One of the frequently asked questions I receive from people I meet here in Brazil is why I decided to come to Brazil and spend six months. The answer to this question is somewhat complicated and not something I can express in 140 characters with a couple of hashtags, so I am devoting this post to answering this question, a question I am not sure … Continue reading Why I Decided to Spend Six Months in Brazil
Ibirapuera Park should be the top of most must-see lists for visitors to São Paulo. Ibirapuera actually means “rotten tree” in the indigenous Tupi language, but, in spite of this unfortunate name, the park teems with arboreal life. At times, especially on Sunday afternoons, people actually outnumber the trees in this urban park. As evidence of this, Ibirapuera Park was found to be one of … Continue reading São Paulo’s Ibirapuera Park: Leisure and Culture in One of the World’s Finest Urban Parks
Gramado is located in the verdant, mountainous Serra Gaúcha region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s most southern state, an area settled predominantly by German and Italian immigrants in the nineteenth century. Gramado was actually founded by Portuguese immigrants in 1875, but later received German and Italian residents, from the nearby city of Caxias do Sul. By the 1920s, it became a summer holiday resort … Continue reading Gramado: A Stop Along Rio Grande Do Sul’s Romantic Road
São Paulo is a forest of skyscrapers and if you are new to the city, it is really easy to get lost as there aren’t many buildings that stand out from each other. One building that does stand out a bit is the Edifício Itália, located at the corner of Avenida Ipiranga and Avenida São Luis near the bustling Praça da República. The idea for … Continue reading Admiring the São Paulo Skyline: Edifício Itália
If you’ve never been to Bangkok before, you probably come with lots of preconceived ideas like I did, both positive and negative, about what Bangkok is like: golden temples, raucous nightlife, drunk Aussie backpackers sporting cheap Chang beer t-shirts that they bought on Khaosan Road, shady tuk tuk drivers who try to take you to get fitted for an overpriced tailored suit that will fall … Continue reading Bangkok: My First Stop on the Banana Pancake Trail
Journeying Jeff 