The Power of Water


DSC00606 DSC00669

DSC00634 DSC00589

DSC00943 DSC00894


DSC00690 DSC00695

DSC00729 DSC00737


DSC00865 DSC00862

DSC00803 DSC00743DSC00831


The Kingdom of Wonder

Officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia and once known as the Khmer Empire. We flew to Siem Reap which mean Defeat of Siam. Images of Yul Brenner in The King and I came to my mind, even though Siam is in Thailand but as we learned, this country has a long history of changing rulers and the neighboring countries. Vietnam and Thailand, took constant bites of this land.
More about it you can find it here.


The main attraction are the temples and the main one is called Angkor Wat.

The temples were build in the 7 -10 century A.D. They were build for one religion, Hinduism but then a new ruler came who believed in Buddhism, thus he destroyed the  images of the exciting religion and new ones were carved. Nature also took it’s toll but an extensive restoration work was done on most of them so we had  a full “plate” on our hands.  We started with Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple then on to Preah Khan then Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. Each one was unique. The biggest is Angkor Wat. The temples have the same basic architecture. They were  build with 4 corner prayer/meditation rooms, courtyard in the middle and three towers each symbolize a different god. It seems that the numbers 3 and 4 are important, which sums to 7. Nothing is random and you can find meaning in everything.  I find that I tend to compare it to Judaism. There is so much in common even though these believes developed in different parts of the world.

I marveled at each one but I got restless in Angkor Wat. I found out later that its the only one that served as a burial place for the kings. This reminded me of the Taj-Mahal which is another wonder but also is a mausoleum and let’s not forget the Pyramids… what is it with the obsession with death?

The Next morning I woke up at 4am, took  a Tuk-tuk which is a motorcycle attached to a carriage, to the town of Phnom Krom. Took a steep hike and arrived at a pagoda on the top of a mountain. It’s a monastery and the monks were getting up for their morning chanting. After the chanting I joined a purification ceremony which included chanting, prayers, meditation and final blessing with holy water by the abbot. I was also given a red string on my right hand. I joined an Indian family who cam for the blessing, for breakfast and watched the sunrise.

DSC00323 DSC00329DSC00218DSC00369

We heard there was a place called a Thousand Lingas.  Yes…  it’s a phallic symbol but again it symbolize beginnings. We drove an hour and half out of the city. The landscape consists mainly of rice fields. The farmers live in huts on stilts, they don’t have any electricity or running water.
We learned from our guide that it is the government’s interest to keep the people poor and uneducated.
We climbed for an hour and arrived at the famous Thousand Lingas river. Back to Siem Reap we stopped at the ” pink temple” Banteay Prei which is big but has no ornamentation.

The next stop was the Landmine museum. This was a reminder that Cambodia was under the Khmer Rouge dictatorship regime that killed over 2 million Cambodians.

There are few staple Cambodian foods. I took a cooking class which started with a trip to the market to get the fish or rather make sure it’s the fish I can eat … then to the kitchen to make banana flower salad with smoked fish, coconut soup with tofu and fish amok.
We leave Cambodia to go North to Hanoi. We leave a country with a rich history that is filled with wars and pain and hope for a brighter future.

DSC00383  DSC00229DSC00385


Love -Art

Last week I travelled to Miami, away from the cold. Not because I wanted to get away from the first taste of winter and get some sun … but for art. Art fairs are abundant these days and for the last ten years I find myself on a plane heading South to see what “Art Basel” has to offer. It’s not all about art.  Yes, there are parties, previews and many other fairs. And, yes it seems that every year another art fair pops up, just like mushrooms!  There are collections to see and  this year, even a new museum. If it sounds confusing, it is. After all,  isn’t contemporary art supposed to make us wonder? Some of the art can be explained, some works I like and some I just don’t get, but overall Art Basel is a quick view of what’s happening in the artistic world today. I am not an expert, but I like to see how people relate to what they see. I ask myself: Is it the object that catches our eye? Is it the color that ignites the imagination? What makes us stop and think.

Here are some images I captured. It’s a journey for the mind.

DSC04719 DSC04720 DSC04730  DSC04735 DSC04744 DSC04752DSC04727 DSC04754  DSC04765DSC04766DSC04784DSC04759       IMG_4777DSC04793DSC04761 DSC04785   DSC04814 DSC04798DSC04802DSC04817 IMG_4779DSC04822 DSC04829 DSC04833 DSC04837 DSC04838 IMG_4805 IMG_4816  DSC04866 IMG_4849  DSC04894 IMG_4837 IMG_4864DSC04886IMG_4863

Walking the main fair I came across beds, people were lying with headphones , covered with a blanket . It is a project by the artist Marina Abramovitz. At a talk with the artist, she explained her method, she tried to give us the opportunity to claim time for oneself during the art fair.  She created four projects, beds for rest-time, counting the rice tables, and a portal long chair. These projects were a collaborations with the architect Daniel Libeskind and designer Patricia Urquiola. She believes that Technology is good and bad. Technology takes all our time and doesn’t give us time to ourself.


I spend three days running around trying to see it all but off course that is not possible.

Marina had another project in Sean Kelly gallery. It was the last day so you would think I had had enough but NOOO, I had to see what else she created. The project is called “Generator”, there is a quote form Alexander Dorner (art historian 1893-1957) ” The new type of art will be more like a power station, a producer of new energy”. You are blindfolded and your ears are covered with earphones and then one is led into a room. The idea is to walk slowly around or just stand. It focuses on “Nothingness”. But is there really nothing? Once some of the senses are blocked, you are aware of the space in a different way. You are entering a meditative state but yet you are part of the community of others. You are part of the exhibition and therefore creating art on your own. It is radical.

I wanted to see another exhibit of the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami which is called In the land of Dead, stepping on the tail of a Rainbow. The sculptures of mythological creatures and painting of smily faces are painted on skulls. Murakami explored natural catastrophes, things that are caused by nature. He said that to make sense of it we invent stories.


I can never have enough of seeing art, of creating art and even without paint brush or clay we create and that’s what makes me happy.

DSC04810IMG_4775DSC04748 DSC04903 IMG_4857IMG_4868

DSC04892    IMG_4860 DSC04786

What does it mean? Democracy


IMG_0745 IMG_0739



Tel Aviv changing skyline

Tel Aviv changing skyline



IMG_0741 IMG_0742


IMG_0807 DSC_0193





DSC_0121 DSC_0123


IMG_0792 IMG_0785





Kadishman, an artist I like wear a kippa that says “Mashich is not coming, he is not even calling” the words are from a song by Shalom Chanoch about a buisnessman who is not fullfiling his obligations (, but did we loose hope for a brighter future.



IMG_0805 IMG_0793 DSC_0193 DSC04688





अलविदा alavidā -Good bye in hindi



















<img src=”http://50plusmom.files.word

Thar Desert













Fort and more- Shabbath in Jodphur










