Little Tel Aviv

"Can I write about your place?" I asked in Hebrew after I was taken by a gracious Thai to the Green House manager.

"Of course," Yaniv said and gave the green light for this article.

Setup

The Green House resembles very much the typical travel establishment in Bangkok; it includes a restaurant at the entrance, a travel agency and an internet cafe inside. A hotel covers everything else. The difference here are the very prominent Hebrew letters, that unmistakably give away the place; once inside, the rough Hebrew accent creates the feeling of being in Little Tel Aviv (the spot where that city was founded) in an especially hot and humid day.

Location

Rambuttri Road is the first street parallel and north of Khaosan Road; the Green House is on the corner of Rambuttri with a tiny alley that leads to Khaosan Road. The location is thus central without being noisy. There is an easy access from there to the Ratchadamnoen Avenue, from where there is access to the main attractions in Bangkok.

Travel Agency

The Green House travel agency was my first stop; Ron - its manager - gave a general description of the services offered. These include mainly sites in the Bangkok area: Damnoen Saduak, Kanchanaburi, Pattaya and - of course - Bangkok itself.

The tours were priced similarly to those offered by other travel agencies in the area and included several options for each destination, from cheap half-days to full tours including cultural activities. However, as it is clear from my other Thai journals, all these locations can be easily accessed independently. Booking a tour to the Royal Palace - which is just across a nearby park - is a very bad practice for aspiring Marco Polos.

World Wide Web Interlude

While happily "cleaning" (that's the Hebrew slang used for the act) hummus from the plate in front of me, somebody approached me and gave me a leaflet.

Was she a IgoUgo reader? Apparently, since the leaflet contained information about my last stop before Bangkok: Hollywood. CoolModeling was seeking for people to appear in a Hollywood movie being produced in Bangkok.

"Would I get a star next to the one of Kermit the Frog in Hollywood?" I asked and got a weird look instead of a verbal answer; I immediately gave up my promising career as an actor.

Hotel

The day I visited the Green House, most of the seventy-six rooms were occupied; Yaniv apologized for that copiously while showing me one of their lower quality rooms. The old building offers rooms with air conditioner and without, with hot water and without and with various numbers of beds. A room for two costs around fifteen dollars; however, as in many similar establishments in the Khaosan area, I failed to take a picture of the tiny double room; the camera couldn't get a significant angle.

Restaurant

Around a dozen tables are crowded in two rows from the entrance, and through the corridor leading to the other services of the establishment; four tables are outside, on the walk side.

Being open to the street, hawkers and people with leaflets promising a career in Hollywood have free access to the diners; even the heat and the humidity don't keep them away.

Repeating here the large menu may drive away the readers; instead I'll only mention the main dishes and would concentrate on the things that are peculiar to the Green House. The meals in offer include a main dish and two sides; the main dishes are schnitzel, chicken breast, a type of kebab typical of Jerusalem, shawarma, chicken liver and falafel and cost 109 baht.

Hummus with Tahini: that was my choice for a snack. Despite its simplicity, hummus is a tricky dish to prepare and thus is the perfect acid test for an establishment serving Middle Eastern cuisine. It arrived a few minutes later; a small plate was covered with a thick layer of hummus, at its center was a generous spot of tahini sauce; everything was covered with a bit of oil and some paprika for the color. It was accompanied with a fresh and hot pita bread. The hummus and the tahini were good, despite the garlic was omitted and the oil not being olive oil. The pita bread was too small for the portion. At 89 baht the dish was a bit pricey, but not excessively so.

Israeli Salad: this salad is made of tomatoes and cucumbers with some garlic and onions, all finely chopped and covered with olive oil. Here, they added some lettuce and charged 69 baht for a small serving.

Coffee: I made a mistake. After more than six years out of the country I didn't stop to think what "Cafe Elite" meant when I ordered it. I got the cheapest Israeli soluble coffee for a staggering 39 baht. The Thai waitress asked why I didn't finish it; what could I answer? Should I had explained her the virtues of quality and the true nature of coffee? Could I render correctly the subtle differences between beans and roasting methods to a waitress who barely spoke English? I swallowed the rest and promised myself to begin a training in mnemonic techniques.

Internet; Luggage Storage and Pool

Behind the hotel reception's counter - by the restaurant's backside - there is a luggage storage room; bags can be deposited there for 5 baht per day. The internet cafe occupies two rooms, accessed from the hotel's reception counter. The one upstairs has an air conditioner and operates between 8 AM and 1 AM. The one downstairs has just six computers at the corner of a room featuring pool tables, but it is open 24/7; its outer wall is made of glass and faces the alley leading to Khaosan Road.

All the computers feature cameras, headphones, flat screens and a single USB connection; however, unfortunately there is neither access to the computer itself nor to many of its options. The software installed in them is minimal and no files can be saved on them. Thus, if somebody needs to transfer a file between two memory cards - for example for the sake of a backup - that's not possible, unless carrying a USB bus. These limitations apparently led to a compromise in the price; a single hour costs 20 baht (half an hour costs 15), while a ten hours package is sold for 99 baht; much cheaper than most connections in the area.

The awkward system works with a system of chits, which include a user number and a password, which can be easily stolen (the computers are close to each other; the chits are printed in large letters). Moreover, the system uses a software named "My Cafe Cup," which collect the ID numbers of memory devices connected to it. As a result, the system is quite vulnerable to thefts and peeps into private data by unqualified strangers, as I learned after my access was denied, while the system claimed I was already logged into another computer; I was reluctantly refunded, but the event was not necessary.

The upstairs room offers international calls for 9 baht per minute; in the days of Skype and other related internet to phone inexpensive connections, and in a location offering proper headphones, the service is superfluous.

HaKesher HaIsraeli - The Israeli Liaison - may be the oldest Israeli establishment in the Khaosan area, for years its huge Hebrew signs mark that street west end. The transliteration of the name is awkward looking, thus it is also known in English as UTC, ITC and Traveller's.

Israeli Restaurant

The Israeli Restaurant is placed by the entrance of the main building. The whole place is decorated in dark wood - with an interesting curved ceiling - and a dim lighting, which creates a blessed contrast to the bright streets of Bangkok. On an inner balcony above it, ordered orchestra instruments were waiting for a band.

As in the other Israeli restaurants in the area, there were separate menus in English and in Hebrew; the English ones had pictures, enabling foreigners to get an idea how the dish looks. To my amazement, the dishes were priced differently. In the Hebrew one, the hummus with tahini cost 70 baht, while the same dish in the English menu cost 90 baht. At certain moments I am really ashamed of the passport I have.

The menu was otherwise similar to the one reviewed for the Green House. The specials here were falafel with tahini, offered for 49 baht and hummus, for 60 in Hebrew. Several of the dips appearing in the menu - all the ones containing hummus with meat - were not available.

In order to be able to make a valid comparison with the other institutions reviewed here, I chose a hummus with tahini; I paid for it 70 baht in Hebrew, though somebody unable to read the Hebrew would have paid 90. Having recovered my Israeli products memory after the Green House coffee fiasco, I accompanied it with a black coffee that cost 30 baht.

Hummus with Tahini: the main staple of the Middle East; hummus must be prepared of fresh ingredients and consumed on the spot (since a good quality hummus should not contain taste-ruining preservatives). Here, a generous portion was served, atop it was tahini sauce, oil, paprika and some chopped parsley, by the look it was very fresh.

Suspecting something due to the very careful serving and an almost subliminal odour , I tried a bit of tahini - without mixing it with the hummus - and confirmed my first impression: the dish was excellent and featured the exact amount of garlic needed to give it that electric touch. Unluckily, it was served without a pita; half a submarine bread, fresh and hot was served it, that is like serving a hotdog on cookies.

Black Coffee: this type of coffee is the most popular in Israel; it is known also as Turkish coffee and is prepared by boiling coarse ground beans three types. Here it was served non-sweetened and with a cookie at its side. It was of average quality since it was prepared the lazy way; instead of being boiled, boiling water had been poured over the ground coffee.

The Upper Floors

The upper floors - accessed by a steep wood staircase - includes various free services for travelers. The combination of free services is not casual; the main business of the establishment is the travel agency and the restaurant; the free services are designed to keep the travelers there (so that they wouldn't find other attractive options in the vicinity) and willing to pay premium prices for the main services. Here, were toilets, a free luggage storage of overwhelming size (room-high columns of luggage can be seen behind a security net), and another unusual service:

"Ezor Itargenut" ("set-up area") is an area allowing groups of travelers to set-up their luggage and belongings before a trip. It draws from Hebrew military terms, reminding that most of the young travelers passing through here, were just released from their military service in Israel.

Traveller's - Travel Agency and Assistance Station

Next door is "Traveller's - Travel Agency and Assistance Station," the travel agency of the complex. Beyond the travel deals, it offers money transfer, parcels' sending, free internet from a few computers at the back side of the shop and international calls for 7 baht to regular phones and 15 baht to mobile ones; however, this is much more expensive than Skype, which can be operated through their free internet service. Usually there are no free computers.

Travel Services

Additional travel services offered are bus tickets, visa arrangements, flights and train tickets. The temptation to fix a complete trip at a single place by booking there even the smallest details is huge; yet, all this activities are trivial and would be completed faster and cheaper even by a not very experienced traveler. Moreover, such an activity would contribute hugely to the understanding of an area - due to the need to interact with locals - and build up the confidence needed by future Marco Polos.

Travel Deals

The agency specializes in three types of trips:

Jeep trips with the company Tene: in cooperation with another Israeli company, called Tene, the agency offers jeep trips to northern Thailand, specifically in the areas of: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, the Golden Triangle and Mae Hong Son. For example, a trip of three days and two nights to the last costs 5000 baht, including everything. In my journal Mae Hong Son Do It Yourself, I describe a more complete trip that can be done alone - in comfort and picking up the best hotels, unlike in this deal - for much less.

Scuba diving in Thailand's islands is also offered in combination with fast catamaran services to the islands. The last service reaches Chumporn by bus, and then uses catamaran boats for reaching Koh Samui, Koh Tao, and Koh Phangan; this service costs 1700 baht for the farthest island.

The last category of trips offered are day trips in and from Bangkok; in my relevant journals (Day Trips from Bangkok and Bangkok's Attractions) I described how these tours can be done independently. The Grand Palace is five minutes by foot from the agency; why should a traveler book such a tour?

Lametayel ("For the Traveler" in Hebrew) is a very well known travel agency in Tel Aviv; apparently, they have branches in all their major destinations; including Bangkok. The Lametayel Travel Agency in Bangkok has a similar logo to the one in Tel Aviv, reinforcing thus the relation, though I couldn't confirm the fact with the owners.

The Location

Lametayel Bangkok is located practically next door from "HaKesher HaIsraeli," on Chana Songkram Road, at the west end of Khaosan Road. Near Ratchadamnoen Avenue - the gate to public transport in the area - it is superbly located. A huge sign on the west end of Khaosan Road - as big as a whole floor - advertises the site in clear Hebrew letters.

The Business

Both institutions - HaKesher and Lametayel - base their business around a travel agency, offering several related services at discount prices or free; neither of them offers a guesthouse.

The Restaurant

The restaurant is placed at the backside of the travel agency; the place is rather small and designed mainly as a snacks' stop. The menu was similar to the one reviewed for the Green House and the HaKesher - Israeli Liaison, though the emphasis here was on sandwiches and set meals, which were being sold at 120 baht; they had also a whole section called "Alfredo," specializing on Italian dishes. A point of interest were special Israeli dishes; traditional "hamin" is served on weekends and a specific form of scrambled eggs popularized by the Israeli army and called "shakshuka" is available at all times.

However, faithful to my plan for the journal, I chose a hummus with tahini, as in the other restaurants reviewed here; I paid for it 70 baht. Hummus is made from mashed chickpeas and spices; it is a popular food all across the Middle East. Being a dip, it is scooped with a pita bread, an action than in Hebrew slang is referred to as "cleaning;" it can be served also with other dishes and salads. A related dish is hummus with tahini; where the hummus is topped with tahini, a sesame seeds paste prepared with olive oil.

After a short delay, I got a relatively small portion of hummus covered with tahini sauce, oil, and paprika, it was obviously fresh and was accompanied by a single, but big-sized and fresh pita. The dish was excellent.

Lametayel Travel Agency

Lametayel is much smaller than the other institutions reviewed in this journal. Its single and narrow floor is divided into a travel agency at the front and a restaurant at the backside. At the very entrance to the agency there are Hebrew books for exchange, not only travel books but novels and others as well, a service I missed at HaKesher and the Green House; however, they were locked and it was not possible to take a close look at them.

As in Hakesher, the travel services offered here are bus tickets, visa arrangements, flights and train tickets; though apparently the emphasis is on the flights. At the time of my visit - August 5th, 2008 - the company was busy finding alternative flights for people that bought cheap tickets from a company that suddenly stopped operating.

Lametayel specializes in various types of trips within Thailand; the simplest ones are day trips in and from Bangkok; in my relevant journals (Day Trips from Bangkok and Bangkok's Attractions) I described how these tours can be done independently.

Scuba diving and training in Thailand's islands is offered as well. Pukhet and the western islands were ignored in Lametayel, the deals referred exclusively to the islands around Koh Samui.

Jeep trips in northern Thailand are offered to the following areas: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, the Golden Triangle and Mae Hong Son. However, inherent problems with such pre-arranged trips are that they demand groups of people, often do not allow choosing neither hotels nor food, and offer very little flexibility in general.

The banality of the choices is an important clue; a magnifying glass is needed to spot the differences in the deals offered by the different travel agencies at Khaosan Road. For the aspiring Marco Polo, that's a clear sign that all these deals - regardless of how they are presented to the customer - are mass-marketed trips; moreover, it means that there would not be any problems for the independent traveler to reach those locations. Finally, it probably means also that the truly awesome locations are somewhere else.

Entering the very stronghold (well, a branch of it) of the people that have persecuted me and are still censoring me was difficult. However, not only because of the personal angle of the visit, the experience was definitely scary. The sophisticated surveillance camera by the entrance (there were more inside) and the uniformed Thai policeman placidly sitting enjoying the air conditioner told most of the story even before I entered.

Despite the fears, I walked around the sumptuous restaurant where orthodox Jews dressed up in their custom clothes ate kosher fast food. It wasn't a place where I would stop for a meal; the important thing - and here it was doubly so - is what came out of the mouth, not what is put inside. Following a quick glance at the kosher menu and the dinners, I climbed the fancy staircase to the upper floor, which resembled a retreated balcony upon the restaurant. I couldn't help noticing that a young man was standing at the balcony, apparently busy in prayers, but facing the entrance door.

While exploring the huge upper floor, the preying prayer kept moving around while looking at me; in my casual clothes and backpack, I stood aside of the orthodox crowd. I did two full rounds of the room, to be sure of my suspicions, and he kept looking at me; apparently he was disguised security.

I approached him in an indirect path, using a handy column in my path to block his line of sight, then I stood right behind him. He slowly continued his sunflower-like ritual; when turning backwards he was surprised to see me standing inches from him, looking intently at his face.

His sigh was an acknowledgment of having been disclosed. Unceremoniously, he close his false prayers book and asked me in Hebrew:

"What's your question?"

What would have happened have I failed understanding the old language?

"Do you have a travel agency here?" I asked in Hebrew. Answering a question with a question had disclosed my cultural roots; however, it failed breaking up the tension.

"A travel agency would be business - in a show of vanity, he pronounced the last word in English - and we are above that here."

"Aren't you selling cooked food downstairs?" I countered, but literally we were standing above the food business. The irony was lost on him.

Choosing not to explain his lack of logic (which was surprising considering the organization's name), he offered to show me around; after a short while he mysteriously disappeared into a side door without even saying good-bye. But I have seen the place, and shaking my shoes by the entrance, left; I didn't want sand from there to stick on them.

Chabad

Based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Chabad-Lubavitch is one of the largest Hasidic movements in Pharisaic-Orthodox Judaism. The name is a pretentious Hebrew acronym for "chochmah, binah, da'at;" it means "wisdom, understanding, knowledge," making reference thus to the ultimately legalistic (Pharisaic) stream in Judaism, though they rely on the talmud and kabbala for their interpretations of classical Judaism rather than on the Bible itself. The talmud interprets the Pentatheuc according to oral traditions, rather than through religious principles, and ignores the rest of the Bible, mainly due to its Messianic content.

In modern Israel they are known for their attempt to convert secular Jews into Hasidic, ultra-orthodox ones. As such, they operate big centers in all the places frequented by secular Israeli tourists, as Bangkok is. Similar centers exist in Kathmandu and La Paz; they still do not have a branch in Jinghong.

According to them, a Christian born to Jewish parents (as I am), is called "meshumad" (meaning "utterly destroyed") or "mityaven" ("transformed himself into Greek," but wasn't He one of us?). My reluctance to enter the place can be understood under the circumstances.

The Restaurant

The Chabad restaurant occupies the whole ground floor of their building in Bangkok; it serves kosher food and caters mainly to orthodox and ultra-orthodox Jews in Bangkok, a small community of the last lives in Bangkok as gems' traders.

It is divided in two areas, the one next to the entrance and in view from the balcony, where a few backpackers were chatting, and the backside, where the crowd of orthodox patrons were seated.

Compared to the other restaurants reviewed in this journal, this one is obviously richer, with solid furniture and a wealthy look. At the time of my visit - during the early afternoon - it was half full.

The First Floor

The first floor was where most of the tourism related activities took place, above it was an auditorium; the last was closed.

On the back side of the first floor was a library occupying a big chunk of the wall. Three columns contained classical Pharisaic literature, while the last one - the sweet trap - contained travel books and novels, several of them in Hebrew.

At the central part of this area were internet services; about ten computers provided web connection to an obviously larger crowd.

Donations boxes were all around the room, each one was marked for a different cause; the openly giving in public - including names of main donors on wall signs - made me remember what was said in the Bible about such public offerings; for sure, the signs would be the donors' unique reward. In the backside of the room were two rooms dedicated to Jewish studies; as I suspected, they were empty.

A large board provided information on current issues, including offers to work in Japan. The thing may come as a surprise to outsiders, but the connection is clear. Orthodox Jews are among the worldwide largest traders on diamond and gems; in an attempt to help Israeli backpackers, they provide them with cheap silver knickknacks and contact addresses in Japan; there, the sight of Israeli backpackers selling silverware at the night markets is common.

The numbers are staggering; despite actual official statistics being hard to get, several sites quote the number one hundred thousand Israeli tourists in Thailand for the year 2003. Probably this number is larger now, since there is a continuous increase in the tourists' population segments arriving from Israel. In the past they were almost exclusively backpackers just after their military service; nowadays there are a lot of whole families as well.

The Rationale

For Israelis, visiting Thailand is very convenient, since the country is less expensive than Israel and is one of the few issuing handy visas on arrival to Israeli citizens. Moreover, the interaction between the acutely different cultures assures a vacation in which the endless troubles at home would be forgotten - at least for a while.

Khaosan Road became the obvious center in Bangkok of these tourists, mainly due to its being cheaper than areas as Sukhumvit Road, even after the recent years constant upgrading, but also due to the availability of travel agencies there. Once Hebrew speaking travel agencies opened on Khaosan Road, other areas of Bangkok wouldn't even be considered.

The Result

The many Hebrew signs on Khaosan Road are unmistakable; the language can be easily heard between the English of most visitors. The groups - if knowing what to search for - can be seen from far away. With no doubt, Khaosan Road features one of the largest concentrations of Israeli citizens in the world, especially during Israeli holidays. Trying to ignore them during earlier trips to the area, I finally decided to dedicate them a journal.

The Idea

Interviewing tourists on the streets seemed as a bad idea for this journal. Most of them would probably refuse; if not, most of their answers would be in the style of "let's say what he does expect to hear;" I know my people and their - justified - fear of the Big Brother. The lack of freedom in Israel trains its citizens in very specific skills.

Thus, I decided to visit the main four Israeli institutions in the Khaosan Road area, as of August 2008. Some of the visits were incognito, others were done openly. Some went fine, other were weird on the verge of scary.

The Institutions

Such a crowd of tourists was calling for dedicated businesses; despite several changes during the last years, the concentration of Israeli businesses on the west end of Khaosan and the central part of Rambuttri seems to have stabilized. The big Israeli travel agencies and guesthouses located there openly advertise their services in Hebrew and attract shoppers from other parts of the world as well.

The biggest institutions - and the ones reviewed here as well - are: the Green House, Lametayel, HaKesher HaIsraeli and Beit Chabad. HaKesher HaIsraeli is the oldest and biggest, its huge sign is a Khaosan Road landmark for years; a surprise awaited me there.

Assessing Food

All the four institutions included restaurants; I ate at three of them, while the fourth was beyond any compromise I was ready to make for the sake of this journal. Yet, I needed a plan allowing me to achieve comparative results.

On an airplane magazine - in my way to Bangkok - I read a food review where it was claimed "a restaurant cannot be assessed by tasting simple dishes like lobsters." However, these simple dishes often require very specific and delicate ingredients, and an exact preparation; the skill of the chef and the quality of the products used in these dishes cannot be hidden under a fancy sauce with a long name. Hummus and tahini are such dishes and are an important part of the Israeli diet; thus, I ordered hummus with tahini at all three restaurants, while promising myself to begin a diet one day after finishing the journal.

The Guesthouse

One of the travel agencies included a guesthouse; for my personal security I did not sleep there, but the owner of the place gave me a detailed visit of the place.

Travel Agencies

Three of the four institutions reviewed included travel agencies; at the fourth I was seriously told "we are above that (type of business)." I didn't book tours with them since I prefer traveling independently; however, I spoke with the people working there - in two cases incognito - while trying to find out about the services provided.

At one of the agencies they were busy trying to find alternative flights for customers of a company that suddenly ceased working. However, in general, I got the impression the services were responsible, though overpriced and catering for people not used to traveling independently; and that fits the patterns, few Israelis travel around alone.

After three days, the journal was finished - at least the data gathering for it - and I returned to the blessed anonymity of speaking English and wearing a Thai T-shirt.