Rio = good place to unwind...

Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport - Waiting to check in to Rio
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The journey from Sao Paulo to Rio was bad. Check in took 1.5 hour. The flight was delayed an hour and I was stuck in the stupid plane. Reach Rio International Airport, wasted 1hr waiting for the luggage. At the end, I missed the time to meet Shangker and Prakash (my other colleagues) in Rio. To make matter worse, it was raining cats and dogs in Rio and there is nothing I could do. Therefore, I board on a bus.. went to nowhere and back to hotel.

At night, after persuaded by Joel, I sign up for the Folklore Samba Show. It was sucks and not worth it. I paid bloody BR 150 for it and totally regretted it.. the only thing I can remember from the show was the Capoeira martial art dance which is unique to Brazil... the other times, I was sleeping...

Tours after tours...

In the bus going to nowhere.. raining like hell outside in Rio
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The day after, I sign up myself to go for One Day in Rio Tour. It cost BR148 but I saw a cheaper tour today which is BR120 only.. sigh! I wasted BR28 (RM56!) Went to all the tourist attractions in Rio. The tour started off at about 9.15am to Corcovado which is the Christ the Redeemer. It was bad weather as I can't see a shit up there.. just clouds and mists... sigh.. I took some pictures of the Christ in the mist. Then the tour continued to the Macarana, the biggest football stadium in Brazil and the Cathedral. This Catholic church is so different and modern unlike other conservative Catholic church. It is in the shape of a cone and from far, you will think that it is some office building as it is located right in the centre of the City. After the Cathedral, we went to Sambrodomo the place where the Carnival is held annually and straight for a buffet lunch. The 2nd half of the tour is to Sugarloaf. I took a cable car up the hill and the view along the way was beautiful. Once we reach the top of Sugarloaf, you can see the whole of Rio de Janeiro with clear blue sky... I have posted some pictures for your viewing pleasure... you will know how good is the place. After Sugarloaf, I headed back to the hotel and went for dinner.

Barra Shopping - Rio de Janeiro. The place where the bus dropped me
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Both me, Shangker and a guy we met at the tour, Andrew went to this Irish pub called Shananigans in Ipanema beach. Had a huge grill chicken and lots of alcohol. hahaha! Didn't get drunk though... Ended the night at about 1am and get back to hotel to sleep.

This morning, I am suppose to be schedule for the Petropolis tour

(BR68). Petropolis is an ancient Imperial city where the last king of Brazil stayed. Suppose to be like Forbidden City style... BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! The tour operator suck me up! That bloody idiot didn't turn up and spoilt my whole bloody plan!I was so sad. Shangker and I went around the hotel to ask about other things we could do and decided that we gonna go to Ipanema beach to chill out and relax.

Dinner before the Folklore Show.. Having Churasscaria (Brazillian barbecue)
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Ipanema is happening! On Sundays, one part of the main road is closed in Ipanema and Copacabana. Therefore, you can see a lot of people walking, jogging, cycling and hanging out along the beach. The weather was good.. hot sunshine and hot guys too...keke! There were lots of actions along the beach, people playing volleyballs.. swimming in the beach. I rented a chair and a big umbrella chilling out.. listening to my MP4 player. I even doze off a while.. it was so relaxing and I really did enjoy the time. I went into the water and it was chilling cold.. but good to soothe my body after the hot sun. Got a tan after the day.... and it wasn't intentional! I don't want a tan!

Me at the bloody show...
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Now I am heading for dinner and gonna watch another dance show - Samba Dance. This is suppose to be a rehearsal of students in Sambrodomo - the largest Samba school in Brazil. It cost BR40 and hope it is a good show. Tomorrow I am gonna go for Favela Tour (go Google to understand what it is) and head on to the airport after that.

Kinda sad that I am gonna leave this place, but hey, I miss Malaysia... =)

Luv,

Christina

Part of the stupid show...
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5.47pm