It was tough leaving Natal, seriously. But the saga continues. There's more land to be discovered. Our most northern stop in Brasil was Fortaleza. I really wish I knew the state each city was in but I don't. Brasil has 26 states i think. don't quote me. Anyways, we were really fortunate to meet with Josh's co-worker's friend Carol, who graciously gave us a tour of the city. Honestly, it was a bit weird riding around in a car. So nice and convenient. The layout of Fortaleza was sooooo interesting. The city sorta had a right angle look to it, surrounded by much different types of waters. I say this because on one side, kite surfing is God there. World's championship kite surfing and there was def alotta people practicing for it. But kicker is, all the tall buildings that were built on that side have all, i mean ALL been deteriorated and crumbled down because of the wind that carries the salt. Empty lots everywhere with old building parts. So the other side is the normal side. Hotels, buildings, blah blah. The worst part is that they have this bridge half built (because the new mayor or wherever stopped it) that was suppose to connect everyone to their fatty tourist attraction, the BEACH PARK. They have this like 12 story water slide. Its called SUPER WEDGIE. naw, i don't know what its called but it should be. or RAPE ME.
Fortaleza was actually a cool city. The square of the city was sorta a cool embarcadero amphitheater with bars and restaurants feel. i guess. a perfect spot for the young people to hang out. But back to kite surfing, I actually thought about trying kite surfing before I had visited Brasil. It was just something I've always felt like doing. But Fortaleza was no place for a beginner. Trust me, I saw some guy getting dragged through the water from the wind and there wasn't a way to let go of the kite. If Chicago is the Windy City(even though it aint), Fortaleza is Chicago's drunk uncle. Long story short, I chickened out. ha!
HIGHLIGHT - All trip we've been talking about seeing a soccer game in Rio. But we found out there was a game happening here. THAT NIGHT. WHA! CEARA was playing ABC NATAL. Carol's brother's friend Ruggero is a die hard fan and agreed to take us. From what they described, it was kinda like the Panthers against the Lions. An average team vs a weakass one that would never sell out the stadium. But it was guaranteed to have scores. So GOOOOLLLLL for us! Home team CEARA won, 3-1. It was sick! Why? Because even though it was a normal game, these die hard fans treat it like its the World Series. Pitch for pitch, in this case, pass for pass, they were into it 100%. old guys were cussing like crazy over a simple bad pass. People would start ripping out hair when a player misses an opening. i loved it and at the same time i feared for my life. if i were to cheer for the wrong team only because i might have witnessed a great shot, will people give me the crazy eye? naw, they'll just say konnichiwai! honest! (squint eye look and all, its nuts,but thats another topic for next time) it was a very successful and rememorable game for me and i'm glad we saw it.
Here's some clips of the game.
Fortaleza, Brasil - Soccer Match: CEARA vs ABC NATAL from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label josh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label josh. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Natal, Brasil....Sand Dune Paradise
Natal was a dope spot. It had night life, it had beach life, it had city life. I could tell this is where lots of Brasilians come for their vacation. Some key moments that happen to us. We finally found the legendary ACAI SUPER BOMBA. Now to this point, we had been eating a lot of ACAI, the food or fruit or something that Opera just recommended for her food of the year. Its rare and expensive in the states, but its everywhere in Brasil. The food is grown from the Amazon and its suppose to give natural energy. A friend I met, Elena, from Manchester United had told me I must try the SUPER BOMBA. And I did. GLORIOUS!!!
We also found our German friend Ulf. This guy is adventurous. Someone you look at and say, damn, I shoulda been like this when I was a little younger. He's been using couchsurfing and hospitalityclub to stay at places throughout Brasil. Its websites where people offer a couch or a room for free. Its like a backpackers community of trust and openmindedness to meet new people and invite them to stay in your city for cheap with the local experience. Pretty cool huh!
Natal became a highlight of the trip instantly. I had seen pics online of the sand dunes in this area of Brasil but this was our chance to experience it first hand. We rushed through Recife just so we could make sure we had enough time to go on the buggy tour. The buggy tour consist of us renting a driver and his buggy car and for him to drive as crazy as possible through the sand dunes, while we hold on for dear life and scream and yell all day. No jumps involved, but definitely the scariest drops and face driving EVER! I remember there was one drop Black Tyson (our driver's nickname), almost a 90 degree face of the sand coming down, where he accelerated all the way down. He was doing donuts everywhere and climbing up sand walls only to drive right back down. They were the type of thrilling rides where you wonder, how on earth came someone stay inside the buggy while you do this. I guess it added to the excited. One moment that stood out was a drop where you couldn't see the other side. It caught us all by surprise. So much that, the other couple that we were on the tour with, finally came out of their shell, and started to yell and swear at the top of our lungs with us. It was the funniest moment of the day because the old guy we were with didn't say a word until that drop. I don't know what he said in Portuguese but I'm sure it was a bunch of words starting with F and S and probably I'll Kill YOu Tyson!
We also met some Brasilians from Sao Paulo on the trip that were very friendly. I swear, when you meet people who are also on vacation, you can have nothing but good times. After Black Tyson hooked it up, we hung out with them in our final hours in Natal. The lack of portuguese and spanish proved to make the conversation even more interesting. It was like playing that game Sharades (is that how you spell it). 2 words, sounds like, shaped like, sound effects. Crazy. They either thought I was weird or just pure entertainment. They asked us to look them up when we get to Sao Paulo. Hopefully there will be time.
Pics of the SUPER BOMBA. NATURAL BABY!!!
Here's our friend Ulf. We found all-u-can eat fish for dinner. NICE!
Sand Dunes and Buggy
New friends from Sao Paulo
We also found our German friend Ulf. This guy is adventurous. Someone you look at and say, damn, I shoulda been like this when I was a little younger. He's been using couchsurfing and hospitalityclub to stay at places throughout Brasil. Its websites where people offer a couch or a room for free. Its like a backpackers community of trust and openmindedness to meet new people and invite them to stay in your city for cheap with the local experience. Pretty cool huh!
Natal became a highlight of the trip instantly. I had seen pics online of the sand dunes in this area of Brasil but this was our chance to experience it first hand. We rushed through Recife just so we could make sure we had enough time to go on the buggy tour. The buggy tour consist of us renting a driver and his buggy car and for him to drive as crazy as possible through the sand dunes, while we hold on for dear life and scream and yell all day. No jumps involved, but definitely the scariest drops and face driving EVER! I remember there was one drop Black Tyson (our driver's nickname), almost a 90 degree face of the sand coming down, where he accelerated all the way down. He was doing donuts everywhere and climbing up sand walls only to drive right back down. They were the type of thrilling rides where you wonder, how on earth came someone stay inside the buggy while you do this. I guess it added to the excited. One moment that stood out was a drop where you couldn't see the other side. It caught us all by surprise. So much that, the other couple that we were on the tour with, finally came out of their shell, and started to yell and swear at the top of our lungs with us. It was the funniest moment of the day because the old guy we were with didn't say a word until that drop. I don't know what he said in Portuguese but I'm sure it was a bunch of words starting with F and S and probably I'll Kill YOu Tyson!
We also met some Brasilians from Sao Paulo on the trip that were very friendly. I swear, when you meet people who are also on vacation, you can have nothing but good times. After Black Tyson hooked it up, we hung out with them in our final hours in Natal. The lack of portuguese and spanish proved to make the conversation even more interesting. It was like playing that game Sharades (is that how you spell it). 2 words, sounds like, shaped like, sound effects. Crazy. They either thought I was weird or just pure entertainment. They asked us to look them up when we get to Sao Paulo. Hopefully there will be time.
Pics of the SUPER BOMBA. NATURAL BABY!!!
Here's our friend Ulf. We found all-u-can eat fish for dinner. NICE!
Sand Dunes and Buggy
New friends from Sao Paulo
Monday, October 13, 2008
Recife, Brasil...short but sweet.
Our next stop was Recife, Brasil. Everyone suggested, including Lonely Planet, to stay in the Olinda area because it was more laid back and artsy. As again, we arrived at night. Never ever a good idea to a place we've never been and a language we barely speak. But this was the first time we took the long distance bus during the day. It proved to be a shitty trip, like grey hound from sf to colorado but crowded like the 30 Stockton going through Chinatown. Lucky us, we had front seats where we see the most action and get zero naps in.
We ended up staying at D'Olinda Pousada. The sweetest part of this place was the free breakfast and the outrageous lunch (in a good way). The best was the breakfast cuz it wasn't just cheese and bread like we've been having EVERYDAY at all the other places. Finally, we had variety...and it was glorious. fruit, meat pies, eggs, sausages, and PIZZA. damn, all this for breakfast. crazy right.
The area of Olinda was amazing. They definitely have an unique artistic way of living. It was so fun walking around checking out the colorful houses, the graffiti art everywhere, and all the shops with their works. Most stores also had their giant puppets they use for Carnival. these bigger than life characters were surreal and somewhat cool and scary at the same time. And of course, like every city we've been to in Brasil, they claimed that Recife had the BEST carnival celebration. Its awesome because it shows how much pride they put into this yearly event.
HIGHLIGHT of Recife was def going to the Black Tuesday concert. After finding out from Josh that Recife was like number one murder capital of Brasil and walking through the ghetto at night looking for something called BLACK TUESDAY was def a highlight. Only because it proved all doubts wrong and turned out to be a successful and funfilled night. We found the concert in this enclosed square with a catherdal as the background. pretty sick. the concert had some hip hop (or as they call it in brasil, hippy hop), folklore, african drumming, the works. the crowd was mainly students and people who were there to smoke and chill.
But as written in the title, Recife was short but sweet. We scheduled out the rest of our trip in hopes to see a real soccer game back in Rio, so only 2 nights in Recife and moving on up the coast to Natal next.
Here's some pics of these puppets.
Here's a video of one dancing.
Recife, Brasil - Carnival Puppets from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
We ended up staying at D'Olinda Pousada. The sweetest part of this place was the free breakfast and the outrageous lunch (in a good way). The best was the breakfast cuz it wasn't just cheese and bread like we've been having EVERYDAY at all the other places. Finally, we had variety...and it was glorious. fruit, meat pies, eggs, sausages, and PIZZA. damn, all this for breakfast. crazy right.
The area of Olinda was amazing. They definitely have an unique artistic way of living. It was so fun walking around checking out the colorful houses, the graffiti art everywhere, and all the shops with their works. Most stores also had their giant puppets they use for Carnival. these bigger than life characters were surreal and somewhat cool and scary at the same time. And of course, like every city we've been to in Brasil, they claimed that Recife had the BEST carnival celebration. Its awesome because it shows how much pride they put into this yearly event.
HIGHLIGHT of Recife was def going to the Black Tuesday concert. After finding out from Josh that Recife was like number one murder capital of Brasil and walking through the ghetto at night looking for something called BLACK TUESDAY was def a highlight. Only because it proved all doubts wrong and turned out to be a successful and funfilled night. We found the concert in this enclosed square with a catherdal as the background. pretty sick. the concert had some hip hop (or as they call it in brasil, hippy hop), folklore, african drumming, the works. the crowd was mainly students and people who were there to smoke and chill.
But as written in the title, Recife was short but sweet. We scheduled out the rest of our trip in hopes to see a real soccer game back in Rio, so only 2 nights in Recife and moving on up the coast to Natal next.
Here's some pics of these puppets.
Here's a video of one dancing.
Recife, Brasil - Carnival Puppets from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Maceio, Brasil
Maceio def had to be on the top 3 highlights for this trip so far. I was sort of on the offbeaten track of any backpacker and also a last minute decision both Josh and I agreed on. Our destination that we had in mine was Natal, Brazil but from where we were, it was a long bus ride. So, with the help from meeting and befriending a new friend off myspace, we thought Maceio was a good spot to check out.
Our first experience there was arriving at 7 in the morning from an overnight bus. Josh took this relaxer pill for the bus ride so it didn't quite wear off yet. It was funny. We then spent a few hot morning hours trying to find a place to stay. Little did we know, there was some sort of lawyers convention happening in Maceio so places to stay were limited. But finally after checking in, we thought it would be perfect to hit the beach and take a nap and just do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! After spending a rememorable experience trying to order french fries (now we know how to say it in Portuguese, Batata Frito) and a family of 15 helping us figure it out, we realized this wasn't a common backpacker town and we were in for an experience. But joyfully, hours later, we were invited by locals to play with them in some beach volleyball. Now watching so much olympics and just being inactivate in sports this whole trip, it was great playing 2 on 2, 3 on 3, beach volleyball for hours. Of course we were rusty but let me just say that when Josh and I finally got paired together on the same team, we were unstoppable. Everybody kept claiming it was China vs Brazil. And China got the gold! It was fun times people because our new friends started to open up and attempt to speak english when we couldn't speak portuguese. or espanol for that matter.
day 2. I finally got in contact with Poi, my myspace friend and she agreed to come out and meet for some ice cream. She brought along her little brother who probably looked like Winfield was he was young. oh wait, he was skinny was he was a kid. I treated them to some ice cream and sat and got to know each other. She's a university student studying journalism and has a passion behind the camera. AND I found out she's half Chinese. WAHT!!!!! crazy. so instantly, we had something in common. or so i thought. she loves christian heavy metal and is just a sweet girl. she graciously invited us to her house the next day to meet her chinese father. and since we didn't have plans, like we ever do, we said sure, why not.
day 3. it was a task to meet up with Poi. she gaves us directions. where to get off the bus but when we got there, the phone conversation was hard. its always the hardest on the phone to communicate because at least in person, we can use hand gestures. so finally after waiting for an hour for her, i called again and put the lady selling batata fritos next to me the on. we finally met up and we were starving. she brought along her younger sister this time. we ate and went to her home. I wasn't sure what i was feeling because i thought maybe her dad would be weirded out that her daughter is bringing home some Gringoes.
so we met and started talking... in cantonese. he was from guangdong. thick accent, kindly like my gung gung. i think Hoi shan, near Toi shan (bad spelling there). He had lived in Brasil for the last 55 years. His first wife had past and remarried to a Brasilian. I told him about Josh and I traveling and our experiences of brasil up to that point...then all of a sudden, he gets up and goes to the back. he comes back with another chinese dude. it was his friend he brought over. and this guy was funny, full of energy, typical chinese guy, talkative and joking. Spoke cantonese i could understand. Josh and I were having a great time. THEN all of a sudden, they invited for us to stay for dinner. Josh and I were taken back. We didn't know if we should or not, but being the chinese hopsitality people they were, they insisted. So we agreed and they went to work. And from there, the story gets crazier and crazier.
long story short, they grew their own vegatables, made their own noodles, and was a house of half chinese people, and the other half, portuguese kids. The dinner table was so fun and interesting. check out the video and pics. the experience we had was amazing. from having ice cream to waiting on the corner for an hour to chowing down to our first chinese meal in brasil the RIGHT WAY with bombass chinese food. It was amazing....
chatting
the dinner (might be sideways)
Poi and her brother and sister
Group shot
Meeting Chinese People in Macieo, Brazil from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
Maceio, Brazil Part 2 from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
Our first experience there was arriving at 7 in the morning from an overnight bus. Josh took this relaxer pill for the bus ride so it didn't quite wear off yet. It was funny. We then spent a few hot morning hours trying to find a place to stay. Little did we know, there was some sort of lawyers convention happening in Maceio so places to stay were limited. But finally after checking in, we thought it would be perfect to hit the beach and take a nap and just do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! After spending a rememorable experience trying to order french fries (now we know how to say it in Portuguese, Batata Frito) and a family of 15 helping us figure it out, we realized this wasn't a common backpacker town and we were in for an experience. But joyfully, hours later, we were invited by locals to play with them in some beach volleyball. Now watching so much olympics and just being inactivate in sports this whole trip, it was great playing 2 on 2, 3 on 3, beach volleyball for hours. Of course we were rusty but let me just say that when Josh and I finally got paired together on the same team, we were unstoppable. Everybody kept claiming it was China vs Brazil. And China got the gold! It was fun times people because our new friends started to open up and attempt to speak english when we couldn't speak portuguese. or espanol for that matter.
day 2. I finally got in contact with Poi, my myspace friend and she agreed to come out and meet for some ice cream. She brought along her little brother who probably looked like Winfield was he was young. oh wait, he was skinny was he was a kid. I treated them to some ice cream and sat and got to know each other. She's a university student studying journalism and has a passion behind the camera. AND I found out she's half Chinese. WAHT!!!!! crazy. so instantly, we had something in common. or so i thought. she loves christian heavy metal and is just a sweet girl. she graciously invited us to her house the next day to meet her chinese father. and since we didn't have plans, like we ever do, we said sure, why not.
day 3. it was a task to meet up with Poi. she gaves us directions. where to get off the bus but when we got there, the phone conversation was hard. its always the hardest on the phone to communicate because at least in person, we can use hand gestures. so finally after waiting for an hour for her, i called again and put the lady selling batata fritos next to me the on. we finally met up and we were starving. she brought along her younger sister this time. we ate and went to her home. I wasn't sure what i was feeling because i thought maybe her dad would be weirded out that her daughter is bringing home some Gringoes.
so we met and started talking... in cantonese. he was from guangdong. thick accent, kindly like my gung gung. i think Hoi shan, near Toi shan (bad spelling there). He had lived in Brasil for the last 55 years. His first wife had past and remarried to a Brasilian. I told him about Josh and I traveling and our experiences of brasil up to that point...then all of a sudden, he gets up and goes to the back. he comes back with another chinese dude. it was his friend he brought over. and this guy was funny, full of energy, typical chinese guy, talkative and joking. Spoke cantonese i could understand. Josh and I were having a great time. THEN all of a sudden, they invited for us to stay for dinner. Josh and I were taken back. We didn't know if we should or not, but being the chinese hopsitality people they were, they insisted. So we agreed and they went to work. And from there, the story gets crazier and crazier.
long story short, they grew their own vegatables, made their own noodles, and was a house of half chinese people, and the other half, portuguese kids. The dinner table was so fun and interesting. check out the video and pics. the experience we had was amazing. from having ice cream to waiting on the corner for an hour to chowing down to our first chinese meal in brasil the RIGHT WAY with bombass chinese food. It was amazing....
chatting
the dinner (might be sideways)
Poi and her brother and sister
Group shot
Meeting Chinese People in Macieo, Brazil from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
Maceio, Brazil Part 2 from Anson Ho on Vimeo.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Salvador is Offfffffff the HOOK
Just made it to Salvador. And when I mean just made it, i mean it the way where everything just went lucky. Arriving to a new city at night sucks beyond all suckage. Long story short, didn~t have a place to stay , took the bus into the center of town where tuesday nights are suppose to be the all out "town party". as we got off the bus and looked for some places to stay at 8pm, we assumed the bus dropped us off at the spot where the map said. instead, it missed by a good few blocks. but me, compass savy traveler, directed us to the center of town, didn~t realized this. luckily, and i mean luckily, a policeman stopped us cuz us GRINGOES with huge backpacks on were walking right into the center of the "ghetto". so instead the policia escorted us to the right place. Man, I hate arriving at night.
We found a place quick style and already was hearing the music calling us from the streets. I would describe it as a block party in the middle the the town square but all of a sudden, a brasilian drum group came by the square with loads of followers. we joined the crew and marched down through the town dancing and chatting with the group along with about 50-70 other followers. all in all, it turned out to be a great night. even though i~m about to sleep right next to some strangers in the hostel room where the BO is massively strong. instead of complaining, i loaded up on beans tonight to add to the brew.
i must say, writing and getting onto the internet is a chore but always fulfilling. instead of describing the rest of Rio, i~ll list my highlights of it. starting with the greats ones in my head now.
el misti workers taking us to lapa for crazy fun. street partying, drumming, drinking, ending the night at our first funk party. def funk partys are off the hook in Rio.
visiting santa teresa and riding the old cable car with new friends karen (santa cruz) and carolina (colombia)... in the RAIN!!!!
watching Linha de Passe in straight up portuguese. but it never stops me.
finding a restaurant which had awesome northeast brasilian cuisine...so good, we ate there again the next night and josh somehow got deep fried frog!
rain, rain, rain! always rain when i travel. oh well, makes things more interesting.
christ the redeemer and suger loaf view which u saw in the pics
beaches, beaches, and beaches
acai (ah-sah-E), the drink of choice in brasil
and finally, finding a chinese family with a quick stop food store and chatting with them in chinese about RIO and their lives here.
all in all, its been going great. trying to figure out how to upload some video, cuz i got some good ones. but we have been missing out on some great pic opportunities just cuz we wanna play it safe. and safe is always good. GO NINERS BABY!!!!!!!JT!!!!
We found a place quick style and already was hearing the music calling us from the streets. I would describe it as a block party in the middle the the town square but all of a sudden, a brasilian drum group came by the square with loads of followers. we joined the crew and marched down through the town dancing and chatting with the group along with about 50-70 other followers. all in all, it turned out to be a great night. even though i~m about to sleep right next to some strangers in the hostel room where the BO is massively strong. instead of complaining, i loaded up on beans tonight to add to the brew.
i must say, writing and getting onto the internet is a chore but always fulfilling. instead of describing the rest of Rio, i~ll list my highlights of it. starting with the greats ones in my head now.
el misti workers taking us to lapa for crazy fun. street partying, drumming, drinking, ending the night at our first funk party. def funk partys are off the hook in Rio.
visiting santa teresa and riding the old cable car with new friends karen (santa cruz) and carolina (colombia)... in the RAIN!!!!
watching Linha de Passe in straight up portuguese. but it never stops me.
finding a restaurant which had awesome northeast brasilian cuisine...so good, we ate there again the next night and josh somehow got deep fried frog!
rain, rain, rain! always rain when i travel. oh well, makes things more interesting.
christ the redeemer and suger loaf view which u saw in the pics
beaches, beaches, and beaches
acai (ah-sah-E), the drink of choice in brasil
and finally, finding a chinese family with a quick stop food store and chatting with them in chinese about RIO and their lives here.
all in all, its been going great. trying to figure out how to upload some video, cuz i got some good ones. but we have been missing out on some great pic opportunities just cuz we wanna play it safe. and safe is always good. GO NINERS BABY!!!!!!!JT!!!!
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