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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!

Perhaps I am late to the party, but I only recently discovered that the entire world is getting off on the internet- for free! I thought internet porn cost money, but there are so many free sites now that the cash business model seems to be in decline. The action now seems to be camming, that is, performing sex acts live on a webcam and having people pay you for it. Top sites get 30 million visitors a month. And everything is so easy to find, you just Google and all the porn you want is in your room. The part I don't like is that there are no screens to keep kids away from it. How many parents put a filter on Google? Anyway, if they don't know about it now, they will tomorrow when the NY Times, in a very lengthy article, gives all the ins and outs. You can see the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/technology/intimacy-on-the-web-with-a-crowd.html?hp

Today started out at the hotel with breakfast. The breakfast buffet was to die for! Absolutely fabulous! They had a variety of everything. I love this place. After I ate, I went for a swim and while the water was cold, it was nice to lounge around and wait for the boys to wake up. We hired a Tuk Tuk driver today for 8 hours. His rate was 20USD. He agreed to take us everywhere we wanted to go. We started out by going to lunch. I had asked the hotel to recommend a place that most Cambodians would eat. I thought we would get a market area. But, instead, we ended up at Malis. It is an upscale restaurant. I almost left but thought we drove out of the way to get here and I should try it. I am so glad I did. The food was delicious! We had Crab Fried Rice, Scallop with peppercorn, Cambodia Kabobs with chili sauce, Morning Glory, Honey BBQ Pork, and Cambodia Tiger Prawns. We all thought this was the best meal we had experienced in Cambodia! After lunch, we headed to the "Killing Fields." This is the area where there are mass graves from the Po Pot regime. It was a very dark time in Cambodian history and to this day, I don't understand why the International community did not get involved. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Fields The area is very somber and causes many emotions. The cost is 8USD and that comes with an audio tour guide. I got one for English and the boys got one for Thai. This was a great help as they didn't have to translate into another language. My two guys are rarely quite but they listened and they didn't speak the entire timer. It was such an interesting experience. At the end (about 1 hour) they looked at me and said, "so sad." And, then they asked why America didn't help like they want to do in Syria. I didn't have an answer for them other than after Vietnam and Korean Wars, the American people didn't want to get involved in anything. Very similar to now when the public is tired of wars in the Middle East. Shame on us for letting any people get treated this way. After that, we went to the King's Palace but the whole area was closed for a celebration and police and guards blocked us off. We tried a few other places and they were closed too. We ended up at Wat Phnom. It was built in 1373, and stands 27 metres above the ground. It is the tallest religious structure in the city. From Wiki: "The sanctuary itself was rebuilt several times in the 19th century and again in 1926. The interior has a central altar complex with a large bronze seated Buddha surrounded by other statues, flowers, candles and items of devotion and worship. The walls are covered with murals, especially of Jataka stories of the Buddha's earlier reincarnations before his enlightenment. There are also murals depicting stories from the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana. The newer murals in the bottom tiers are somewhat balanced, traditional and modern. The southwest corner of the vihear and stupa, is a small shrine dedicated to Lady Penh. The front is often crowded with the faithful bringing their prayers and food offerings to the woman deemed responsible for the founding of the wat." Our last stop of the day was the Russian Market. If you have been to JJ Market in Bangkok, think the same thing! It is a large market with copy goods galore! The fun part of the day was seeing the street scenes in and around the city! Beautiful people and beautiful city.

Perfectly understandable. That's why I never told anyone that Queen Elizabeth blew me at The Vault the last time she visited NYC in July 2010.