked around the beautiful old quarter of Hoi an. we each went our separate ways since this area is a market area and we have our own pace and interests. I focused more on the relics and pagodas. 

at the point of splitting, our tour guide much depressed by our rapid changes, tried to tell us where to go, but i was anxious to get going, almost missing a huge pagoda right behind me. inside of these temples, there are colorful paintings of wartime and animals, lots and lots of dragons and small water pools. there buildings are not as grand as their Europeans counterparts, but there is greater attention to detail.

i pass by the Japanese covered bridge and visit a house from 234 years ago and get the tour from one of the residents, the find a communal place. it is a temple of sorts, for meetings really but there is no one else but me, despite a city filled with tourists. it is real peaceful and quiet inside only when i leave i get a request for a ticket.we got 5 tickets each and this quarter has about 10-15 of these old houses, communal places and pagodas. i walk the entire quarter, pass the borders of the new town with its many pubs and dance bar and take many photos of dragons, so many of them, this town was made for me. i return to the old town passing another beautifully decorated bridge and watch the large nets lowered to the water, then pulled back by a fisherman with a wheel sort of lever and finds nothing in the net. but i think this was a tourist demo, lots of cameras behind it while i survey it from the nearby bridge. i walk the market with its many souvenir shops and the "looka looka here" calls of vendors. the streets are filled with lanterns and occasionally a bird cage would replace one of the lanterns, pretty and sad. i finally found a piece worth getting for my self and i explore another pagoda inside, this one is Chinese in origin but the styles are similar, water , dragon animals, serenity.

this is one of my favorite aspects of trips, the discovery. walking with the guide can fill me with history, but a feeling of a place i get only by exploring.

after 2+ hours of wandering we met up for lunch, fish and chips for me then returned to the hotel. this  hot day we should not waste. we split again and Mom and I take bikes and go cycle in the villages. we ride the suburbs that are a mixture of old and new, new villa next to old houses. most houses have something or other growing, these people are what eco supporters try to do, they are self sustaining, instead of green lawns they have crops growing, the roads narrow quickly as we reach more village type dwelling, but also in each house something grows. these houses are by the lagoons and many have fishing boats in their back yards and we see some of them casting of nets or growing shrimp. we pass by several houses that doubles as a mini market and get water. they all invite us inside for whatever merchandise they sell, and we kindly decline. the ride continues through the village with rice fields, water buffaloes and the continuous combination of old and new. we leave the village and cross the bridge and reach the beach.

most of the beach area are sacs on top sacs, this is a flood area and most of the beach is not for swimming, since behind the sacs are long pointy bamboo spikes to hold the sacks in place. there are some areas where swimming is allowed. we leave the beach and continue along the coastal road that has no coastal view , then turn back towards town and tour another village area, before return to the main areas of mopad mayhem. we slowly did 19k in 3 hours of regular city bike.

we got back and the room is locked with no key in the front desk, i lug myself to get the front desk to ask house keeping to open the door and take a shower.

later we walked back to the old quarter that looks amazing at night as well. since we skipped the cooking class, the restaurant offered a set menu dinner instead, very nice of them. we looked at the menu and figured we will have to get more food as well, this seemed experimental food. but it all changes soon. i try some shrimp spring roll and white rose (shrimp in rice paper looking thing in fish sauce, then there is chicken in peanut sauce,  good rice and other dishes i care less for, seafood in a mango and papaya salad, eggplant dish and other things.

we didn't need to get more food after all,.. stuffed, we walked the quarter a bit more then walked the 1.5 k back to the hotel. a glorious day.

now it is breakfast time, last day in Nam awaits..

photos from bac ma national park and the road to da dang

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6137633801437444465?authkey=CK-C2dHEq6Sb6wE

photos from hue

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6137547231078705153?authkey=COispuTyl-2u7gE

cat cat village and red zao village photos near Sa Pa

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6137395509604188049?authkey=CIbPgrGHwJ3Ucg

on leeches and lanterns

no phones were lost today.

we left Hue in the morning, of a cloudy day and drove south oh high way one. highway one sounds good, but this is a very slow moving road with lots of road work and speed limits, of 50k/hr. after an hour we reached the entrance of bak ma national park. we then drove up for 40 minutes, a cloudy day at the bottom, quickly became foggy on top as nice mountain views became solid gray.

we hike to the top of the hill, the path was a decent one, this mountain used to be a heli base and observation, but now one of the peaks has a Buddhist temple. we reached the top and took some pictures of the fog. a very large bell is found there as well, you have to ring in 9 and and say your wishes and so i did. after every bang the bell shakes and resonates in an impressive manner.

we walked back and saw the largest earth worm i have ever seen, probably 10 times larger then usual, it was like a snake. we walk the kilometer or so back to the car.

after a stop at the happy room.. we began the 2nd hike to to top of a water fall 300 meters high and from there 700 stairs awaits down then up. we tucked our pants into the socks since leeches can be found here. i had ankle high sock, not ideal for pants tucking and kept examining my pants tuckness often. the rain became stronger and stronger as we continued walking. we passed some vietcong tunnels and tried to spot nest od wall nesting birds. we passed interesting buddha statues then the guide spots a leech on his sock. its about 2-3 cm long, like a worm but crouched, like it walks on both ends and not like a caterpillar. its a fast moving thing. i check my pants and terrified to find one on my show as well, in a couple of minutes i find 2 more, trying to sneak in through my shoe, we shu them away with sticks and leave this vampiric nest. we reached the water fall and had to cross the river to get to a viewing point. at this point moti slipped and got another booboo. this was after 30-40 minutes walks in non step rain and leach inested waters so we decided to avoid the stairs and head back to the car. we we arrived we began a de-leechification process. when i took my pants of 2 more leaches jumped out hungrily trying to find a blood vessel. the guide had several in his shoes and mom had a couple as well. 

now leech free, we drove south out of the park, we passed a couple of mountain passes with nice views of the sea , lagoons, fields and mountains. we passed in a small town for lunch and learned the local way to harvest oysters, they use old moped tiers and the oysters cling into them. then the pull the tiers up and use the Oysters shell, once ground as cement.

this drive now is long and slow, more road work and speed limits, we seem to be driving all day, we passed the nice city of da neng with very pretty beaches and finaly reach hoi an.

once we passed the mountain passes, the rain stopped and its nice and warm out.

we walk towards the old quarter. Da nang is a new city but hoi an is old, the old quarter is closed for car traffic and it full of restaurant shops and night life. the streets are lit by colorful  Chinese style lamps and it looks unique and interesting.

we stop at a western style restaurant and enjoy a good meal then walk the 2 k back to the hotel

tomorrow should be sunny, the 1st sunny day for us in over a week!!! we have a cooking class  and then cycling through the villages, should be nice

cheers from lantern city for Hoi an.

on Jenga and monk hair.

today while i was sitting at the airport writing about losing my phone, i had not noticed that the phone was not on my person. after heading for breakfast and reaching for it, i noticed the theft! lucky the thief was Moti, rescuing it from being neglected on a table, this phone is doomed.

we landed to a pouring rain at Hue, central Vietnam. the guide, tu, said that it will be only 2 days of rain, just the time that we are here, great..

Hue is the old capital city of Vietnam, and it's citadel is a Unesco site. we walked the grounds for 2 hours, seeing the royal court, temples, library and many side building. the main royal dwelling was bombed and no longer exists and parts of the amazing buildings we saw were restorations. after the walk where the photos will do more justice, we drove to the local market then split and i went to the Pagoda from 1601 and walked the quiet grounds with several pagodas and monks buildings. they have a large bell calling for prayer every day at 3:30 am for 4-5 am medication, crazy sleepless monks. the monks are bold headed, symbol that you gave yourself to Buddha, but the novices, are mostly shaved, but have some hair left as a symbol of link to greater society, at 18 they get to choose.

we returned to the market and enjoy the smell of fish, and other lovely odors then we headed for the hotel to dry up and rest. i tried to swim in the pool, but the water is cold. 

in the evening we went to a sports bar, Le's gardens to watch the soccer match. the food here was similar to other places in Nam, but somehow not as good, more oily, less healthy. but the music was great and the game was on, Chelsea were not winning, at the time... in almost the same level of interest a group of Aussies are playing jenga in the next table, they play for a while and the skill level is impressive, by the time we leave, their game is still on.

we return to the hotel when i watch Chelsea win :(  and so far.. man U wins, which is the important game for me and the reason i looked for a sports bar in the 1st place.

a quiet day ends, i still have lots of castle photos to load, tomorrow we drive south towards hoi an and hike at a national park, the evening had great rain less weather, hope tomorrow is rain free, 

cheers from Hue where the score is 2:1...:)

on 2 cats and local greetings

I am sitting here at ..the airport, cant always be sitting in an amazing place.

2 days ago we woke on comfy beds , dragged ourselves out for breakfast with better appearing food that it actually tasted. the better the hotel the more average the food i think, but there is always bread and butter where the fried rice is not great. the day is foggy and colder then yesterday. we headed out and again found a local guide to take us to cat cat village, also a Hamond tribe village, but closer to sapa, we started the steep way down on the road, passing many shops and more villages with the usual greeting of "buy from me..." "shopping" and "come back, buy from me later". it also started raining heaver and heavier and in one of the shops we realized that our water proof gear is no proof of being dry.

North face is made in Vietnam and their gear is everywhere here and cheap. we all got fancy gore-text weather gear or as Moti calls it "Gatkes" then the rain stopped. 

we began walking the steps of the village, passing local houses, seeing how they live and work. they make the begs they sell right there in front of us. the many stairs lead to a pretty waterfall and then the rain continues, so the gear is not wasted. we continue to walk the interesting village and the rain gets stronger, we stop at one shop and try to wait the heavy rain out and watch one of the store owners which sells cheap souvenirs playing poker on her iPhone.

we kept walking in the rain and came to the end of the village, now we had a choice, taxi or walk up steep 3+k . we split, Moti and I made the stupid choice to walk up in the drenching rain. an hour plus later we reached the hotel , and now finally the sky clears and we manage to get nice shots of the mountain range .a little while post shower later we ate some fried noodles in the same place we had dinner the  night before. it is the afternoon now and not much to do, so we went napping or movie clip editing then headed for dinner. Pho was good tonight.

as we limped out of the restaurant we noticed a foot massage across the street to red dao people salt bath. i wanted to sleep but i joined the massage effort. this massage is on big chairs, we sit, and they soak our fit in warm water with unknown oils and herbs and then get on the chair and sit behind us in the chair and begin rubbing my temples. this is a foot massage mind you. many minutes of head massage, neck and back massage, then they wipe of feet and begin leg massage. we all sit side by side and the atmosphere is very jovial. we are laughing from this experience and so do they. both me and shai have a guy, Libi a female and Moti's is an unknown, a tiny frail thing, even by Vietnam standards. it is a girl of 18 after all, smaller then my 11 year old niece. when the massages starts working on my calf muscles and notices my flinching, he shows it to the other therapist and they start laughing. he work a lot of my right more trouble calf muscle and then a bit less on the left.

during the treatment a coupe of drunk touring stumble in, the locals try to get rid of them, but give in at least. our therapist all seem embarrassed by it and look apologetic. Vietnam is a very sincere nation. after this 45 minute enjoyable experience, we pay the 5$ fee and tip and limp less up the road to the hotel.

the next morning was still foggy, we checked out then haggled with a cab driver, he wanted 500, 000 dong to take us to Tafin village. after long negotiations we settled for 25$ much to the happiness of the driver (25$=500,000 dong). the very slow road takes us next to several villages, there is still fog, but this area is lower, and we can see a bit further. this is village of the red zao people, they wear a very distinguishable red sort of hat. or the woman anyway. the man wear nothing distinct. as we reach the village, the local swarm on the taxi even before it stops with the usual greetings, but soon they see that we are not buying...after buying to much in the previous days and only one of them lingers as we walk from this village to the next. we pass rice fields and watch the locals hard at work. we see a couple of villages, which are more of what a village was in my mind. lots of fields, simple houses, lots of chickens, pigs, ducks scattered around all with their young ones. the locals are less clingy here, this is a slightly more remote village. there is little rain today, but it is colder.

we take the taxi back to town while Moti debates the driver on the distance. the supposed 15k is only 10.5k but now the driver suddenly does not understand English.

during lunch power went out in the area, and there was some concern on is the chicken being kept in a cooler or not in this state, but no one to ask. they cook on gas , so no issues and i add my steam rice in to the Pho soup and the result is a very filling bowl.we walk this lovely town a bit more, occasionally dodging the usual greetings. when ever we say no more money or no more room they start to giggle. these people know how to nag in a very friendly way. in every village our shopaholic purchased something.

the hotel offers a spa with a pool and showers you can use post check out since most travelers take the shower-less night train. i take my phone with me to the shower for safe keeping and place it on some hooks. the change and head out , reach for my phone and i cant find it. i go back and ransack my locker, my back, i look in the shower, toilet and it is no where. i inform the locals and they are all worried, the call manager and security and we all rummage together, they bring flash lights and search underneath the lockers, in and out of the air conditioner,  this search takes about 20-30 minutes. these people are very concerned of my property. there was one other tourist with us and we assume he grabbed it. in the end the phone is found on the hooks in the shower, which you don't see when you open the door, the hooks are behind. i thank the crew and forget to tip.

on the way out there is a sand volley ball court and for some reason a goat is tide in one end pooping on the sand court, how random

we take the van back to lao cai, and wait an hour, get some dinner before the night train. Mom gives us the tickets while she and moti go first to the train. when we get theere and show the ticket, he says its not good. we have the vouchers, but the little stub ticket was kept with them.

i stay by the guard while shay goes cabin by cabin search, he says he almost went to the end and found nothing. he goes back and forth and we start texting them to bring the tickets, 10 minutes pass and the train will leave soon. then something crazy blond and waving a ticket comes. they were 12 train carts away, shai didn't search the whole train. they finally realized they had the tickets and came to get us. we got in the cabin after the non  English speaking search our cabin for hiding passengers. tired, i slept most of the night on the rocking train and now after an hour taxi ride with a BO driver that beeped all the way to chase away the mopeds took us to the airport. on the way we passed by Ho chi Minh tomb, passed several nice gardens and the big lage with many locals doing tai chi and enjoyed this nice town for a short while.

now at the airport, flight is a little over an hour away, new destination, Hue

a little mountain clip on our hike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkV267Dvf8

Photos from Sa Pa

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6135233906719096545?authkey=CJ7KrLGf7ZOeaA

ha long bay photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6135728751906375073?authkey=CLrks8X57-ngTA

on a boobo and slippers

we left of at the end of the kayaking , but that was not the end, another full lunch awaited us on this never feed-ending vessel... overstuffed we disembarked and began the drive to Ha Noi.  an under four hour ride lasted over five with the horrible capital city traffic. on the one one our group female members had to use the facilities . we looked at the guide book and in perfect Vietnamese we aked where is the bath room. the driver looked at us like we came from laos.  after several attempts we asked him to call his boss (the boss knows English) and then moti made a psh... sound and then the driver got it. he pointed ahead and did not stop. a few minutes later, a possible nice looking rest stop appears and Mom almost beheaded the driver, urging him to stop, he still pointed ahead and 10 seconds later pulled in to the scheduled stopping point, an impressive sweat shop/ tourist trap with everything super over priced. soon we were on our way with less pressure and made it to the office at 4:30. we paid the agent company and now we had to wait for the night train. Moti volunteered to luggage sit and the rest of us hopped a cab down town. we walked the small market streets of ha noi. the market here is un remarkable , and it started raining slightly and we didn't stay long. we passed by the little lake in the center of the city and saw the pagoda in the center of the lake.  we took a taxi back to the train station. it dropped us off on the other side and we debated if we were in the right station or not, since it looked different from this side, but eventually we found the pass to a waiting Moty. we split off for dinner. i stopped at a local joint and got some Pho with chicken then walked a round a bit and refueled with a chicken burger before boarding the train. we got some more water and snacks and soon tried to pack 4 people and 5 suite cases in to the small cabin. in the end everything fit just barely and we got ready for the night.the beds are just enough for my height, barely. i was on the top bunk and after a bit of reading i tried to sleep with the rocking back and forth motion of the train.i think i managed to sleep about 5-6 hours, before movement woke me and i couldn't fall a sleep again, and soon it was time to leave the train. we took a car from Cao lai station to Sa pa -30-40 K away up the mountain. this is a foggy day, but the driver still passes other cars like crazy. we reach our hotel, the rooms are not ready  but we take a great shower at the hotel spa and get ready for a hiking day. we go the the market, dodge some local places then one of the local tribes woman starts tagging a long with us. we semi get rid of her when we stop for breakfast at one hotel, but she lurks outside. after breakfast she is still there and we end up taking her as a guide. with prediction for a muddy day, both I and Mom buy shoes and we convince shai that the hike is mostly down hill and easy. and soon it begins, we walk down the village and soon they leave the main road and take smaller trails these tribes use to harvest the rice patties. these are small , narrow , steep and somewhat slippery roads. our guide brought in 2 more tribes woman, all in traditional wear. they are in flip flops , skipping on these slopes as it is flat even ground and us clumsy people slowly walk it and trying not to slip.

Moti thought he had good shoes, but with no traction he soon slides down and gets a booboo on his hand. while worries of tetanus comes to mind, the 2 younger tribes woman begin helping him descend. they use their feet as stairs to help, very resilient people. the walk is slow but very pretty as we walk next to local farm houses, in and across the rice terraces, lots of ducks , chickens, pigs with piglets. the far view is hidden in the fog, so we don't have the impressive panoramic view we want to see.

the road is mostly down for an hour and a half, then there is a 20+ minutes of straight up hill, followed by more downhill. it is chilly here. not what you'd expect in Vietnam.

after 3 hours we get to the river area and reach the real villages, there are more local tribes here, working the field, herding the buffaloes, and mostly selling arts and crafts. after hour 4 we reach the village of the younger Moti carriers ladies and we stop for lunch of fried rice and chicken and a swarm of "buy from me" bees.  a girl of maybe six , comes to us with a face you cant say no to, wanting us to buy bracelets from her, and more woman come with very similar wares. since we had the ladies help us on the way, it is expected of us to buy only from them, this is how we repay their services, buy paying to much for items we don't need, but they were helpful , so it feels right. i bought stuff as well and way over paid... again.

one lady kept nagging at us to buy the exact same stuff we just bought from the others. but she is from the other tribes, and we don't want to offend our guides. all this occurs during lunch, they stuff the bags and bracelets in your face. 3 for a dollar, 3 for a dollar, non stop. you'd think if you buy something it would stop? after giving in and buying the bracelets, the lady moves on to other members of the group, with the same price requests. next time we need to buy vendor repellent.

other woman, said they are from the same tribe as our main guide which is in the next village and we should buy from them when we get there. we were marked for payment. we kept moving from this village to the next and these marking woman as our entourage. ensuring we don't buy from others waiting for our business. beside this entourage, the road passed through the village and it is interesting to see how they live, but they are also very obviously poor. still there are more cars here, they have cell phones, we think it gets better. as soon as we reach their village, my entourage announces that now i will buy. they don't ask if i want to they assume i would. Shai, densest attract the same attention, they must also see the sucker tattoo on my forehead. i get a little puzzle gift for mattanchuck and also buy something from my stalker. the walk itself was around 5 hours long and in the end we took the ride back to down, 

after a nice long shower i napped for an hour, then we went for dinner. i had more fried rice and potato soup , and now making the updates and soon sleep will kick in

a cold but a very enjoyable day had passed, my muscles are aching, tomorrow the weather will remain cold, but i hope not as foggy as more hiking is expected. 

good night from Sa Pa