Bangkok

What a crazy city! At the same time that is modern and organized it's also a chaos at many times and spots. We stayed our last 2 days in Bangkok and the city was packed with lots of tourists and full hotels. We visited the main attractions and they're really special with highly ornamented Buddhist temples and palaces. We once asked a taxi driver to take us to the gran palace (like the big Ben in London) and he didn't know where it was. Then I showed him a street map which he looked for 5 minutes and still couldn't figure out how to get there so we left the cab and walked instead - most taxi drivers couldn't understand us, they think differently.
On Sunday we went to a crazy weekend market with 15.000 stalls! Massive with everything you could imagine and lots of people. There we had lunch for U$2 for the two of us while some locals had fried cockroach with grasshoppers and verms. We skipped the famous ping pong shows that are part of the sex world of Bangkok but the street of our hotel was closed to the traffic to become a big party with lots of pirate CDs stores, bars and clubs - interesting to see the night scene on Thailand.

Thai Beaches

2 ays in Railey beach and its surrounding islands were enough to see the area that is beautiful but not as Phi Phi. The cliffs and caves on the beach were amazing and we had our rock climbing adventure on the low tide crossing of the sunset. Our hotel was on the top a 95 steps staircase and had rats in the room (something that didn't surprise the staff when we asked them to change our poo sheets)

Phi Phi Island

We found paradise. Even after the tsunami, the beaches are the most beautiful we've ever seen. Remember "The Beach" with Leonardo Di Caprio? It was shot there... Even with a relative bad weather we enjoyed a lot and on a boat tour we had to use our diving masks because the waves were coming all over our long tail boat.

Singapore

We loved Singapore, Dani wants to live there in the near future! It's and oasis in SE Asia where everything is nice, organized, modern and clean. It's a cultural melting pot with people from all over the world. We stayed there for 3 days and couldn't see it all but we liked a lot the Zoo, the Night Safari, the eletronics malls and the orchids of the Botanical Gardens specially.
We were also lucky to see amazing fireworks that were part of a competition held every year.

Mount Kinabalu

As an Unesco Heritage monument this national park is great and dominated by a 4.100 m granite mount with many endemic plants from the rain forest to the alpine forest. We trekked around the base of the mountain for the whole day walking over 10km but didn't make it to the top because you need to reserve a place in one the local huts with a month in advance. The weather was cooler, very clear and we enjoyed the great views of the mountain having the feeling that we were in Ubatuba (Brazil) as the jungle was very similar.
In our hotel it was funny that there was a cat sleeping outside the room which we wake up to play with. After a while he was enjoying so much that didn't want to leave our room. We had to put him outside and listen to his protests.

Borneo

3 days in the middle of the real rain forest at a remote camping hotel called Uncle Tan (www.uncletan.com). Coming from Brazil we didn't plan to go the jungle as we have the Amazon. However our travel plans changed and we took a jungle tour. For our surprise this was one the highlights of the trip and much better than our Amazon. We walked in the jungle during the day and at night (while was raining) and did 3 day river safaris and 1 at night. There was also a out of gas boat ride that we needed help to go back to the camp. We saw so much life including birds, pigs, lizards, frogs, many types of monkeys and the main attraction: orangutangs! It was awesome to the 2 orangutangs in the wild. One was a young female eating fruits 4 m away from us and the other a very rare and big male on the top of a big tree - for both of them the boat stopped and we walked in the jungle in order to get closer to the animals a very exciting experience.
There was also lots of mosquitoes, rain and mud all with no shower or eletricity. Another memorable event was a monkey attack on the camp. You have to keep the rooms closed and all the food stored on the kitchen because they take all they can and if you get close they run to you with a scary face. A Dutch guy run like crazy making everyone laugh.

Sipadan

The gateway to Sipadan is the town of Semporna - the worst place of the trip. The city is horrible, without beaches and has holes in the sidewalks, something I will never forget. BUT Sipadan is the divers paradise! We had the best dives of our lives at Barracuda Point dive site. Over 30 turtles, lots of sharks and huge schools on every dive that is next to a 700m wall. The deep blue is what makes Sipadan so great. We spent 4 days diving.

Cambodia

On July 23rd we arrived in Siem Reap (Cambodia) after a night in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. In Cambodia we visited the Angkor ruins for 3 days. The ruins are a main highlight in Asia as they are really impressive. There are so many temples to visit and they are so different.
The one we liked the most was used in the Tomb Rider movie and its very cool with the ruins in the middle of the jungle with huge trees in between.
The food was also very good and it was nice to eat the kmer dishes for a few days. Siem Reap at night has a nice ambiance with lots of people from all over the world hanging around in one street.

All Bali

was above my expectations and they were already high! The island is a great place to enjoy a couple of weeks. The famous Kuta Beach is not that especial but we had nice sunsets, parties and buzz.
The place we liked the most is Ubud in central Bali a tiny city with a Hindu temple in every house and many interesting sights including amazing rice fields and all types of Balinese arts that you could imagine. The food was perfect (excellent + cheap) and the whole smell of the place made us feel the real Bali that we always imagined.
After Ubud (we left our new French and Dutch friends after 10 days together) we went to Amed on the east coast of the island for a great diving experience in a WWII shipwreck (US Liberty). The dive inside the ship was amazing!
From Amed we went to Lombok island to Gili Trawangan a small coral island with a nice beach, many bars and no cars or bikes at all! In Gili we met again our French friend, relaxed for 3 days, did 2 dives and lots of snorkeling.

Dubai

I didn’t have time to talk about Dubai. This city is under construction, a real oasis in the middle of the desert!

I liked it a lot and we had a great time in this luxurious destination. The only bad side was the heat – the place is too much hot, impossible to stay outside. I remember when we arrived in the airport while walking to the parking lot I felt like getting into a sauna – seriously it is exactly like that you sweat a lot!

We stayed with a great friend from university and had a great time with her friends going for wakeboard, to the beach, shopping, dining and partying… the only sad moment were our last hours in Dubai watching the match against France.

Once again thanks a lot Chris for the great time with you!

The World Cup Final

What a match yesterday! I was with my French friend David that wasn’t lucky last night. Maybe in 4 years…

Bali

We arrived in Bali on Friday night and so far the island is more than I was expecting. We are in Kuta on the southern part where most of the tourists are with all the noise and surfers beach scene. Dani felt in love with the shops and there is one for every tourist.

Yesterday we stayed in the beach and watched a perfect sea sunset on a Hindu temple over a Cliff. The temple wasn't really nice but its spot and many monkeys that walked freely around made the visit great, but you have to be careful with them...

Today we visited the center of the island including the view of a 3100m volcano behind a lake and many rice fields. It's a very nice and exotic place. The zoo was also nice with many endemic animals that are totally different from the ones I saw in Brazil.

Java

We're in Bali now after 4 days in central and eastern Java visiting the amazing monuments of Borodudur and Prambanan that are over 1000 years old and still impressive. Yogyakarta, which was affected by an earthwake a month ago looks very nice but missing its tourists - so please come that is safe! The city wasn't destroyed as many people told me back home. The earthwake is like a wave that strikes a limited region so we could see in one street that one side was completely destroyed while the other was perfect. Anyone now why that happens?

We also spend a day in a van too see the Bromo Volcano at dawn which was awesome. When I'll be able to post the photo you'll see. It was one of the most beautiful places I ever been to.

Jakarta

We just arrived in Jakarta after too many hours on the airplane with a baby crying next to us! Over 12 hours on the airplane with stops in Sri Lanka and Singapore.

We couldn't access the Internet in Dubai and something that we believe is available anywhere isn't. I'll tell about Dubai latter...

Tomorrow we will visit the city and fly to Yogyakarta in the evening. Let's see what Indonesia has to offer!

London - Flat Hunting

The first stop in London was the school, which is great! We did a complete tour and my overall impression couldn't be better. The MBA team was also very nice and helpful.

Flat hunting is definitely not my favorite sport. It's one of that important things that you hate to do but you have to. We managed to see about 20 flats in a week with almost all the estate agents near London Business School.
Finally we got one hours before we left London! We were lucky to make an offer that was accepted by the owner on the same time to start on August 15th.
All the agents said that ideally you should look for a flat a month before you plan to move, but it's always possible to find something in advance as I did and this depends on the agent. I recommend Oakley's (on Baker Street with which I rented), Jac Strattons and Foxtons - they were very good and professional.
We'll live next to Madame Tussaud's Museum above Baker Street tube very close to the school and will share the flat with a friend because the costs are too high - a week in London costs me more than 6 weeks in Brazil!

What is good is that we did it and my advise for my future friends is that it's better to get there a month before and the best way is to walk around the area you want to live and visit all the estate agents you see. Good luck and be ready to spend!

Salzburg

Today we went to Salzburg in Austria and this was a pleasant surprise. The city is really nice. We visited the Mozart house, fortress and main attractions.

Check the photo of the Mirabel Palace

We're finally in Europe! After a crazy last week of the Brazilian life and having to shut down our house and archive everything limiting all we have to 6 bags that are a separate adventure to travel with...

It's a mix of sadness and fun. It's the fear of the new and unexpected that bring it to us. At the end that's what make our lives exciting, imagine leaving the same routine everyday.

I'm in Munich to see the World Cup, it was great to be in a match yesterday and live the experience of a World Cup! The stadium is awesome and the weather was great.

We're still trying to get the Brazilian tickets for Sunday, but the game vs. Croatia we watched in the Fan Fest FIFA area with a similar excitement of the real stadium. It's different to see Brazil playing with the opponent country people next to you. Something that I never saw in Brazil before.