Showing posts with label Beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beach. Show all posts

Jan 14, 2013

Praia Vermelha

The Quiet City Beach and Tropical Forest Trail !

Praia Vermelha is the smallest city beach in Rio de Janeiro,and it lies in a sheltered cove between the 688 ft Morro da Urca and the 754 ft Morro da Babilonia. It's here where you catch the 2 stage cable car up to Morra da Urca and then on to the 1300 ft Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) out in the bay.


It's very easy to get here from the tourist beach areas, and the best way is by taxi (R$10) or by bus.

Praia Vermelha means 'Red Beach' and derives its name from the reddish yellow sand found here. This is contrasted to other beaches in Rio de Janeiro that have white sand. As this beach is set back and protected from the rough surf of the Atlantic Ocean, the water is quite calm. However it is occasionally not clean and thus not always suitable for swimming.


There's a nice little park directly behind this beach with many tree lined low walls on which to sit and take in the scenery. Several food vendors set up here throughout the day, so this makes for a nice place to enjoy a cheap lunch or afternoon snack.

Families of Tiny Monkeys !

However, the real draw here is the wonderful 2 km paved trail - Pista Cláudio Coutinho, which starts just next to Praia Vermelha and hugs the rocky coastline out around the base of Morro da Urca.


This lush short stretch of tropical forest is almost completely tree covered. Along the way you will likely encounter families of small monkeys living in the trees that line and cover the trail. Most of the monkeys dart about in the canopy overhead, but some relax in the trees surprisingly close to eye level.

This very safe trail is managed by the government, and it's prohibited to feed the wildlife. However, Cariocas (Rio natives) and tourists alike feed bananas to the small monkeys, who will eat them right out of your hand! As is quite common in Brazil, there are minor rules which are meant to be broken...


Pista Cláudio Coutinho is a wonderful excursion and is a safe place to bring a camera. There are many opportunities to take photos of the plant life in the forest, the little monkeys, looking out towards the sea, and looking back to Praia Vermelha. You can also take some dizzying photos looking up to Morro da Urca.


Walking on this shaded trail makes for a comfortable and highly enjoyable mid day excursion when the sun is at it's peak. After visiting Praia Vermelha and walking the trail out and back, head up to Morro da Urca and Sugar Loaf by cable car to enjoy the late afternoon and then a beautiful Rio de Janeiro sunset!

Via Rio De Janeiro

Jan 12, 2013

Koh Tao Travel Experince


I'm sitting on the porch of our little, old, wooden bungalow in Tanote Bay on Koh Tao's east coast. Music comes from a bar behind us, a local band plays reggae music, a bit out of tune but not too bad, just too loud for sleep and that's why I'm writing the blog. Now suddenly it's quiet! Black out, as so often during night times here. Yesterday I sat at the same place reading because of the bar on the other side of our bungalow where bumping electronic music kept me away from sleeping but tonight it's quiet and dark in Poseidon's bar. Now the electricity is back, sadly those black outs never last long enough.


After our friends, Riikka and Mikko started their journey back home from the Krabi airport, we changed over to Thailand's east coast and across the gulf, the ferry stopped at Koh Samui first, at Koh Pha Ngan later where we changed the boat on to Koh Tao. We called ahead to book a room as Christmas was only a week away and places started to fill up. We stayed in the JP Resort in Chalok Baan Kao bay, south of the famous Sairee beach because we wanted some quietness for reading, relaxing and snorkeling.



We then found out that a friend of Anni was on the same island, quite a coincidence because we met him in Ao Nang too. Together with him, his girlfriend, small son and family members, all Finnish of course, we booked a long-tail boat for a snorkeling trip around the island where we could decide where to go and where to stop. It was a brilliant day. The water around Koh Tao is incredibly clear and very rich in fish and corals where they haven't been destroyed yet, either by tourists or anchors of the numerous boats ashore. Highlight for everyone was probably Shark bay, not just a fancy name, we saw plenty of black tip reef sharks, some of them massive, I myself counted nine sharks in about 15 minutes.



Another day all of us went to Nang Yuan island, basically three islands connected by sand and crowded with tourists. They have a funny or annoying rule, depends how you look at it, no one's allowed to bring fins or plastic bottles onto the island. Doesn't count for the hundred or so divers around all the dive spots nearby or near the beach, learning skills on the bottom of the ocean, with fins. What hurts the corals more, a snorkeler with fins on the surface or a diver with fins on the bottom? I didn't get it, especially because the beaches are sandy without corals a long way out into the sea. We also snorkeled off Sairee beach where we found a beautiful reef parallel to the beach, we didn't expect that in front of the busy main beach. And the sunsets viewed from there are stunning!


We spent a great time with great people in truly magnificent nature but they left soon for a visa run and we were alone again. Then I got a cold and couldn't snorkel anymore. We also decided to move to another place because ours at JP's was a bit characterless and very hot as it was a concrete and brick room. Anni asked around and found a nice place called Taraporn on the far north side of the same bay. We moved into our bungalow and were happy as we got quite a bargain, 500 Baht is relatively cheap during christmas peak season. I was getting sicker from day to day and was looking forward to a good night's sleep, the ocean only meters away and with gentle waves that would follow me into sleep, I hoped.


Then, after dinner time, the music started. First from the main beach, carried across the bay and then from Taraporns bar. First at a modest volume but with the rising consume of alcohol also the volume of the music rose. Peak was at around midnight, quietness came at 03:30am. Every night. I didn't mind a christmas party or two but it was every night. And at the 27th it was someone's birthday party, louder than anything before and trust me, earplugs didn't help. So I spent lots of time outside, waiting for 03:30 to come. After the five nights we already paid, we left for Tanote bay. We found a bungalow for 400 Baht and this bay is famous for its good snorkelling and as it is far away from everything, only accessible over an awful concrete and dirt track, so we were sure to find peace. And quietness.



When we first saw our little hut we were delighted. An old, wooden bungalow only about 50 meters from the sea, a porch facing it, just perfect. And quiet! Just the sounds of waves, geckos and squirrels that jump from tree to tree above our porch. Then nighttime came and so did the music. First only little but it got louder and louder the later it got. We saw the restaurant next to our bungalow when we moved in but we thought hey, we're in a far away place, who wants to party here? The same as in the last place, not many.


First it was Sunshine divers, a big and busy dive company in Chalok Ban Kao and now it is Poseidon in Tanote bay. The Sunshine company had the AWARE sticker on their windows, an organization dedicated to saving sharks, I'm also a member. This is all very nice but during the hours I lie awake and listened to their bumping sounds I couldn't get this sticker out of my mind. Aware. Most dive companies on Koh Tao are very aware of their environment, organize clean-up days to collect rubbish from beaches or the sea bottom, they save or breed turtles and help sharks but one of these companies I got to now only through their so cool parties and music and around the others gather people already at lunchtime, holding their beers. Where's the "aware" here? Do they only care about the divers environments but not about their neighbors? How can they blast music all night long when the next bungalow is only steps away? Does everyone have to join them and party, if not you're a loser anyway?


We met more people here that seek quietness than people that are in need of more party. Two minutes before midnight at new years eve I went over to Poseidon to grab a drink and I found the place basically empty. Five people sat or lied around a table, music blasting but no sign of party, the drunk barkeeper gave me a beer out of a coolbox and went back to "business". If even at new years evening the bars stay empty, why the hell don't they turn off their music and power a fridge instead? So our search goes on, we'll go back to the west coast soon in the new year and look for a quiet spot but we gave half up already. Why not go to Sairee beach with cheap accommodation and music everywhere, at least it's cheap.

Jan 8, 2013

The backpacker hell in Bangkok


We left Ko Tao in the afternoon, 24 hours of travelling ahead of us. Our goal was to get to Ko Chang as soon as possible to be able to meet Anni's friend, Onni, who was somewhere on an island close to Ko Chang. The ferry to Chumphon took about 4 hours and there we jumped into an overnight bus to Bangkok. The overnight bus took 2 hours less than expected.


We were woken up at three in the morning and we got dropped off somewhere that was not Khao San Road, like promised. Our next bus was supposed to leave from there, and we did not know where we were. It's not easy to stop and think when you just woke up in the middle of the night. We saw some people walking away and some jumping into taxis and tuk-tuks. We asked a taxi driver how far are we from Khao San Road, and he answered that it was far, and told us he would drive us there for 400 baht.


We told him we would pay him 200 baht, and he nodded and wanted to carry our backpacks into the taxi. Wait, what? Our previous experience in Bangkok had proven that the taxi drivers barely let you haggle. They either give you a price and you take it, or you spend half an hour looking for a driver that is actually willing to use the meter, and still you get ripped off by driving in circles. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. So we were saved by Anni's Nokia and its GPS and maps. She checked her phone and we realised we should be quite close to our destination. So we started walking. On the way we asked 7/11 cashiers, who confirmed that Khao San was about two minute walk away.


Last time we were in Khao San Road it was absolutely horrible. Khao San is THE backpacker hell in Bangkok with all the bars, touts, tailor shops, "cheap" clothes and souvenirs, two McDonalds's and guesthouses all somehow made to fit on this small street. By day, it was chaotic and busy. By night, it was bloody hilarious. We had plenty of time for people watching and indeed it kept us amused for five hours that we had to wait until our next bus at 8:00. The drunken people were fun to watch, and it was for sure safer waiting there than somewhere on an empty street. And you could get coffee and food at any time. Great!



We did not expect Koh Chang to be amazing, we hadn't even planned to stay there. And because of that, we actually did not really know what to expect. It proved to be not bad but ridiculously overpriced. Most of all it seemed to be a playground for middle-aged sex tourists. It was sad to see in many ways. Sometimes we couldn't decide if we should feel more sorry for the girls or for the old, desperate men playing happy family with their barely 18 year old girlfriends. Sure, there were real couples too. But mostly it didn't look like that. We'd love to know how many of those men getting drunk from early morning, spending their time in girl bars were married men on a "business trip". Or actually, never mind. I guess it's not our place to judge. But sometimes you just can't help wondering why.



Other than that, Koh Chang was okay. Beach was okay, island itself was okay, weather was okay. For some reason it was especially popular with Russian tourists, almost every sign was written in Russian, English and Thai. Ko Chang left us with the impression that there is not really anything to complain about but nothing special to come back for.



After resting for a few days we felt good about getting out of Thailand. Thailand was a much needed holiday from traveling. For a while it was fantastic to be in a country where traveling is as easy as it gets. But after a while it becomes a bit boring when everything is done for you. Traveling without thinking and fighting a little to get what you want is fun and relaxing, but never as rewarding. It was also sad to see South Thailand's backpacker scene slowly disappearing and turning into overpriced resorts for rich tourists and the old budget places putting up their prices without doing anything to improve the quality. And who can blame them? There are more and more people coming for short holidays, willing to pay. Why not? Easy money. I'd do the same.  - source