Alaska - Seward's Folly???

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Mount McKinley (Denali)
29 Footer Ford Winnebago

Exit Glacier

Exit Glacier Closeup

Alaskan Totem Pole

Portage Glacier

Inside Denali

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Prep Stage:

We were quite enthused about this trip and did our best to plan ahead. We got the MILEPOST 2006 from the local library along with a couple of DVDs on Alaska (highly recommend ALASKA - SPIRIT OF THE WILD – watching this one at an IMAX theatre in San Diego implanted the Alaska bug in my mind). We took care of the three priority items - Flight / RV / Denali Park Bus Ride reservations (Denali Park Reservation Ph: 800-622-7275). We even contacted friends and got their itineraries from visits before. Alas, we stalled after that. We hemmed and hawed and couldn’t quite get to finish up on the minute details. Thus, the departure week we were still scampering.

Brace yourself before you leave, it is an eye-popping vacation. Prepping everyone with a bit of Alaskan history, IMAX movies / DVD, Ice Age, Glaciers etc certainly helps set the mood and the expectations. You will need fall/winter wear in peak summer and don't forget to shop for the ponchos, parkas etc. Mental reconciliation to the Alaskan summer/rainy season is also helpful.

Itinerary Considerations –
We considered going to Fairbanks http://fairbanks-alaska.com/faq.htm#aurora which has quite a few things to offer. It is a quick two lane highway connection after you leave Denali. We decided against it, primarily because it is early in the year to see the Northern Lights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy). We did speak with the Fairbanks visitor's bureau to confirm. They recommend visiting in winter – in October and beyond months. This would ensure a high probability of generating the ideal conditions (dark, clear and cold nights) for the appearance of the Northern lights. The Arctic Circle is 198 miles from Fairbanks on the Dalton Highway. If you travel to the Arctic Circle, make certain you stop by the Visitor's Center and get your Arctic Circle Certificate! (NL light prediction @ http://www.gi.alaska.edu/predict.php3). But it didn’t make sense for us to be there to just get a picture at the Arctic circle highway sign and the certificate.

We also left Juneau and surrounding areas for a future cruise trip. We decided against taking a cruise, as we felt it may not give us the complete feel for Alaska, based on our prior cruise experience. We felt, we really need to drive around and soak in the splendor of Alaska. The one-way cruise is very appealing though.

Valdez – remember Exxon oil spill? - was recommended to us and is conveniently connected on your way to or from Denali, but it is a tad out of the way. It is 120 air miles east of Anchorage, or 305 miles by the Richardson and Glenn Highways. Due to it being an excellent ice-free port, Valdez developed in 1898 as a debarkation point for men seeking a route to the Klondike gold fields. Valdez soon became the supply center of its own gold mining region, and incorporated as a City in 1901. During the 1970's, construction of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline terminal and other cargo transportation facilities brought rapid growth to Valdez. Just being an ice-free port has been of tremendous asset for Valdez!

We had heard splendid reviews of the drive from Anchorage to Homer. This drive offers a completely different and rich landscape. Dahl Sheep at Windy Point, Turnagain Arm with belugas and eagles, Potters Marsh Bird Sanctuary, Turnagain Pass with great mountain scenery (Views from the highway here show off the distinctive U-shape valley created by retreating glaciers), Portage Glacier, Summit Lake’s calm and tranquil waters, Kenai Lake, Kenai River, The Glacier’s stark and barren landscape and the incredible views of Kachemak Bay and the glacier capped peaks. If you do plan to go to Homer read up on this link http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Alaska/Homer-738699/Things_To_Do-Homer-BR-1.html. Details on Homer further down in the write-up.

Due to time constraints, we made Seward our final destination in Alaska to check out the Kenai Fjords National Park for the overall glacier experience- http://www.nps.gov/kefj/#Kenai. The park is capped by the Harding Ice field, a relic from past ice-ages and the largest ice field entirely within U.S. borders.

Weather conditions - longer daylight hours. In Denali National Park around Summer Solistice, the sun rises around 3:30 a.m. and sets after midnight. It is uncanny. We visited in August and dusk was around 11AM at Denali. We loved the longer daylight, but you may want to consider taking a sleeping mask if you anticipate sleeping problems. Temperature wise, Anchorage has an average high of 65 ° F and average low of 52 ° F in July – which is presumably the warmest month. It rains almost three times in August (comparing average precipitation) in comparison to June. Don’t forget to take your heavy winter wear – gloves, ski caps, jackets etc. – and do take them on the cruises you take.

Good reference material that we carried along. Folks referred us to the MilePost 2006 and the Lonely Planet. The Milepost 2006 is very detailed and useful at times. We found the AAA Alaska handbook better though - more crisply laid out and information was easier to find and reference – considering the short timeframe of our vacation. Milepost was very useful to have a passenger read out as we passed the through various mileposts – lots of detailed information.

RV selection and tips/hints - There was a quite some thought into renting an RV versus taking the cruise. Driving a RV is certainly a bit daunting. But what we heard was Alaska has been built for RV vacations, which is very true. It was very encouraging to see other friends who had done that too.

We got the RV from Great Alaskan Holiday located on Old Seward Highway. Overall it was a fun experience, slowed us down a bit, but all in all worked out very well. Kids loved it so much, they want to rent RVs in our CA trips too. It is a bit more complex than renting a car - but that’s about it. Most RV camps have cable/water/electric hookup. The RV makers (this was a Ford Motor - Winnebago) have their act together. Do carry some good water proof gloves for the dump. Is it easy to dump the waste? I did it twice and it takes all in all about 5 minutes. But it is bothersome.

Great Alaskan Holiday are quite good - courteous customer service, a state of the art maintenance facility, and well maintained low mileage RVs in perfect condition. They do show a short video - an RV 101 of sorts, that we sorely needed. Key RV Tips/Hints –

• Move past obstacles before you start turning due to the RV overhang from the rear tires – about 15 feet past.
• Avoid any sharp turns.
• Leave driveway slowly, at an angle to avoid the bottom rear portion of the RV bumping into the ground.
• Watch out for trees, and be extra careful at gas stations, parking lots etc.
• Keep a safe distance behind vehicles in front (24 car length)
• Turn on TOW HAUL / Low gears to prevent brakes heating up, pull over to allow brakes to cool off
• Watch out for clearance signs – our RV had a clearance limit of 12 feet or 4 meters.
• Be careful of sway during high winds.
• Check tire pressure often specially driving on gravel.
• Check the exterior compartments every time before driving – sometimes they open up, even if locked. Return step to stowed position before driving,
• Ensure bubble is fairly level after parking to prevent any equipment damage (fridge) inside the RV.

The video was fairly comprehensive and Jordan the friendly customer rep, answered all our questions and went over the details of the generator, dumping instructions etc. that the video had already covered. We were apprehensive but less so now.

Alaskan holiday gave us a choice to purchase the propane / gasoline upfront or fill-up before return. We discovered that we really don’t consume much propane (used for hot water, heating) and if you purchase the propane upfront, it may not be economical....... better to fill-up the propane and gas yourself before the return – if you have time for that. The attendant at the gas station will fill the propane.

The RV was convenient, and created a good comfort zone for the kids as they relaxed in the confines of the RV. It did not have a DVD player connected to the sound system, and that troubled us a bit, as we had taken our music DVDs. But carrying our favorite movies worked out great, as we did get a chance to watch them in the evening.

The economics maybe the same versus hotel rooms, but the intangible benefits are various. The convenience of not packing/unpacking every (other) day, built in restrooms – good things. We carried frozen half-cooked meal packs and we didn’t have to go searching for decent restaurants to eat at - saved us quite some time. Having the same room every night is good too. The shower area in the RV is certainly a bit cramped. We preferred using the RV park showers, which were clean and well maintained anyway.

It isn't too bad getting reservations into the RV camps etc, which means you can wait to make reservations after your plans are truly finalized. We did make RV reservations for every night before we left San Francisco, though we tweaked it a bit.

First Night in Anchorage

We flew from San Francisco to Anchorage via Vancouver and discovered that passports were not needed. Alaska airline escorts you into the next boarding area and thus you never need to go through immigration. On the plane to Anchorage – sit on the right / stern side – that way you get some great looks of the glaciers in the southern part of Alaska. Great Alaskan Holiday sent a shuttle for pick up at the airport. Their office closes at 7PM and by the time we got to their facility it was almost 5PM. They were short staffed and by the time we were checked in, it was almost 7PM – not very efficient.

Once we had checked-in and gotten the RV, our next stop was at the Fred Meyer on O'Malley. We had a shopping list (make sure you have yours) that included things like – Milk, Yoghurt, Water, Drinks, Fruits, Cooking oil, Paper products, Juice, bread, dishwasher liquid etc. We outlined our food plans the week before our trip and that made it quite efficient. Being vegetarian, does impose constraints, and planning ahead makes perfect sense. The tour saver coupon book http://www.toursaver.com/alaskatravel.php saves a bundle too. You can also get it most stores in Anchorage but also on eBay.

We had reservations at the Anchorage RV Park for the night. It is an excellent facility, we would recommend that in a heartbeat.....very clean facility, wonderful staff and you have your privacy too in your parked spot. Offers wireless internet too. It is right next door to the Alaskan Heritage center too.

We discovered that our hosepipe ( dump) was broken while doing the test drive, and had to head back the next day to Great Alaskan holiday to get that changed and also to pickup other minor things (sheets, pillows etc). Thus, it may be a good idea to not leave town until you are sure of the RV and its condition. Otherwise it may become a hassle trying to fix something.

Day 2 – Drive to Denali from Anchorage

We had a leisurely start from Anchorage RV park. Scenic drive, took us all day with so many stops. It drizzled all through the drive. The part of Route 1 from Anchorage to Willow is at least two lanes, and quite good, easy on the RV. Beyond that, Willow to Denali is one lane and gets quite bumpy, it was hard to go beyond 55 mph. Some sections have tire grooves dug into the freeway, and it seems like we are losing control of the RV at those point, as the tires try to fit in and ride those grooves. Milepost is good reference. We made sure that we were well fueled and stocked before we entered Denali. There aren’t any paved roads inside Denali – I would certainly want them paved soon – and driving an RV becomes a slow process.

After the customary picture at the Denali National Park entrance sign, we decided to stop by at the Visitor center. We discovered there that we would need to pick up the bus tickets from the Wilderness Access Center. (We had gotten the Teklanika pass for our bus tour in Denali – details here http://www.reservedenali.com/tek_pass.php - one of the three priority items from the first paragraph). This probably helped us avoid a trip back to collect the bus tickets – which we would have found out after getting to the Savage River checkpoint. This pass cannot be used to re-enter Denali National Park. If you go toward the park entrance beyond mile 20, you will need to purchase another shuttle ticket to reenter the park. You are advised to refill at Riley Wilderness Access Center, dump etc before entering Denali.

We had reservations at the Teklanika Campground http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Teklanika_campground_photos.htm – referred to as Tek, it does NOT have water/electrical hookups/ shower facilities. It is nicely located amidst some great foliage. The restrooms have flush toilets and running water (weather dependent). There are 53 sites. You can clearly hear the flow of the Teklanika river. See Tek campground picture above.

Details here http://www.denali.national-park.com/camping.htm & http://www.reservedenali.com/campground_teklanika.php

Day 3 – Inside Denali

We got the JV Shuttles to Wonder Lake. Make sure you sit on the left / aft side of the bus for McKinley viewing. Wild life can pop out from any and every direction. Watch out! Sharp eyes are well respected in the bus.

Shuttle travels 86 miles into the park, approximately 11 hours round trip. Be prepared to board 15 minutes prior to departure time. No food or water is available in the Park on shuttle route. Riley Creek Mercantile (approx. mile 0.5 on the park road) across from the Wilderness Access Center sells food items. $4 change/cancellation fee per shuttle bus ticket. Notification of change/cancel is required at least 2 hours prior to departure time. Children under the age of 4 years old, or under 40 pounds, have to be riding in a safety seat. Do not forget to carry your binoculars – but there is only one thing you can do use your binoculars or use the camera. Try to get into the earliest shuttle (starting at 5:15 AM) for your wild life viewing pleasure.

The next morning, we were at the Tek campground bus stop at 7:20AM – the one and only vacation we had an early start. This is almost a 10-12 hour bus tour so make sure you carry the things you need – no fancy dining places inside. Our main objective was to check out Mount McKinley, having been to Mount Whitney a few years back. We got lucky, as we got a couple sightings – luckily it had turned sunny for a brief couple hours. Statistics say that only 14% of the visitors get to peek at the peak. Wildlife is another reason why folks love Denali. We had been warned that wild life viewing is not as good as Yellowstone – and it lived up to its reputation. We saw a few Dahl sheep (like a blimp in the radar), a grizzly bear –the polar bear’s cousin - that crossed our bus’s path, Caribou etc, not a whole lot, but still worth the scenery experience – and for the “Been there done that”. The grizzly bear sighting was particularly good – it was completely ‘blonde’ unlike any bear we had seen so far. Someone sitting at the back spotted it and the driver immediately turned the engine off. A hush descended in the packed bus as everyone peered into the vegetation to spot the bear, camera clicking, kids focusing their binoculars, and some folks still peering into the landscape trying to spot. The bear seemed a bit agitated, probably due to the sound of the bus and kept moving. Our bus stayed put and we suddenly saw it cross the dirt road right in front of our bus. The bus crowd gasped – some in delight, some in surprise, while I fiddled with my camera. But as they say “ELVIS has left the building”, the grizzly bear, the king of Denali, had disappeared into the dense Denali jungle.

Some would say Denali is a bit too much hype, but we felt it was good to go, just for a glimpse of Denali (Mount McKinley). We were constantly comparing it to the African Safari and Yellowstone – having done both – and even the ‘native’ Alaskans we spoke with compared it to the two. But it is just good to go through Denali and get a feel for what it is like.

In retrospect, we spent almost 3 days towards our Denali trip – not sure if it was worth it. You may want to consider rail tours that are conducted from Anchorage to Denali and back, might be more time efficient. Doing a railroad/ RV combo might be a bit more difficult to pull together. But spending 3 days towards visiting Denali seems overkill, considering we spent only a day touring Denali.

Most of our Alaska visit, we missed the famed mosquitoes, but we found them at Wonder-Lake while having our lunch. So even though we had gallons of mosquito repellant, we barely used any all through our trip.

TEK Camp ground versus RILEY. The advantage of staying at Tek was we could catch the later 7:25AM bus, as against the 6:15AM bus if we had stayed in the Riley Creek facility. In retrospect, it does not make sense to camp at the Teklanika campground, as we really missed the electrical, water connection and the clean showers. Tek has a 3 night minimum, but we left after the first night and luckily found a spot in Riley. Riley and Tek management are two separate organizations and have to be dealt with separately. We loved our Riley camping spot, it was very private, clean restrooms and again, couldn’t ask for more.

Here is a nice video of Denali http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/places/videos/video_alaska_us_denalinationalpark.html

A nice writeup on climbing Denali http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/features/denali0211/denali.html?fs=plasma.nationalgeographic.com

Day 4 – Drive back to Anchorage

We left leisurely in the afternoon after our lunch, and it was drizzling as we drove back to Anchorage. We Californians miss the rain all summer, and having an overcast sky was a welcome change, providing us a different perspective to the fantastic scenery playing out in front of our eyes. As usual, there were frequent RV stops, due to the Ooohs and AHhhs. We were doing 50 - 55 mph. It was a single lane highway both sides. Suddenly, we see this black bear start to cross over. By the time we started braking, it had crossed over our side and disappeared into the Chugach State Forest. What timing eh?

At Anchorage, we visited the Alaska Zoo to make up for all the wildlife that we missed at Denali. Alaska Zoo is no great shakes, but if you can catch the Polar bear (it was in siesta mode when we visited) it might be worthwhile. We were done with the zoo in about 30 minutes. The wildlife is good, and you can get quite close to them, but they all seemed unhappy, restless and wornout in their captive environment.

This was a good chance to also refill our pantry. We made the trip to Fred Meyer and then back to Anchorage RV. The Anchorage museum is quite good and worth a trip, but we didn't get to it.

Day 5 – Drive to Seward

The next morning, we found the Alaskan Native Heritage center, right next to the Anchorage RV park. The tickets are a bit expensive $90 family pass with AAA discount, but it is worthwhile. We took the 45 minute walking tour around the lake, which demonstrate how various cultures and tribes used to live in the bygone eras.... very informative tour. They had a drum and dance show after that. It is good education, especially for the kids in understanding the history and heritage of Alaska.

After this, we continued on our drive to Seward. Seward is named after Secretary of State, William Seward who bought Alaska from the Russians for 2 cents an acre and was generally regarded as Seward’s folly until gold and subsequently petroleum was discovered at Alaska.

From answers.com - Acquisition in 1867 by the U.S. from Russia of 586,412 sq mi (1.5 million sq km) at the northwestern tip of North America, comprising the current U.S. state of Alaska. The territory, held by Russia since 1741, was considered an economic liability, and in 1866 it was offered for sale. Pres. Andrew Johnson's secretary of state, William Seward, negotiated its purchase for $7.2 million, or about two cents per acre. Critics labeled the purchase “Seward's Folly.” Congressional opposition delayed the appropriation until 1868, when extensive lobbying and bribes by the Russian minister to the U.S. secured the required votes..... With the purchase of Alaska, the United States acquired an area twice as large as Texas, but it was not until the great Klondike gold strike in 1896 that Alaska came to be seen generally as a valuable addition to American territory.... Alaska Day celebrates the formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States, which took place on October 18, 1867. Currently, Alaska celebrates the purchase on Seward's Day, the last Monday of March. http://www.answers.com/topic/alaska-purchase

On the way to Seward, we stopped over to take the cruise to Portage glacier. The visitor center there has a decent movie on Glaciers – 20 minutes. We also lucked out in getting 50% off deals for the last cruise of the day to Portage Glacier. This was our first upclose glacier sighting. It got very cold in the upper deck and we were glad to have our gloves, jackets etc. See pictures above

Talking to the ranger at the visitor center, I got some interesting tidbits on life there. Apparently, last winter they were so snowed in, they had to send someone through the dome to get inside the building. The river next to the visitor center gets frozen – 5 feet deep, hard as a rock - and folks camp out on the ice.....Veeerrrrry interesting! The ranger had a home in Phoenix and he was looking forward to his winter, considering it has been such a cold and rainy summer in Alaska.

At Seward, we stayed at the Stoney Creek RV Park 1-877-437-6366 http://www.stoneycreekrvpark.com/index.html. We had heard good things about this RV park, but were quite disappointed to see the setup like a parking lot. There is not much privacy and all the foliage is at the perimeter. The rain and the resultant window fogging produced some natural privacy. But restrooms were clean, you have water/ cable/electric hookups and if you had a laptop, you got internet connection. But I would have loved to try the RV camping by the water which is probably cheaper and offers splendid views. We didn’t quite explore what it would take to get a spot there, but we were too much in love with our water/electric/cable connection. This is surrounded by thick forest and in the night we could hear the sound of animals. A bit eerie!

Day 6 – Kenjai Ford cruise

This is an excellent cruise. We had booked this a couple of days before we left from San Francisco. On the way to Seward, we stopped by at the visitor center / Seward business center, who were not too helpful, but we did see a very nice stuffed bear and bald eagle on display. We had to park a bit away on Phoenix street off 4^th avenue and got their courtesy shuttle for the cruise. It is a catamaran, and sitting in the heated cabin feels more like a train, very comfortable. They serve lunch or dinner pretty decent. It is prepared and loaded from their restaurant at Fox island, the cruise makes a brief stop for the pickup. This island has excellent cabin accommodations that is also owned by the Kenjai Ford Cruise management. This cruise covers wildlife, glaciers, etc just like they advertise. The captain of the ship was a talker and patiently provided tidbits of information. It was time well spent. The cruise ship took us to the base of the Aialik glacier. This was like being at the IMAX movies.... indeed an experience traveling through icy water, with chunks of ice floating here and there. Once the cruise ship shuts off the engine, we can hear the rumble of ice breaking off in chunks and falling into the water. Indeed an experience. The young, the old, kids everyone quiets down waiting for chunks to fall. We lucked out spotting two hump back whales, whom we also saw on the return. We were at the fringe period where most whales are already heading towards Hawaii to spend the winter. We also saw Sea Otters, Sea Lions and lots of the bird species. The boat does rock quite a bit in free float mode after the engines are turned off. If you are prone to sea-sickness, remain seated in the heated cabin. There is a True Value / gift shop right across the cruise office, where we did a bit of Alaska shopping.

Day 7 - Exit Glacier and Trail of Hardinge Ice Trail

The next day, it was raining the hardest we had ever seen, and we reluctantly left the campground to check out the Exit Glacier and to do the trek to the Hardinge Ice Field. There are three trails, one leading up close to the glacier, another (center trail path) giving you a top view of the glacier, and the 3^rd Hardinge Trail – which is a 7.7 strenuous trail that apparently goes above the tree line. There was a bear family that most hikers were ‘bumping into’ on this trail. Unfortunately, with the prevailing damp, cold conditions we turned back farily quickly. Do the Hardinge trail some other time ....

As we walk towards the Exit Glacier, there are signs to show how the glacier has receded over the years starting from the year 1917. The base of the glacier is starkly barren of all vegetation – shows the power of the glacier as it erodes and cuts through everything in its path. Remnants of this force through is the dark landscape filled with small, tiny rocks. We did get a chunk of the glacier ice (hundreds of years old ice) and it is in the fridge now.

Day 8 – Drive to Anchorage, Wild life conservation center –

As we left Seward, the scenery was quite overwhelming, calm lake waters, overcast skies making it quite serene and peaceful – and then we see this bald eagle fly by against the dark gloomy sky. That was an amazing sight! We decided to stop by at the Wild Life Conservation center which is a few hundred yards away from the Portage Glacier exit. We spent about 45 minutes and it is better than the zoo or Denali to get up close to wildlife and get some good pictures.

With that done, we filled the required propane and gasoline into our RV and hurriedly packed up to return the RV. Soon, we were at the airport, where we discovered the additional security that had been enforced in our absence from the world. We were back to reality.

Cidade Marvilhosa - Rio de Janeiro

View from PÃO DE AÇÚCAR

Samba Show

Our enticement with Brazilian soccer, endearing Rio footage led us to South America, a continent not visited by us thus far. We thought about it back in 1997, but couldn't get the logistics done, and we took a lame package deal to Acapulco. Rio - Cidade Marvilhosa (The marvellous city) invited us with open arms this time.

Here are some movie recommendations to warm you up - Cidade de Deus (City of Gods), Woman on Top, Lonely planet, Rio DVDs etc.. Don't forget to get the Brazilian Visa.

We used our NW frequent flier miles to travel to Rio – partially in business class - thanks to Delta's new flight from Atlanta. The Rio segment was mostly empty and we could stretch out and catch up on sleep (read – no jet lag). We had boarded with a big group at San Francisco, saw them at Atlanta and later at Rio in our very hotel, very strange.

http://bloggrk.blogspot.com/, has a few Portugues words that we had printed out, and we were practicing on the flight, so were other couples, even at the immigration line…strangely we didn’t see a whole lot of families with kids visit Rio for the holidays. The airport seemed to be like the Mumbai airport decades ago.

One of my corporate colleagues had very kindly arranged a private cab to pick us up from the airport (180 Reals, $1=4Reals at that time). Armando (his business card said ‘Executivo Motorista”) was not English speaking and we dropped him in a hurry once we were at the hotel. I got a chance to try out a few lines of Portuguese on Armando and I got a reply back, which was encouraging, though I didn't understand a word. He did check with me if I was born in the area, and asked if the wife was French (strangely!).

We had reservations at the Copocabana Palace Hotel for 6 nights. Copacabana Palace is a neoclassical gem by French architect Joseph Gire. It has played an important role in the social and cultural life of Rio since it opened in 1920's. Edith Piaf, Orson Wells, Carmen Miranda, Rock Hudson, Queen Elisabeth (and Prince Charles and Diana) have all enjoyed their hospitality at this hotel. Seemed like the ideal place for us to spend our sixnights. We checked in, and caught up with some sleep.

That evening, we were in the city with a few of my corporate colleagues in a little bar. We had to pick up a standard menu - put our name on it when we entered this bar. The waiters would check mark what we ordered on this menu and we were to pay on our way out. If we lost it, the damages would be very high! Nice place, live music and the young and the old were there to have a good time. The city has a Las Vegas feel to it, where everyone is out to have a good time and the world be damned. There was a woman in Red who was doing the Samba – we couldn’t get our eyes off her - seemed like she had come down straight from the office with a quick change – and man she knew how to move. One of the locals drew the moves on a napkin 1 through 12 steps – mainly how to move the feet (seemed like a big knotty mess to me), but the people dancing seemed to have seen this drawing, and seemingly adhered to it. We tried out Caprinha and it was a bit too strong for both of us. When we left this bar, one of the guys took us for a quick tour around the city, including some great tips and hints. We ended up at Xmas tree on the lake, where we first tried out GUARANA, kinda like sprite, but has its unique flavor.

The next morning, we started having second thoughts about the hotel. The room we had didn’t have an ocean view – they were sold out for the tourist season, we had a city view which was not much. The room was small and definitely not in comparison with a Venetian – Las Vegas does have some magnificent hotels we reminisced. We did have breakfast buffet included, but it was alright – nothing to write home about. The hotel seemed to be a little too traditional and sometimes stuckup too. It wasn’t as bad as this review below, but there was nothing exciting about this hotel.

The facade is beautiful but once you get inside the building is old, damp, and smelly! And I'm not being a snob about this! The mattress was stiff as a board. The sheets were of very poor quality. And the rooms all were so so wet from the air that we had to move rooms - our clothes were actually getting wet. I found the staff could have care less about helping us with our room, and when we asked about renting bikes, the front desk started empyting out the ask trays while answering my questions (which was they couldnt help me). This hotel has looong since passed it's heyday. Go somewhere else where you get a good night's sleep - and your money's worth!

They did have a nice executive floor wherein you could do your work while having a fax machine, computer and a butler at your disposal. I spent a couple hours there doing my research on Rio, that was nice.

We decided to tryout the Marriott where I was hoping to get the corporate rate. We did not get the corporate rate, but we got the ocean view on the Executive floor. Worked out great!. The executive floor had access to breakfast and also an evening reception. We loved both aspects of it, the staff was very helpful. Even the Concierge ROSANE was one of the finest concierge person we have interacted with. They had all the answers and really helped us. Unfortunately, we moved there on Saturday 11/25/2005 and that was the only rainy day we hit. We ended up not doing a whole lot that day, walked to the Fort Copocabana which was a short walk from the hotel. This fort had some great views of Copocabana, but it was a cloudy day. The café inside this fort was well worth it though. They charge you 2 Reals (1 to get inside to the café and another two if you want to take a tour of the inside fort (not a whole lot). Brazilian coffee was great, very strong – and we loved it. (Unfortunately this was impacting our sleep and we abstained from it after a couple days). We had a leisurely stroll down to Rua Vinícius de Morais — a strip lined with bars, shops and restaurants, including the famous Garota de Ipanema Bar (originally called the Velloso Bar). It was here that Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Morais penned the lyrics to "The Girl from Ipanema." Seemed like a tourist trap, we also checked out Dolce Dolce and wanted to do some shopping there, but it was past 5PM and many of them had already closed. They were also closed on Sundays, a tad strange.

The hotel has the evening reception and breakfast included – as we were on the executive floor. It was quite good. Breakfast ended at 11AM, and we would be there a little after 10AM and find it completely empty, the office crowd already gone. The reception had decent hors d'oeuvre and the staff was very friendly

View from the Marriott Terrace

CURRENCY: The feedback I had got speaking with Brazilians (I knew in the US) was it should be cheap – the US $ should go a long way. We discovered that the US $ had fallen in value since then, at least that is what we surmised, and this vacation was turning out quite expensive. Things seemed to be overpriced. We saw a chess board in the Barra shopping mall that was selling for 30 Reals i.e $15 (1 US Dollar == 2.2 Brazilian Real). This same chess board was available in the mall in Bombay for Rs.150 (4 US Dollars). We were told to take ATM card and not carry too much cash. But we had decided to take travelers check. The travel agency money changers do not like Travelers Check or rip you off if you want to exchange travelers check and we ended up cashing our travelers check at the American Express next to the Copocabana Palace hotel. They give you “same as cash” rate for the travelers check. We stayed away from travel agencies who also exchanged cash.

The next day, was a Sunday. The forecast was still cloudy and rainy. We got up rather late and were pleasantly surprised to on drawing the curtains to see a great sunny day. The beach was thronging with zillions of Cariocas – just like in the promo shots. After a quick breakfast we joined the Cariocas. We do look a bit Brazilian – I was asked a couple times if I was a native of Brazil – . We tried hard to blend in. We had learnt the numbers and with a little broken Portuguese managed to wheel and deal with the Cariocas. We ended up taking a nice walk into Ipanema where the Sunday morning Hippie Faire was in progress. There were vendors selling anything from precious stones (quite a deal I heard, though hard to judge) to Brazilian art, and touristy stuff. Selling semi precious stones in some sophisticated necklaces by Evan & Bruno for $10. (that is the only place he sells, Bruno spends the rest of the week designing and crafting.) A little bit negotiation was OK, but we enjoyed the flea market across HELP bar on the strip (do NOT think of entering this bar) a little bit more conducive to bargaining. Prices we felt were better at this Flea market that is held almost every evening from 6PM to 10PM. We shopped for some soccer shirts, shorts, hats. Rio de Janeiros has 4 teams in the 1st league : Flamengo ( 2 times World champion ), Vasco, Fluminense ( the best team right now ), Botafogo.

From the Sunday fair, we ended up on the Ipanema beach and walked back to Copocabana. The beaches are indeed a treat to be at. Specially watching the Brazilian Wizardry with the soccer ball. Cariocas stand around in circles and kick the ball using the legs, body, head, – ensuirng that it never lands on the ground. Everyone one – even teenage girls – had great ball handling skills – no pun intended, and was a treat to watch. There are folks also jogging on the wavy sidewalks next to the beach, and sipping a cold coconut water and people watching – certainly relaxing. The beach Cariocas also enjoy playing VolleyBall and everyone seems to be particularly good at it, but from time to time would see a group that would play volleyball with their feet. Amazing! Most weekday evenings, the schools would descend into the beaches with soccer practice and training time. The Favelas along with the Carioca elite have a common meeting place – the beach. The beaches are indeed a treat. You can spend hours there and not get bored.

• There are lots of eating choices in the Copocabana area – catered for the tourists, which are open till late 2AM or so. Multi-ethnic cuisine that is quite decent. We ate some Arabic, Italian, Chinese and some Brazilian. Food is expensive, but what do you expect in the heart of the touristy area. The location is quite nice, you get to see the street, the beach and the mountains while seated having your lunch, dinner whatever. “Siri Mole and Cia” was a decent Brazilian restaurant, that we had lunch at, which worked out to 110 Reals, almost $55 – rather expensive, but quite good. Tips are included in the check (10%) and we usually did not add to it. There are two Indian restaurants too in Rio, but we didn’t get a chance to try them out (Nataraja, RaajMahal – see below). We had been recommended to try out Vatapa, Acarajé, Moqueca food from Bahia ... basically they use beans and seafood on their dishes... some are very spicy, but we didn’t get a chance. This is a very good restaurante in Rio http://www.marius.com.br/html/restaurantes_linguas/ingles/crustaceos_ingles.htm. Make sure you have the national drink- caipirinha- This traditional Brazilian drink prepared with cachaça is all the rage in Europe and the US now. I guess you could say it USED TO be Brazil's best-kept secret, now it's the connoisseur's cocktail of choice from New York City to Miami, commanding hefty prices. Some of the foods to eat with caipirinhas: fried manioc, codfish balls, and caldinho de feijão (soupy black beans served in a tall glass or a small bowl).

Monday – we saw the samba show at Platforma http://www.plataforma1.com.br/default.asp it's a famous

barbecue house, that now has a theatre and shows. They also have a meal plan, but most eating in Brazil is meat oriented. Samba show was quite good. It is almost never too late to Samba. You can learn how to Samba at the Samba School. Or get vicarious thrills at performances like the ones at La Platforma. La Platforma has a touristy show of girls in gorgeous costumes. After a while the loud music becomes a bit monotonous, but the photo opportunities abound. Best seats are actually on the balcony upstairs, but visibility is good throughout the theatre. The hotel concierge arranged this for us, that included the pick up and drop off. For the drop off we talked our driver into taking us to a club in Ipanema, but didn’t meet our expectations.

Tuesday – we woke up and got the urgency bug, time to check out the tourist attractions. We headed to Corcovado. We decided to not take the private taxi (the yellow cabs are way cheaper anyway) as we wanted to take the train ride up the mountain. That was quite good, and some fantastic views. We got there a little after noon and turned out not the best time to shoot the statue. Morning would be better I think. It was crowded, but if you wait a few minutes, you will hit a window where everyone disappears and you can get some great pictures. On the train ride, don’t forget to take pictures of the luscious huge jackfruits hanging from the trees.

View from Corcovado

After we got back, we decided to go to the Sugar Loaf . It is awesome! We timed it to be there for sunset. We got there about an hour before sunset and the place does get packed. It does get cool, up high in the mountains, so make sure you pack a sweater. It is definitely worth it to be there for sunset. The cable car base is a short cab ride from the Copocabana area (20 Reals). You can purchase your tickets (Round trip 70 Reals per person) at the cable car station. There is also a restaurant on the top, which promptly shuts off at sunset. The cable car stops midway to the destination and you can choose to disembark there, and hop onto the next one, after taking some pictures. If it is cloudy day, the trip is worthless.

Wednesday - we were focused on doing some shopping. We went to the flea market across HELP and also at the Brara Shopping Mall - the new mall - the biggest mall in Rio – the hotel arranged a nice bus for us to take us to the mall. It was a very nice mall. Things seemed to be overpriced. We saw a chess board in the Barra shopping mall that was selling for 30 Reals i.e $15 (1 US Dollar == 2.2 Brazilian Real). This same chess board was available in the mall in Bombay for Rs.150 (4 US Dollars).

Thursday was our trip back. We decided to take the cab to the Botantical Garden. Last couple days had been muggy and we were not in the mood to do much walking. We did walk around and met mainly visitors like us – none of the locals were there on a Thursday afternoon. If you have nothing to do, this is a pretty good option J . We had checked out the hotel but placed our valuables in the hotel safe – lobby area.

One regret, we did miss out visiting the Iguaçu Falls which is *absolutely*amazing. We skipped it as we wanted to make this vacation relaxing, and this was a 4 hour flight away from Rio. If you decide to go, I would highly recommend both the Falls ("Iguaçu) and the Dam ("Itaipu"). The falls are unequally divided between Brazil and Argentina. To see them properly, you must visit both sides. In Brazil you get the grand overview and in Argentina you get a closer look. The 275 falls are over 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide and 80 meters (260 feet) high, which makes them wider than Victoria, higher than Niagra, and more beautiful than either. Neither words nor photographs do the falls justice - they must be seen and heard in person. The view at the precipice is hypnotizing. You will be treated to a multi-sensory experience: roaring falls, hugh rainbow arcs, drenching mist, and, in the distance, parrots and hawks cruising over a deep green jungle. Really nice BERBEN hotel, right underneath the falls - GOL - is the low cost airline for brazil. Can do online booking. Better to do get a Brazil city hopper type deal.

Trip back to US that night was not bad - we were confident enough to take the yellow taxi, which worked out to 35 Reals The cab drivers are all very nice people. Overall our impression of Rio was very nice - friendly people everywhere we went. Made it a pleasure vacation. Brazilians are a warm-hearted people and very much receptive of foreigners. So I guess just observe the usual travel precautions and avoid clothes that scream "tourist", "American" .

Check out your corporate travel advisory, as we did, but here are some additional tips given to us

• Don't leave anything on the sand, it will be swiped.
• Watch out for hungry kids. They will swipe and run. Petty theft is a serious problem.
• Atlantic avenue - walking and running, very nice.
• Go have a SHURASKO - eating @ PORCAO - 35 Reals you get a continous type of meat.
• Saturdays - national dish - seijodo -say yo jada - big plate of beans with meat.
• Try to blend in. don’t carry camera on your neck. Don’t flash your camera on the beach. - if you plan to bring digital camera, you should try to bring a small one and don't carry it showing the machine or even the camera's bag ... keep it inside any other bag or in the pant's pocket... first look who is around before taking snaps, mainly at the seashore... At Pão de Açucar and Corcovado, you can feel free to take as many pictures you want, those places are very safe.
• Don't take jewellery - don't attract attention.
• Don't take the side streets.
• Avoid using ATMs. 90% chances your ATM card will get duplicated (image and pin captured) and money withdrawn.

The currency is the REAL. Don't carry too much cash. Always use ATMs INSIDE the hotel and not the street since there's alot of thieves. $1.00R = 2.30Real. Your money goes far. Good to buy gems in Brazil- BlueTopaz, Emeralds, Aquamarines etc...

On the way back on the flight, the wife commented about our honeymoons. Our first one was in Goa – Portuguese India and our 2^nd one was in Rio – Portuguese South America….some connection there.

Las Vegas - Sin City Half off

We had visited Vegas on numerous occassions - for corporate events or as tourists with the been-there-done-that attitude. This was our first attempt at really exploring the show biz aspect of Vegas. Our plan was to spend some quality time with quality shows. Here goes a quick writeup on some of the shows, tips and hints on procuring tickets to these shows etc.

We were in the Venetian right across Treasure Island. We love the ambience at Venetian and are quite familiar with its layout, and have a natural inclination towards it. We did rent a car, but typically parked at an optimal point and walked...Bellagio is probably quite central and we ended up valet parking there for most events, walk for every thing and at the end of the night drive back from Bellagio. Traffic is quite bad, but walking is quite tiring.

We have tried the monorail, it may be a long walk depending on what your destination is, the ticket is priced at $5/ride, but if you get an all day ticket, it works out quite cheap. Again, it depends on your destination proximity to the train station - how you can get that extra mile from your all day monorail ticket. It is quite convenient, compared to sitting in traffic on the strop.

Try to decide on the shows and book them before you get there....Otherwise, we do end up spending some time in booking them, and then the seating is not as good. Two of the shows for which we booked months in advance was the Phantom (Venetian ) - which was quite alright - and also David Copperfield. David Copperfield can be a really amazing first time experience. He will love this .....

We attended the Bellagio museum of arts that has a audio tour for the paintings of Van Gogh, Monet etc. That is quite nice.

We also went to George Wallace in the Flamingo, stand up comedy. Hewas boring at times, but he is a legend in his own right and quite witty at times.He does have quite a following.

ZUMANITY in New York New York was very artistic, but got boring at times...it has acrobatic features, comedy, everthing, but all classy. Most of the shows have become like variety entertainment packages try to squeeze in something for everyone.

It is best to take seating in the center close to the stage, that is where you feel like you are part of the show. The half price tickets are only available for not the high demand shows, and their seating is not good. We found George Wallace show through the half price tickets at the showcase mall (see below writeup on details of the half ticket). The seating was terrible. But you can even upgrade the half tickets for better setas.

Once you get these half price tickets (which are really vouchers), it is critical to go exchange these vouchers immediately into tickets so that you can get the best available seating. They will tell you where exactly to go to exchange them. For example to exchange zumanity vouchers into tickets, there are a few casinos that let you exchange it.

Your kids will like Stratosphere, tower in Stratosphere has some rides. We didn't go up. We did go up the Eiffel tower, was alright. New York New York has an arcade for kids, but kids don't seem to have too many things to do in Vegas, as Vegas attempts to correct the ambience - it is no longer a family friendly place that they tried in the 90s.

You may want to dress up in the evenings, it does get casual due to the heat, but dressing up is better than down. Try to take good walking evening shoes, otherwise it gets very tiring on the feet. Some people just wear sneakers in the evening and that is acceptable in Vegas, as people know how tired the feet get with all the walking.

We had the buffet at Wynn (The Buffet) brunch...was multi ethnic and decent quality. But I felt the Bellagio buffet is better. We ate at Tamba, http://tambalounge.com/ opposite New York NewYork in one of the inside strip malls. Their buffet is better (had that in January) than their dinner. I am sure you will enjoy the buffets at most of the good casinos ( Paris, Bellagio etc.). THere is an Indian restaurant in RIO - Gaylords, very nice decor, but quite expensive. Lots of Asian fusion restaurants eg in Luxor, very good presentation and decent food. Cannot go wrong with the food in the nicer casinos. With the rest you have to watch out.

The heat in June is like 100 F, so you can't really sit poolside except in the evenings. Unless you find an indoor pool. Best part of Vegas that I like is just walking on Las Vegas Blvd in the evenings, lots of people are walking and it is a nice walk in 80 degree evening heat. We don't seem to get these warm evenings in the bay area.

I started appreciating what Vegas has to offer. Most folks enjoy the luxurious living, great food and opulent setting (kinda like a cruise ship vacation, but this is bigger as are in a big city with a lot of attractions for you to pick and choose what you want, hard to get such a vacation anywhere else).

Here is excerpts on the FAQ

The Half Price Tickets in Vegas FAQ

First, there are two main half price tickets vendors. They are Tickets2Nite and Tix4Tonite. Both vendors open at noon daily, and close around 9pm, pending on when the last show starts that they are selling tickets for. They sell half price tickets for day of the show ONLY. And Tix4Tonite also sells discounted (not 50%) tickets for some of the major shows. These are listed further in the FAQ.

Tickets2Nite is located on the strip in the Showcase Mall next to the “big Coke bottle” across from the Monte Carlo Hotel and next to the MGM hotel.

Contact info:

Tickets2Nite
http://www.tickets2nite.com
3785 Las Vegas Blvd. S
1-888-4-TIX2NITE

Tix4Tonite has several locations on the strip. They are:

south strip. Next to the Harley Davidson Cafe on the corner of Harmon and LV Blvd.

Fashion Show Mall. The entrance is located right off the street near Neiman Marcus

north strip. Across from the Stardust, and next to the Riviera.

Tix4Tonite
http://www.tix4tonight.com
1-877-849-4868

Okay, so what shows do they offer? Do a google search now