RTWbis

Morning excursion to Beng Malea -- a pre-Angkor Wat temple lying mostly in ruins, 70 km north of Siem Reap. Rain, roots, insects, time and eventually gravity have caused most of it to come tumbling down.   One translation of "Beng Malea" could be "pile of rock." But the quiet forest setting is superb , and visually there were many treats. Best of all, there were very few Chinese or otherwise. On returning to Siem Reap, we lunched next to the flea market, followe by return to the Angkor Village Hotel to await Sydney and Geoff's arrival from Bali. We dined together at the Sokkakh River Lounge.

First order of business was to transfer to a smaller, less gloomy room where bathroom was next to bedroom, and aircon somewhat more convincing. Out and about -- first stop at the Angkor National Museum showing the antiquities of Angkor Wat and the remainder of the Khmer kingdoms' histories. Took a $3 tuk-tuk to the Three Sister restaurant where we had a most satisfactory $5 lunch (including beer), followed by a tour of the Artisans D'Angkor. This is a cooperative of 48 crafts manufacturing establishment around Cambodia, of which the largest is in Siem Reap. The produce silks, porcelains laquer-ware, and reproductions of traditional Khmer sculpture in wood and copper. And a very nice young woman showed Kathy a new way to tie the knot ! Took a tuk-tuk-tuk to the Angkor Village Resort -- sister to the Angkor Village Hotel -- for a massage. Lovely ride, lovely garden setting, lovely massage. Dinner at Chanrey Tree Restaurant was V tasty.

Our overnight flight from Amman arrvied in Bangkok at 14:30, and we donned our surgical masks before leaving the plane. Our flight to Siem Reap departed a few hours later, arriving at 18:30. The Angkor Village hotel is very near the center, and has much to recommend it.  The lotus pond was dreamy.... as was the Toe Twinkle . Geoff at work - breakfast table on the left

A morning in the flea market, followed by a walk up the boardwalk towards Tel Aviv for a lunch at Manta Ray restaurant by the sea. Dinner at the Drisco with Barry and Deborah, then 8:45 PM departure for Ben Gurion airport, 11:30 PM departure for Amman on Royal Jordanian, arrival 0:15 AM, with 02:15 AM departure for Bangkok on Royal Jordanian. Melatonin...snore. Manta Ray on beach a Jaffa

There's not much to see at Caesarea when the sun is shining, except for the sea. When it's drizzling, not even that. But further up the Mediterranean coast, the crusader city of Acre (aka Akko, aka Akka) was something else. Hall of the Hospitallers Entrance to Hospitallers Fortress Followed by a great meal at Uri Bori's seafood restaurant by the sea. Followed by a great meal at Uri Bori's seafood restaurant by the sea, consisting of shriimp in cream sauce, asparagus and gorgonzola for him, and sea bass in a cauldron, with coconut sauce, chili and apples for her. Followed by a visit to the Baha'i Gardens and Memorial in Haifa, which is the seat of the Baha'i, religious order, founded in 1874 by   Baháʼu'lláh.    Followed by a 90 minute drive back to Jaffa, and dinner at the Onzo restaurant.

Our room at the Drisco hotel was too small for a 3-day stay (25 m2) so we spent the morning arranging a transfer to the Setai hotel in Jaffa. Here we had a room with a view  of the beach and Tel Aviv. The Setai hotel has an interesting history, built as a crusader fortress, then used as a fortress by the Ottomans , then converted to an Ottoman jail, then to a British police station, then to an Israeli police station, and two years ago repurposed to be one of the Leading Hotels of the World.  Knowing that the Setai served as a Turkish prison, we didn't venture down to the spa below ground, since that is probably where the Turks conducted enhanced interrogation. Crusader breakfast hall at the Setai Our room with a view of Tel Aviv British soldiers on Jaffa sea wall Sweet potato steak at Raisa  Four horsemen of the apocalypse We then wandered in to the Jaffa flea market, saw some witty Israeli photography, and had a terrific lunch at the Raisa re...

Today was a somber day in Jerusalem -- weatherwise and otherwise. Our guide was Mohammed, a Palestinian Arab whose family has lived on Mt. Scopus east of the Old City for generations. He has 8000 cousins of varying degrees of proximity, as many of his ancestors had 10 children. He, however, has one child, a daughter, and does not intend to have any more, because he wants to pay for her eductaiton so she can go to university. Mohammed said that if the Israelis are lucky to have the the Palestinian problem, because without it, there would be civil war between the OrthodoxJews and the others. We started with a visit to Yad Vashem -- the Holocaust Museum.The human figures in this model of Crematorium II at Birkenau are about 3 inches tall. Next we visited the Israel Museum, where we saw this teak altar screen from a 16th century synagogue in Kochi, Kerala. And on the way to Tel Aviv, we stopped in Ein Karem for a visit to the Church of St John the Babptis.  Unfortunate...