Far East Update 4 - Chabad Of Chiang Mai, Thailand - Nov 2012

 Last night, we went out to dinner at the only kosher restaurant in Northern Thailand. It is part of the Chabad centre, a mere five minute walk from our hotel.

But first a few words the Israeli presence here.

Chiang Mai, being the centre of all activities in Northern Thailand, many of them outdoors and adventure kind of tourism (trekking, elephants, Buddhist temples, hiking, visiting neighbouring countries like Laos and Burma) is a magnet for young Israelis, especially those who travel this part of the world after their stint in the army. So there are many Israelis who come here to tour and many have stayed and are working in the tourism business as travel agents, tour arrangers, restaurant owners etc.

When you walk thru the four corners that represent the centre of town here, you will see many signs in Hebrew, hear Israeli and sefaradi music blaring from loudspeakers, Thai people greeting us with Hebrew words (as a result of my kippah)...in fact one Thai tailor asked me in Thai accented Hebrew " ata rotzeh chalifa ?" (Do you want a shirt?).....there are a number of restaurants in town that are 100% traif that have large signs in Hebrew to attract the young Israeli traveler (when I asked one of them whether his restaurant was kasher, he replied that he uses no pork, no seafood....but there was one problem....none of his meat had shechita!). And this same guy told me that generally on Shabbat morning he tries to drop into Chabad.

The Sababa Restaurant

In short, there are very few Thai Jews, but there is a sizeable Israeli population that is here for short periods of time and a much larger population that travels thru.

So Chabad opened up a centre here. There is a shaliach and his wife and family who have been here for a few years. They have a shul, a meeting/drop in centre, provide a service of sending and receiving faxes and parcels for Israelis to their family back home, and are here to help anyone Jewish who is passing thru.

Outside the Chabad House, Chiang Mai

The Shul

They also have a full time restaurant that is open all day till late at night and their food is delicious and plentiful and must be subsidized, as it is amazingly cheap. We had a large bowl of Yemenite meat soup (easily enough for two), and a gigantic chicken stir fry main course with rice...total bill was about $11. When Fran asked the waiter for tea, he said feel free to serve yourself...tea and cookies are always here for anyone who drops in and they are free.

The Restaurant

As a result, there was a steady flow of people there, many were young backpackers and besides ourselves one other young dati couple who will also be here for Shabbat.

There is always a minyan on Friday night and Shabbat morning, followed by a free meal (donations are welcomed and appreciated); the Shabbat day meal is followed by Michael and then usually a minyan for Maariv on motzaei Shabbat. Other than that, there are no minyanim other than chagim.

The Placemat which highlights all the Chabad Houses in Thailand

Chabad is providing a service for the young Israeli and with their very open door policy and their smiling welcome, many of these Israelis who would never have anything to do with the religious community in Israel, feel very comfortable identifying with Chabad as to them it represents the only family that they have here. Really amazing. They have a number of locations in Bangkok and besides Chiang Mai, there are Chabad Houses with restaurants in Koh Samoi and in Phuket, two beach resorts in the south of Thailand.

I am sure that we will have lots to write about our experiences after Shabbat.

Regarding religious tolerance, I have gone everywhere here with my kippah and there is not even a stare....they really know very little about Jews, they are aware of Israelis, and being a very religious people, mainly Buddhists, they respect religion. So I feel at this point that it is a very safe place for Jews.

One other thing, for all our fears that food would be an issue on this trip, it is clear that with a bit of searching, one could make do without schlepping tons of stuff here. So far in both Hong Kong and in Chiang Mai (besides the kosher restaurants in each town) we have found some (not many) items on the store shelves with hashgacha...you just have to know which stores to shop in.

Anyway....we are off to ride elephants and cuddle with tigers in their cages....really! We will let you know how it goes later today

All the best

Fran and David

Far East Update 3 - Chiang Mai Handicraft Markets - Nov 2012

Our first full day in Thailand was quite interesting. 

We went up to the Horizon Lounge for breakfast and besides bananas, corn flakes, coffee and pineapple slices, there was nothing else that we could say without hesitation that we could eat. I may not have mentioned it before, but most rabbinic authorities have told us that since you cannot trust government authorities in this part of the world, you can therefore not drink the local milk. So, before we left Hong Kong, we bought some long life UHT Australian milk, and brought that up to the lounge to have with our corn flakes. More on food and kosher later.

We had arranged with the concierge last night to go on a tour of the handicrafts markets today. Close to Chiang Mai, there are numerous factories and showrooms for the various handicrafts that are sold all over Thailand. And therefore on the scheduled tour route of most tourists, is a day visiting these factories. 

In order to maximize our time, we hired a taxi for half a day (9 AM till 3 PM) at a cost of about $25 to chauffeur us around to all these places. Kung, a very nice young lady showed up as our driver and spoke English quite well. The only problem is that their pronunciation makes it quite difficult at times to understand what they are saying.The car was new and spotless. 

She drove us to a Thai Silk factory, silver factory, wood carving factory, lacquerware factory, cotton weaving factory, gemstone factory and beautifully hand coloured material umbrella factory and a suit making factory. 

Each factory had the same shpiel....first you are greeted when exiting your vehicle by a very nice young lady who greets you in the traditional Thai greeting, a gentle bow with both palms clasped together and the thumbs almost reaching her mouth (almost everyone you meet strikes this pose and bows....it is quite interesting that almost no one shakes hands as their form of greeting); then they take you on a very brief tour to explain how each handicraft is made, and then naturally, you are ushered into a showroom where salesgirls gently show you their wares and try to make a sale. 

Some of the items were beautiful and while much of what we saw was not our taste, the quality of the workmanship appeared to be very good. We did buy a few things and all in all it was a very interesting experience and a day well spent. 

On the way back, we asked Kung to drive us to Ringpin (pronounced Lingpin) , which is a very modern supermarket that carries many items of interest to westerners. So we saw many American made products with hechsherim, including, Haagen Daz, mayo, Pepperidge Farm cookies, ketchup, many cereals, herring, etc. We also stocked up on some more milk, this time from New Zealand. 

Fran pulled a muscle in her neck last night, so on our return to the hotel, she booked a massage at a spa recommended by the hotel which is right around the corner...but, they pick her up and return her and charge about $20 for an hour long massage. 

The hotel is magnificent and yet, it seems slightly out of place, given the fact that our suspicions in the dark last night proved correct once daylight hit. The entire town (except for a few luxury hotels and the inside of some of the better factory showrooms) looks like what you would imagine a third world country setting would look like. 

There is a serious need for an overhaul of much of the infrastructure; roads need paving, sidewalks need repair, the town does not look well kept and there does not appear to be any regulatory force that would enforce bylaws; if any. And once you add the plethora of transportation options to the mix (car, taxi, shared taxi, motorcycle and motor scooter, tuck tuks, bicycles, trucks, etc), it begins looking like a bit of a balagan.  

But I guess that is what gives it a bit of its appeal and color, ....and judging from the fact that our hotel is full and the number of people hitting the same handicraft shops as us, they do manage to attract many tourists. 

Tonight, we are going to visit the Chabad House, which is in a storefront 5 minutes from here. While driving down the street today, we saw two stores with Hebrew writing (Habayit shel Rafi) and (Misadat Sababa). It is clear that there are many Israeli tourists here...I am sure we will bump into some along the way....why should this trip be any different than others that we have taken? After Chabad, we hope to visit the Night Bazaar Market which is a 10 minute walk from here.

Tomorrow, we have the same driver who will take us to the Elephant Sanctuary, the Tiger Kingdom, the monkey place, the orchid farm, the village of the Long Necked Tribe, and we hope to do all of this in one day....we shall see if we can fit it all in.....

I was having trouble downloading pictures but after consulting with the hotel IT guy, I did manage to get it done...so pictures should be coming your way soon. Btw, for those of you who have commented on my postings...thanks for all the feedback...

Hope all is well....

All the best

Fran and David

Far East Update 2 - Hong Kong to Chiang Mai - Nov 2012

November 6th, 2012

We both were up bright and early and headed out for a 2 hour morning walk along the Hong Kong boardwalk which affords you with wonderful vistas of the Hong Kong Island skyline. We then headed up Nathan Road and saw the city waking up. Before long there were throngs of people heading out to work or school and the streets and sidewalks became packed.

We returned to the hotel at about 10 am and finished our packing. Once again as we headed out to the airport, we marvelled at the efficiency of a city where everything works crisply and yet the city is spotlessly clean. One of the real bonuses of heading to the airport via the train is that at the train station, almost all the airlines have check in counters; you get your boarding passes and drop off your luggage and head for the train and the airport unencumbered with any heavy loads; just your carry ons. 

After clearing customs and immigration, we headed over to the Thai airlines lounge and awaited our flight. Apparently we are flying on the Honk Kong - Bangkok portion on an Airbus A380 which has two full levels of passengers. According to the web, If the plane is serving in a standard "three-class" configuration, then the capacity is 555 people. But, if the entire plane is just the economy class, then the capacity is 853 people. I guess there are between 500 and 600 passengers on our flight today. It should be quite an experience. 

Fran with two Thai Airline Flight Attendants (cardboard cutouts!)

We checked this morning to see if we could get bulkhead and surprisingly, it was available.

Upon boarding, we were amazed by the size and spaciousness of this aircraft. The seating is 3 - 4 - 3, and the height of the ceiling is easily a couple of feet higher than on any plane we have been on. But when we got to our seats, we had another surprise....the legroom from our seat to the bulkhead was enormous....about 5 feet. 

Now that is legroom - on the New Airbus A380

When boarding, there are a couple of flight attendants dressed in the Thai silk gowns who strike the typical Thai greeting pose of palms together with their thumbs near their faces and bowing a bit to welcome you on board. Their outfits were beautiful and Fran posed with them for a picture. 

These are not cardboard cutouts!

As we settled into our seats, another flight attendant approached us and asked whether we could open the kosher meal boxes (from Belgium of all places), so that he could warm up the double wrapped entree. 

Another interesting feature of this plane is the webcam that is filming the takeoff, flight and landing from the top of the rear tail......it is quite interesting to sit back and watch your plane take off to 37,000 feet.

When we arrived in Bangkok, we were amazed by the size of the airport and we had to walk what seemed like miles to get to the area where we could board our flight to Chiang Mai. After clearing Thai immigration and getting our temporary visa, we checked into the Thai Lounge to await our connection to Chiang Mai.

The terminal and the lounge were both very warm and humid which sort of prepared us for what to expect as we had to take a bus (a la old Ben Gurion airport) to the plane and it was very humid at 5 PM. While this airport is probably as new as the Hong Kong airport, it appeared to us that things did not run as crisply as in HK. 

But the one thing that was consistent in both was the amazing courtesy and politeness of the crews and the airport staff; and as we saw in HK, so too in Bangkok, we saw that most people were dressed very neatly and quite modestly.

While walking thru both HK and Bangkok airports, we saw ELAL planes and counters and the usual mix of religious travellers making their connections. Both HK and Bangkok are major transfer hubs for ELAL. 

An hour later we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city, with a metro population of about 3 million. The area is the centre of elephant camps where they take care of injured elephants and train elephants to do all sorts of tasks. 

We are staying again at the Shangri La. We opted for the hotel to pick us up and waiting for us was the driver and one of the bellhops with a sign that said "Woolf". 

Our first impression is that this looks like the Wild West. Very busy, very unstructured and with none of the neatness and glamor of Hong Kong. However, this was in the dark and perhaps we will have a better look tomorrow. On the way, I asked the bellhop if he knew where we could find the synagogue, and he did not know what I was talking about. Then I took a stab in the dark and said " where is Chabad ?" To which he answered, "oh, Chabad, we will pass it on the right in a minute....it is a two minute walk from the hotel".

The hotel is amazing, even more beautiful than the one in HK. When we checked in, the girl behind the counter (who was the night manager) told us that because the hotel was full, she would be upgrading us to a beautiful suite. That was a major understatement. What we got was an apartment with a kitchen, dining room with a ten seat table, enormous living room and magnificent bedroom bathroom combo. The furnishings are exquisite, the service again impeccable. 

Our amazing suite in Chiang Mai

While checking us in, she told us that there was a reception downstairs near the pool and if we tasks. wanted we could go down and join in. She said that they had brought in two elephants to entertain the crowd. Off we went and before long, Fran was sitting on one of the elephants, feeding them sugar cane and snapping a lot of pictures. What a bonus.

What a way to pick up someone!

We went to the concierge and booked some tours for the next two days and then retired to our suite, had dinner and hit the sack....more tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning I will check in on the tv and still will not know the winner of the election as we are 12 hours ahead of North America. 

All the best

Fran and David

Far East Update 1 - Toronto - Hong Kong - Nov 2012

Our first update - November 4, 2012

Fran with the Hong Kong Island skyline behind her

Our Air Canada flight left on time from Toronto on Sunday morning; 
15 and ahalf hours direct to Hong Kong. As business class was completely full, we
settled comfortably into our bulk head seats...lots of legroom in front and
as soon as the plane reached altitude we brought down our wheeled carry on
and set it up in front of us as our leg rest...it certainly makes a long
flight like this much more comfortable. 

The flight was totally smooth and both of us got a few hours of rest; we had
two meals (dinner and breakfast, with a corned beef sandwich as a snack
served between the two meals); the flight arrived about 20 minutes early. 

The route was quite interesting; I had thought that we would be heading west
across the Pacific; instead, we headed north over Hudson's Bay and then
north east over Greenland and then over the top of the world, down over
Siberia and Mongolia and then China till we landed in Hong Kong's very large
airport. 

There is a 13 hour time difference so we landed at 2:30 PM on Monday
afternoon after leaving at 10 AM on Sunday morning. This is just a one night
stopover for us to allow us to adjust to the time difference and catch up on
some much needed sleep. 

The Waterway between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island

Our schedule will see us leaving Hong Kong tomorrow (Tuesday) and flying to
the north of Thailand to the second largest city Chiang Mai where we will be
till next Sunday. We will spend Shabbat with Chabad in Chiang Mai and will
eat at their restaurant which is open daily.

We are staying at the Shangri La in Kowloon which is right next door to Rav
Meoded's shul and his excellent restaurant Mul Hayam. 

After we end our Thailand and Vietnam tours in almost three weeks from now,
we will be once again coming to Hong Kong over a Shabbat and will be staying
at the same hotel in order to be close to the shul and its wonderful Shabbat
atmosphere. 

One of the flowers on the side of Mody Road, Kowloon

The Hong Kong airport is incredibly efficient. It is one of the largest in
the world and yet, it took us a total of 40 minutes to disembark, clear
immigration, get our luggage, walk thru customs, get HK dollars at an ATM,
buy tickets for the train to the city and get a SIM card for my phone.
Literally amazing! By then we were on the high speed train to the city which
comes every ten minutes and 23 minutes later we were in the heart of
Kowloon. At this point, included in the price of the train ride (about $10
each) is the shuttle bus which drops you at the door of your hotel. But due
to traffic and the fact that our hotel was the 6th and last stop, the ride
from the train to the hotel took another hour. So for efficiency, next time
I will take a cab from the train to the hotel. Cabs in HK are very cheap and
there are lots of them.

When we arrived at the hotel, about ten people (all employees of the hotel)
asked if they could assist us with check in and our luggage. Service is
really over the top here. We got to our room and it is a very beautiful and
modern well equipped room. Waiting for us was a fresh pot of tea served in a
classic Chinese tea service and some fresh fruit. When we told the bellhop
that we would be staying here over Shabbat in three weeks from now, he said
"do not worry...I know the drill with the stairs and the lights etc". As the
shul is next door, they are well aware of Shabbat issues.

Our room at the Shangri La, Kowloon

We unpacked a few things and went out to explore the area. 

The signs are great if you can understand Chinese!

We were looking for a movie camera for this trip and we bought one at one of
the hundreds of camera shops on Nathan Road, a short walk from the hotel.
Fran found some very comfortable shoes, we found some kosher long life milk
from Australia and ou cereals in the local supermarket for breakfast, and we
then bought an extra suitcase to store items that we will not need in either
Thailand or Vietnam. 

The concierge in our hotel said that they would store it for us over the
next 2 and a half weeks at no charge. And since we have a weight restriction
on the internal flights but no such restriction on our flights to and from
Canada because of our Elite Air Canada status, it makes sense for us to
leave whatever we can here. 

We even walked thru the famous night market on Temple Street (it is a normal
street with traffic during the day but then turns into a massive market with
hundreds of stalls at 7 pm each night), but we held back from buying
anything because we have been told that there are much greater bargains
ahead in Bangkok, Vietnam and Shenzhen. We will see.....

We then took a 12 minute cab ride back to our hotel ($4), and then went next
door to the restaurant for dinner. We had a very nice dinner; the food was
very good, the place was quite full of Americans who were attending various
trade shows, and we finally returned to our hotel at 10 PM to rest up for
another travel day tomorrow. 

First to Bangkok with a connection to Chiang Mai...

Till then....all the best

Fran and David
Sent at 5:47 am....a bit of jet lag :-) 

Alaska Trip Videos - August 2012

Here are our videos of our trip to Alaska
First, our Alaska Yidden Trailer.....

....Alaska Yidden Part 1

....And Alaska Yidden Part 2

Our Trip To Alaska Part 11 - August 2012

Well, we are now on the plane winging our way to Toronto and it is time to complete the past two days and sum up the trip.

Very early on Sunday morning we began the two and a half hour drive to Seward Alaska for our 7 hour whale watching and glacier cruise. Everyone we had spoken to who had been on this cruise raved about it and in retrospect I believe that they all must have gone on days that were sunny with calm seas. Sunday started out as overcast and by the time we reached Seward there was an occasional drizzle. 

 When we boarded the boat the seas were calm. BUT all that was about to change. We headed out of the protected bay which keeps the waters near Seward calm, toward the open ocean and two things changed, the sea became much rougher and the weather changed to a steady downpour. 

Many passengers including some in our group began to feel queasy and very seasick, and needless to say, the bags that they handed out came in very handy. By the time we actually sighted whales and sea otters and glaciers, and bald eagles and sea lions and puffins, most people were either too seasick or too wet from the rain on the viewing decks to really enjoy the experience. And this was in the first hour of seven in total!




We all experienced this in varying degrees other than Fran who felt nothing at all....it was like the proverbial walk in the park for her. She even participated in the educational talks that the park ranger aboard the boat was giving to the "junior rangers"!

We did manage to see all those things and get quite close to two glaciers and get reasonably good pictures but we learned that this kind of excursion should only be booked at the last minute after checking the weather and the conditions at sea. Well, traveling is an ongoing learning experience.....

When we returned to shore wet and tired, we still had a two and a half hour drive back to Anchorage. Upon our arrival at the hotel we all had hot soup and hot Meal Mart TV dinners which were remarkably good. 

Btw, the rabbi's wedding simcha hit the front page of the Sunday edition of the Anchorage Daily News  and was  billed as the first "hassidic wedding in alaska" ....you might be able to see pictures at www.adn.com....I will try to find the link and send it out.

With the weather forecast being similar for Monday, we all decided to sleep in on Monday, finish packing and have a relatively leisurely day. 

Monday was rainy and overcast again. We had a late breakfast, and went to see the salmon swimming upstream but apparently because of very high tides the night before, the salmon decided not to swim on Monday. Disappointing! 

We then drove to the Native Heritage Center. Alaska has many different Indian and native tribes and Eskimos. This center was built to give the visitor some insight to their life, their culture and their homes. We spent a few hours there and while the place could use some guidance on how to professionally portray their customs and culture, it was interesting. 

In the afternoon after lunch, we decided to go downtown and visit the famous David Green furrier store....the store owned by the family that we had visited on Shabbat. Their motto is " if you do not know furs, then know your furrier " !

They are listed in all the tourist guides and have been in business at this location for 90 years. In the early years the founders ( parents and grandparents of the people who now run the business) would go out into the wilds and meet with the native tribes to purchase the pelts from which they would craft their coats, hats, etc. Today they go to all the major auctions and trade fairs and judging from what we saw, they are running quite a major concern. 

We met David and his wife Shani (she is from New York) as well as Debbie whose house we visited on Shabbat. They showed us their fur vault (there must have been one thousand coats in stock) and while we are not experts in the field, we were all very impressed with the workmanship and sense of style that they have. As I might have written in an earlier post, the family is a major supporter of all things jewish in alaska, and especially the Chabad center. While we had not intended on making any purchases, we ended up buying a few items which as David Green said was our way of "supporting the local synagogue :-) " !!!!!

They also filled us in on many interesting facts about the Jewish community in Alaska, the fact that there are only a handful of shomer Shabbat families, how intermarriage is rampant, and the difficulties of being Jewish way up north where you have little daylight in the winter and long periods of sunshine in the summer.

From there we went to visit the family's other enterprise in town, the Polar Bear Shop which they call the "tchotchke" shop. They have the largest supply of tourist type t shirts, hats, chocolates, salmon and small gift items in Alaska. They have two shops downtown and we later discovered that they have a number of outlets at the international airport as well. We all stocked up on some gift items and returned to the hotel for a final packing and our drive to the airport.

This has been a very wonderful trip, a chance to hang out with close friends, a chance to see a remote part of the world, a chance to experience cruising, and a chance to eat tons of salmon....double wrapped, of course. It was also an opportunity to interact with one of the most remote Jewish communities in the world that seems to be doing quite well because of the dedication of the Chabad family that is literally moser nefesh to be there and the support of a few dedicated families that could just as easily be living in a large thriving jewish community. 

We were warned that the weather in Alaska could be a potential problem because even though it is not real cold in Alaska in the summer, it rains a lot and that could ruin many excursions that we had planned. Well, other than the final two days, the weather was amazing. Sunny, warm,with zero humidity. A great way to really appreciate G-d's beautiful creation, the amazing vistas and the unique wildlife that you do not see anywhere else. 

We had a great time and we all agreed that the way to sum up the trip in one word was the word that Josh used at the beginning of the trip, which was used repeatedly throughout the trip...it was most "bekovodik" ....not sure how to translate that other than we had a great time. 

In a few hours we will be back in Toronto, but the memories and the scenery and the camaraderie will linger on...

All the best and thanks for following us....

Fran and David
Josh and Liz
Shabsie and Ruthie

Our Trip To Alaska Part 10 - August 2012

We had an absolutely wonderful Shabbat in Anchorage

We arrived early enough on Friday to go to the local supermarket and buy supplies for Sunday and Monday and get ready to go to shul.

Chabad has just moved into its new building, a magnificent centre which houses its shul, kindergarten, and soon to be opened Alaska Jewish Museum. The rabbi and his wife moved here about 20 years ago, soon after they were married. 

The Chabad centre is located next door to the hotel where we were staying, literally a 2 minute walk. So given that the forecast was rain, we had no worries. 

We lucked out this Shabbat as the Rabbi and rebbitzin were hosting Sheva brachot for their daughter and new son in law who got married this past Wednesday. The wedding received wide coverage in the local press as it was the first chassidic Wedding in Alaska and was attended by many dignitaries including the Alaska state senator. The mechutan from Kiryat Malachi and his many children were all here for shabbat so there was quite a large crowd for Anchorage. 

There are about 4000 Jews in Alaska with the majority of them in Anchorage. There is only one Orthodox shul in the entire state and this was it. There are a number of other reform shuls in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks. 

On a normal Shabbat in the winter, there is no minyan on Friday night as Shabbat begins at about 3 pm and there are few tourists. On Shabbat morning they will get about 10 to 15 people.  

In the summer, with the number of cruise tourists, there is a Friday night minyan of 15 to 20 men and women and a Shabbat morning minyan of 20 men and 20 women plus tourists. This week because of the simcha there were about 25 men and 25 women Friday night and 50 men and 50 women on Shabbat morning.

There is a famous Alaskan Jewish family here called the Greens. They moved here in the early 1900s and established a furrier business. They are celebrating their 90th anniversary this year and are recognized as the leading fur business in the state. But more important they are also the address for hachnosas orchim and chessed in the Anchorage area. 

They have been responsible for establishing the minyan and raising much of the funds necessary to expand and sustain the Chabad center. Some of the original Green family children lived in Seattle so they knew the Genauer family (Ayala's family) well.

On Friday night after davening we had a very nice meal (our first meat meal in about a week). Besides the tourists like us, Rabbi Greenberg and his wife Esti and their children, the chosson Levi and kalla Mushka, the mechutonim and some of the leading Anchorage Jewish families were all there for dinner.

After we ate, there were a number of divrei Torah and then the rabbi began asking people in the crowd to make a toast to the bride and groom. Representing us, Shabsie made a wonderful speech. Everyone who spoke praised the rabbi and his wife for all that they had done for their family and for the community.

We made it back to the hotel by midnight. 

Like a typical Chabad shul, the davening began on Shabbat morning at 10:30 am. Being rosh chodesh, davening was longer than usual and the rabbi's son was the shaliach tzibbur and the Baal koreh. He lained faster than anyone I had ever heard, but was remarkably clear.

The kiddush that followed was a sit down meal complete with hamotzi and zemiros and divrei Torah; and again the rabbi challenged people in the crowd to contribute something. This morning, I was the spokesman for our group.

At the end of the meal, we struck up a conversation with one of the couples who were members of the Green family, David and Debbie Grashin. They have lived here and in Seattle, she went to Stern and he went to YU and their kids have all been to yeshivas in Israel. 

They invited us to seudah shlishit and while we were not up to more eating, we did decide to take them up on their offer to try and learn more about growing up Jewish and frum in Alaska. 

We finished our meal at about 3:30 pm.

After a good rest, we headed over to their home. It was close to 9 pm and was still very bright outside. Sunset was close to 10 pm and Havdala would not be till past 11 pm. 

They had a few other people there, including a couple that had just left Alaska for Hawaii. Talk about going from one large community to another and changing climates. He was a sea pilot before he retired and he is working on setting up a Chabad community in Kauai. He has a Sefer Torah there and an etrog orchard. 

We heard a number of interesting stories about the community and its early origins. One of the interesting things was that everyone we met over the weekend spoke glowingly about life in Alaska. 

After Shabbat, we went to pick up our rental cars for the next two days and finally got into bed after midnight. 

On Sunday, we are driving over two hours back to Seward to take a cruise of the fjords.

We will fill in again Sunday night

All the best

Fran and David