Well what a turbulent relationship I have had with Rio! Things started out well when I met a Peruvian man on the plane who happened to speak English, Spanish and Portugese (national language of Brazil), who after getting off helped me to exchange money and then get a taxi. Things took a worrying turn when the taxi driver sat on about 20-30km over the speed linit, ducking and weaving out of traffic, nearly collecting a few cars while a few cars tried to return the favour. At this point I decided it was better to take in the scenary, on the way into the city spotting Sugar Loaf Mountain and also Christ the Redeemer sitting atop Corcovado Mountain, two places I was going to visit the following day. I finally made it to my hotel (just), ... read more

What a whirlwind trip to Dubai...while the stay has been only short what i have seen has been excessive! The worlds tallest building, the worlds largest mall and dancing fountains! Once you get over the heat here it definitely gives the impression of fun! I waslucky enough to have a friend of a friend take me for a bit of a tour and for the boys I work with it was in his Audi TT which was not such a bad form of transport! I'm going to definitely look into staying a few days on the way back also, but if not have already made plans to come back for a skydiving trip over palm island! I will get photos up ASAP...but for now I am off to Rio!... read more