On the beach

Local beauties and fabulous looking young men begin their day at the beach around noon and stay on it till sunset which they all welcome standing and applauding. Or do they thank the sun for another beautiful day? Both they and the tourists rather quickly gain the mood for drinks and snacks: caipir...

To the beach!

Rio is proud of its beaches and the districts adjacent to them, which in turn are competing with each other for the palm. Copacabana is the largest and certainly the most famous of them, but it is Ipanema (in Indian "the dangerous depths") which is the determinant of the standard of living of cario...

In the City Centre

Since today there is no sunshine, we're going to the City Center. The Rio underground system is in a constant expansion, so the journey on foot, by bus and by metro takes over an hour. Cariocas have a strong need for a commitment to modernity, so in a frenzy expansion of the city, they demolished ...

Lapa

Before lying on one of the beaches (about them later on), we are visiting the popular districts of Rio. Lapa is one of them. There are no beaches, nor beautiful lady models clad in skimpy bikinis, nor those comely young men flexing their freshly tortured muscles at the gym. This is about something ...

First steps in Ipanema

Twelve hours of a tiring flight was compensated with the rest in a rented apartment in snobish Ipanema. The view from the window of Mount Brothers and the entire district announces new impressions. The weather admittedly wasn't very encouraging, but we need to see what's happening on the beach whe...

15. The Koh Larn Island - the end of holidays

At the end of our  holidays a  trip to the island of Koh Larn. Unfortunately, we were not the only tourists there. Actutally, there were hundreds of people - on  a small island and the beaches  could hardly accommodate everybody who arrived there. It also was  a new experience for us. ...

14. b. Pattaya by night

Today two entries. b. It is obvious that holidays in Pattaya without a hard night, it's not vacation. For many, this means strolling down the streets from bar to bar, from store to store. But Pattaya its "Wwalking" Street" is something special. Pictures do not reflect the buzzl...

14.a. Pattaya, as you like it

Today two entries. a. Tuesday Pattaya has a bad reputation: Mafias, drugs, sex tourism, crowds of tourists and dozens of thousands of Russians with their own businesses, agencies, advertising in their language, etc. There could be a long list of reasons why not to go to Pattaya. ...