Gastronomie

Best Food

• Vietnam
• South Africa

Worst Food

• China

Best Wine

• South Africa

Worst Wine

• China
• India

Best Tipping

• China (won’t take tips)

Worst Tipping

• India (everyone expects tips)

Accommodation

Best Hotel

• India (Marari Beach)
• South Africa (Manor 38)

Worst Hotel 

• Dubai (JW Marriott)

Best Internet Availability

• China

Worst Internet Availability

• India
• South Africa

Worst Internet Connectivity

• China (our own blog was censored)

Services

Best Service

• Thailand (Phuket)

Best Post Office

• Vietnam (they came to our hotel)

Worst Post Office

• India (horrible; might be on lunch break)
• South Africa (no packaging material)

Transportation

Worst Traffic

• Vietnam
• Thailand (Bangkok)

Worst Pedestrian Right-Away

• China

Best Boat Ride

• Vietnam (Halong Bay)
• South Africa (Sunset Cruise)
• China (Bamboo Raft)

Worst Boat Ride

• China (Three Gorges)

Temples and Monuments

Best Temples & Churches & Palaces

• Cambodia (Ta Phrom)
• Cambodia (Angkor Wat + Tomb)
• India (Jain Temple, Udaipur)
• India (Palace, Udaipur)
• India (Amber Fort, Jaipur)

Best Monuments

• China (Great Wall)
• China (Terra Cotta Warriors)
• India (Taj)
• Brazil (Cristos)

Entertainment 

Best Live Show

• China (Kung Fu, Beijing)
• China (Light Show, Yangshuo)

Nature

Best Wild Life Encounters

• Thailand (Tigers)
• China (Pandas)
• Thailand (Elephants)
• South Africa (Lions)
• South Africa (Cheetahs)
• South Africa (Safari)
• India (Monkeys)

Worst Wild Life Encounters

• Thailand (Leopards)
• India (Elephants)

Best Starry Sky

• South Africa (Entabeni)
• India (Marari Beach)

Worst Starry Sky

• China (No Stars)

Best Beach

• India (Marari Beach)
• Thailand (Phuket)
• Brazil (Rio)

Other

Best Animal Control

• China

Worst Animal Control

• India

Worst Manners

• China

Worst Children Begging

• Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
• India

Worst Smoking

• Brazil

Worst Air Quality

• China (Beijing)

Time to wrap it up. We are heading home for Christmas. This trip was a dream come true. What a time to be alive!

Packing Up

Final Flight Home

Bye-bye Rio

Up, up, and away

Up, up, and away

One of the things I really, really wanted to visit was the Carmen Miranda Museum. All I needed was some fruit for my head and a pair of sky-high platforms. We found the museum (with some great effort) and to our surprise, it is free. Yay! The tiny museum has lots of her costumes, shoes, trunks, and headpieces. There are TVs with scenes from her movies and performances looping.

Museum Building

Museum

Pose

Grandios

Carmen Miranda

Carmen Miranda

Museum Sign

Inspired

Trees

Some impressions of Christmas time in Rio.

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

The beaches are really important and interesting to see in Rio. They are very different. There are different crowds, different atmospheres, different goals at each one. Walking from beach to beach you start to pick up the various vibes. A big thing is beach volleyball. Of course, played by men in Speedos who are ridiculously tanned. After our samba school excursion, we did a big tour, me still sporting my phony tattoos and got a better understanding of the Rio de Janeiro way of life.

Beach

Beach

Beach

Beach

Beach

Beach

We had such a good time at the Copacabana Palace, we decided to go, try a different restaurant and decided to hit the night club. While we were eating, we watched a parade of girls, all dressed in amazing dresses go to the club “Bar do Copa”. Of course, we wanted in the action. We were surprised to see such a mix of women–specifically in terms of age. There were young girls in their 20s to what could easily be described as cougarlicious women in their late 40s and early 50s. We got a bottle of champagne, drank, people watched and of course danced.

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Palace

Off we go to the samba school which is VERY local. No tourists in sight–except us. Since I have ink, I have immediate street credibility. I am starting to panic because people are loving my work. Those people that can speak English approach me. I am not happy about this at all and am worried about getting busted.

Samba School

Dancers

Samba All Night

The Band

Samba All Night

The samba school looks like a big hockey arena and they are practicing and it is packed. We are dancing, drinking beer and watching amazing dancers, great costumes, awesome musicians and lively drummers providing the beats. We are thrilled.

Samba All Night

Samba All Night

Samba All Night

Samba All Night

We don’t leave until dawn. We are coming back for Carnival.

We are looking for authentic things to do. We have heard good things about the Rio Scenarium. A samba club. We get dressed and when we were in China, I had purchased a bunch of temporary tattoos. If you know me, you know that I am not a proponent nor a fan of ink in any form. For some reason, I had been saving these temporary ones for months–and waiting for just the occasion.

Ready for the Night

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

Well, out they came. Not one, but two packages and I created a sleeve of flowers. The moment they were on, I went badass. I kept saying to Marc–don’t worry, I’ve got your back. I’ll look after you this evening.

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

So off we go to the Scenarium. There are a bunch of ladies singing and I feel like we are at a Portuguese wedding. I start falling asleep in my chair while we are waiting for things to really get going. The place is crawling with tourists and after two hours, me fighting to stay awake (not all that successfully), Marc claims that this place sucks and we are going to the Samba School.

We decide that we need to go to the top of Sugarloaf. Sporting my new tiger T-shirt, we go.

Base Station

Going Up

Going Up

View of Cristos

View of Copa Cabana

Sugarloaf

Frame

This Way

This Way

It is actually fantastic and I would recommend doing both, Corcovado and Sugar Loaf. All about different perspectives.

So in our book, one of the places we need to see is Buzios. Why is this fishing resort town on the map? Well because it was Brigitte Bardot’s favorite place “on earth”. We got picked up at our hotel and took a bus to the town. We were starting to lose our minds because when we make a rest stop, the bus is waiting on people that are shopping, taking their time, clacking. The break was 15 minutes. Some assholes were gone an hour. Of course, we waited. The Germ wasn’t happy…

Buzios Beach

Buzios Beach

Boat Tour

Buzios Beach

Kids

Buzios is charming. There are all kinds of interesting stores, restaurants, and cafes. We take a boat cruise and have a fantastic view of the town. It is a little fishing village turned into a resort town. I am thinking about Kristi–our resident Brigitte Bardot the entire day.

Cheers!

Kisses

Buzios

The next day we decide to take a tour of the favelas–pretty much the ghetto. We go with this couple from LA. The girl is Brazilian. It is something to see. What do you do when you run out of space? Build up.

Favelas

The Favela of Rio is one of the largest and functions as a mini-city. There are stores and winding roads and of course lots of people hanging about. We have been instructed on when we can and when we cannot take pictures. We go inside someone’s home and all I can think about is the struggle it would be to hike your groceries up and home. Clearly, there are no big Costco shops if you live in a favela.

Favelas

Favelas

Favelas

Favelas

Favelas

Favelas

Favelas

The stairs were each so high, it was powering your quads to climb them. We got to our host’s favela and the one thing about being high–you have an incredible view. We took some pictures and then back to the tour we went.

Favelas

We only later find out that there is a huge epidemic of TB in the favelas. Really? Information we would have appreciated knowing before we went. It really was something.

Favelas

When my baby, when my baby smiles at me I go to Rio de Janeiro…

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl, with yellow feathers in her hair and dress cut down to there…

Tall and tanned and long and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking and when she does…

It is official. I can’t stop singing.

Rio feels like the South American version of Nice. I keep saying this and we later find out that their waterfront is based off our beloved South of France. No wonder we love it here.

It is the end of the journey. Time to splash out. It is oddly enough the first time that we have started saying Merry Christmas, despite the fact that it is quickly approaching.

We have a list of things we want to do. Things that have been recommended or listed in our trusty “1000 Things To Do Before You Die”. The city is full of beautiful people (however we thought everyone was going to look like Model Giselle–and not so much) who are ready to play.

First things first–we are itching to see Cristos on the Corcovado–the massive landmark statue of Jesus with a 30-meter span of his arms stretched out. We take a taxi, then a tram (which is reminiscent of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong). We were not prepared for the magnitude of the statue. Just massive and beyond impressive. We are moved. We are having a great day and are snapping pictures like mad–just in time. Clouds eventually roll in, (while we are still there having such a great time and staying longer than others) and no sooner had the clouds rolled in, Cristos disappeared. What is great about the Corcovado is that you have a great view of the Sugar Loaf and the renovated Maracana football stadium.

Base Station

Base Station

View of Sugar Loaf

Cristos

Cristos

Cristos

Cristos

The JW Marriott was a stone’s throw away from Copacabana Palace (CHECK THIS) and is significant because it is stunning AND because it is where Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire first danced together on screen. We go for a fabulous dinner in the most stunning, over the top, gold guild room. We love Rio!

Copa Cabana