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I like to read reports that members post about their travels. Tomcal has done Rio and Brazil due honors, and it would be folly to try to imitate him. Likewise with Oz. Just take notice of his posting today about taking the train to Cambodia! Others too offer good reports. I just don't feel up to the competition. So my trip to Rio last week would start by thanking tomcal and lurkerspeaks for encouraging me to use rioapartmentrentals.com. They put my husband and I into a good 2BR apartment with an ocean view (Okay, you had to stick your head out the window to see it) in an area above the Copacabana Palace and a ten minute walk to Cardeal Arcoverde Metro station. There was an abundance of groceries in the area, and staying in an apartment gave us more of a feel for living there. We enjoyed our favorite restaurants: Bella Blue, Sequiera Grill in particular, as well as a downtown visit to the historic Confeiteria Colombo, which took us back in time to enjoy a meal with long-dead cariocas! Yes, we went to the saunas. Club 117 is no longer the top one, in our opinion. In the past, I have always liked it. We went on two occasions, and both nights had a completely different cast of boys with an exception or two. But these guys know their value, and it was rare to hear an offer below R100. The H went with a guy, had a great time for the agreed price, and then was stunned when he had dressed and the boy hit him up for another 50. It's always been common that guys try to get a little more money, or a drink, but after the fact trying to raise the price was a new one for us. We did say no. The main difference I noted in Club 117 was rudeness on the part of the boys. They would push their way through a crowd, or run up/down that narrow staircase without regard to anyone in their way. For the first time, I felt that the front desk was rude. In general, I think Club 117 has too much attitude. You might think that too if you went to Meo Mundo, where attitude and rudeness are almost unheard of. I had never been there before, and my first visit felt a bit overwhelming as it was so crowded on a Monday free cabin night. Once I relaxed a bit, it seemed to be a very friendly place, and prices were back in the 60 to 80 range. And what beautiful guys! An angelic looking fellow showed up at the right time to make my night a success. The H was having his own 7th heaven, and we left quite satisfied. I skipped free cabin night at Club 117 on Tuesday as I just didn't want to deal with the crowds, and H says they were big crowds and the place was so warm he couldn't wait to leave. Not that he would leave too soon. We tried Meo Mundo again on a Wednesday night and were disappointed at how quiet it was. That was foolish of us as it soon became crowded again, and we were now among familiar faces. H met a guy whose name seemed to be Haka, and this guy was the toast of the town. What a personality! I am told his dick is enormous too. We had originally intended to go to Meo Mundo on Saturday night. I followed instructions here and took a taxi there, but somehow the address I had read here said 118 Teofilo whatever, when the actual address is 18. So we instead went to Point 202, always my least favorite sauna. But this particular night was really good. Lots of muscle boys, but not the 117 attitude. I must have gone with the only non-muscle boy there, but we had a great time. Everyone was quite friendly, and the woman working the desk was a great improvement over the stuck up guy they used to have. We took a night off and went to Ipanema for some shopping. We had been there on Sunday as well for the Hippy Fair. We also went touring downtown. On Friday we flew to Porto Alegre, where we stayed at the new Cosmopolitan Palace hotel. It was nice, and any worries as to whether boys are allowed in the room abated when we saw that the lobby had several women of the night hanging out. The only "male of the night" I saw was very cute, but wore makeup to enhance his looks. We went to Porto Alegre because the Rock in Rio Festival was beginning, drawing some one million people to Rio. I didn't want to deal with the crowds so flew south as a previous visit there with tomcal was quite a success. I learned (hard) the value of having tomcal around at a sauna. He knows everyone! But the two of us (H and I) found it much harder to penetrate (figuratively) the local crowd. Essentially, the boys didn't give us much of a chance, and so many of them seemed to be taken already, especially the cutest ones. That left slim pickings, but doable. We were told that many of the guys might be in Rio for the Festival- just my luck. But both nights we went to Mixx bar after the sauna and enjoyed the colorful crowd there a lot. Shopping was also fun, and the Thomas Pub provided one of the best meals I have ever had. (It wasn't Pub food either!) One incident that hurt my view of Mezzaninu Sauna was the adding of a cabin charge to the bill. It took me a minute to realize it, so when I spoke up the desk clerk said it was too late to protest it as he had already run the charge. So, I asked to speak to Roy, the owner whom we had met last year. The clerk was quite surprised at that, but said he wasn't in. Nonetheless, the irreversible charge was refunded once the owner's name came up. Innocent mistake on the bill? Sure, why not? We had a good flight back, but are now jet-lagged, but satisfied. You'll note that I have no pictures, and what happened with me and certain young men at the saunas will stay between us. As much as I enjoy reading others' stories, mine always retain a few facts just for myself! Sorry!

Day 1: Bangkok to Siem Reap The boys and I decided to go visit Cambodia and Angkor Wat for a few days. And, since my family has been giving me a hard time for staying in same cities and same hotels, I decided this trip would be more of an adventure than a 5 star holiday. I won't skimp on some good things but we will try to make it to Cambodia the cheapest way possible and stay in Siem Reap at an inexpensive hotel. First, we did not make any reservations for transportation. We did make hotel reservations as I would not be able to make the journey without having security of knowing I had a place to stay. So, I went to Expedia. I found a great deal for 3 nights in Siem Reap at the Angkor Miracle Resort & Spa. They were having a sale at Expedia and we took advantage of it and booked our room for 45 USD per night for a pool view. There were cheaper hotels but I heard this one had good Internet and it got good reviews on Trip Advisor, so I booked it. http://www.angkormiracle.com/ While we were in Bangkok, we decided that we wanted a true adventure and so we chose to take the train to Cambodia. It was a hard decision for me as they had only one and it was not air conditioned and it was very rustic but we decided together this would be fun. The boys told me there was not enough room for my luggage so I packed only ONE backpack. When I got on the train, I saw I had been fooled as there was plenty of overhead space! (but, it would have been a real pain in the butt if I had taken 5 bags to cross the border. less is better on this trip) We woke up at 4:30 AM and got showered and left at 5:00 AM. We took a taxi to the train station. The taxi cost 60 baht or about 2USD. The train station only took us about 10 minutes that time of the morning. The train station was Bangkok's main Hualamphong station and the morning train left at 05:55 every day and arriving Aranyaprathet 11:35 (so they say, we were about 30 min late). Once you get there, you walk over to the place that sells the tickets. This area has many windows and if you ask, you will be directed to the right one. We all approached and gave our ID's and I was told 48 baht (1.50 USD). That was the price of my ticket but the boys were free as they are Thai and only had to show ID card for the free ticket. We got our tickets and made way to the track that we were told to wait at (also on the tickets). The boys told me: "be careful of your pockets" and I said OK. I do remember one boy I met in Pattaya had lived at this train station from the time he was 8 until he was 15 and moved to Pattaya and he said he lived with a group of kids and they all mugged people and picked their pockets. Since I know of this, I was careful. The train is 3rd class only and there is no air conditioner. They do have bathrooms in all the cars but it is VERY basic. The seats are comfortable and you sit 2 to each seat. The boys and I took the spots we wanted and were happy with them. But, the window was broken and so we quickly moved one seat over. That was a good move as a few people sat there on the 6 hour journey and the window came crashing down on them. We met a nice couple from England and had a nice chat with them. The train stopped at every little village and town we passed by. Sometimes, there was not even a station in the town but there was just a little dirt near the tracks where people were waiting. We were offered food and drinks on board by the vendors that get on the train and walk up and down the entire time. We got some water which was 10 baht. We did not eat on the train but many people did. There was a wide variety of people on this train and we met everything from businessmen to students to GoGo boys. There was also a great deal of tourist and backpackers on board. It was a very eclectic mix. The seat broke on me. Sad story. But, yes, my girth killed it (or at least flattened it). The boys laughed but I was very embarrassed. It wasn't destroyed but it just moved down a bit. But, it was as loud as the thunder you hear in the midst of a store! I stayed where I was at for a bit but then I moved over to a single seat. It was much better for me. There were periods of time when the train was over full and times when it was sparse with customers. So, when one seat emptied out, I took possession and was very happy the rest of the trip. The train is comfortable and the people working it were all very kind to me and stopped and chatted with us. We got off at Aranyaprathet a bit after 12 and there were Tuk Tuk's waiting for us. They were waiting directly outside the train and as we were getting off, they were all yelling for us to choose them. I chose one once we got off and he said it was 100 baht to the border. I said fine and off we went. It was about 3 miles to the border. The Tuk Tuk driver tried to take us to the wrong place so he could earn some more money. They do this often. But, I knew this was not the "Official" place and I told him No. No. He finally took us to the right place to enter the line to exit Thailand. They tried to take every other group of foreigners to the same place. LOL When the group saw me raising my voice and directing him to turn around and go to the right place, the English couple did the same thing and 3 others followed. They didn't know what to expect at the border but they said they were glad they saw me leaving. You must leave Thailand and get your passport stamped. I did that and as soon as you leave that area, you are approached by 100 people trying to get you to get their "official" Cambodian Visa. I didn't listen and just looked directly across the street to the real visa office and went there. My little group all followed. The boys did not have to do this as they had to get in another line to get their 15 day Free Visa. The visa to Cambodia is 20 USD. It takes a bit to fill out the paperwork and then give them a photo and your passport and they will give you the visa. It took only about 10 minutes total. After I left there, I saw the Casino I like and I headed straight there as we all wanted to eat and use the restroom before the next journey. We also may have wanted to play a bit of blackjack. After the casino, we had to get the stamp to enter Cambodia. This one took a bit longer as now the process you and take fingerprints of EVERY finger. This did not happen last time I went to Cambodia but it did this time. The process made the wait longer. It took me about 1 hour to get this done. The boys were waiting outside for me as they didn't have to deal with all this bS. Once outside, again everyone wanted us to follow them to either a taxi or a bus. We were tired and decided a taxi. I got the driver to agree to 1000 baht to take us to the hotel in Siem Reap. It took a bit over 2 hours. The hotel is very nice. The pool is beautiful. The Internet works great. The rooms are very comfortable. We had dinner here and that was also very tasty. The boys forgot to bring swimsuits so they took a Tuk Tuk to the night market to buy something to swim in tomorrow. The entire journey took us 12 hours. It was a very long day but I was able to see the Thai countryside and it was beautiful. Rice fields, water buffalo, amazing birds, green wherever we looked and the amazing Thai smiles. It was defiantly a trip I will remember. We will be in Siem Reap for 3 nights and are very excited for our tour guide tomorrow to see the ruins!

Day 2 in Siem Reap I woke up early today and headed downstairs for a good breakfast. The hotel provides a very nice buffet and I love omelets. The ones here were excellent. The have a wide variety of food for foreigners and locals. It was a lot of Asian delicacies as the majority of the guests are Asian tour groups. The hotel manager said mostly from Korea, China and Japan. I had arranged a tour guide for today. The cost was 25 USD for the day for the guide and the van was another 50 USD. We need a van as there were 3 of us and the guide and driver. We were told that most likely it would rain today but we booked the guide anyway. It did rain. The entire day. There were a few short breaks but we were soaked the entire day. Many of the photos you will see are in the rain. It was just a very cloudy and drizzly day today! The driver and guide were excellent and well worth the money. We stopped by an ATM first thing as I knew we would need American currency to pay for the tickets to get inside the Angkor Wat temples. The ATM's here dispense USD but most places take several forms of currency. The cost is 20 USD for one day, 40 for 3 days and 60 for a week. We were going to only get one day but we wanted to do one more temple the next day so we booked for 2 days. They take a photo of you and you are printed out a pass. From there we were off to see the amazing temples in the area. It truly is a marvelous site. There is so much to see and it is often up and down stairs and hiking in the trails. You can read about the temples from other sites but I'll say that seeing one of the 7 Wonders of the World is just something none of us will ever forget. It was not my first visit here but I did enjoy it so much better because the boys were here with me to experience it. I twisted my ankle in the first 10 minutes and the rest of the day was spent limping around. I still made the day but it was a bit painful. As soon as we got back, my foot went up but it was too late. The damage was done! We left a bit later than the other groups as the boys wanted to leave after 9. When we got to the main temple the guide suggested that we start at the other temples and end at Angkor. We agreed and off we went. One of my favorite temples was the one where Angelina Jolie filmed part of Tomb Raider. The trees covering the temple grounds are fabulous. I also loved the kids from the area all playing in the trees surrounding the temple. We did have tons of kids come up to us today to ask us to give them money or to buy something. After 10 thousand no, no, no, I had one kid ask me to buy a postcard and I told him to count to 100. He did. In English. I gave him some money as I thought he earned it. He was maybe 6 years old. I was told that 80 percent of the children in Cambodia now learn English in school. That came from the guide and I don't know how accurate but so far everyone we met including waiters and gas station attendants spoke very good English. After we finished our tour, and rested, I went for a long swim. The hotel has a salt water pool and it felt great after a long day hiking and trekking. The boys and I ate at the hotel and called it an early night. Sorry there are so many images. It was just one of those days that we all wanted to take a ton of photos. We ended up with over 2,000 images! LOL I won't put them all on there but here are a few samples.

I'll bet he still has your bag of peanuts.