Rob Cheng’s Blog

In March 2011, we decided to rent a boat for the day and cruise the coast of Rio de Janeiro. I have been living here for 8 years but I had never seen the city from the outside looking in. Rio is a beautiful city, but it brings an entirely new dimension to view it from off the coast.

We went swimming, and then we visited a beach called Itaipu which is on the other side of Niteroi. We ate lots of seafood and drank lots of beer and liquor. Finally, we cruised back to the Marina Gloria where we rented the boat. A fun time was had by all.

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April 22nd, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Jesse, Photos, Rio de Janeiro, Slide Show | Comments (2)

Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval is chaotic to say the least. Millions of tourists from all over Brazil and all over the world converge to see the biggest and most elaborate Carnaval in the world. On top of that, it is the largest party that I have ever seen. The downside is that the entire city shuts down. Traffic which is already bad goes to a whole new level of bad. Plus all the stores and groceries close for four solid days, and many businesses are closed the entire week.

So the Carnaval 2011, we like many other residence of Rio escaped the chaos and decided to vacation in Frade near Angras dos Reis. We also invited my mother in law, Maria Gonçalves, and her boyfriend, Euripedes Cruz with us. We had a great time and it was fantastic to avoid the chaos. More »

April 19th, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Photos, Slide Show, Travel | Leave a comment

When I was returning from our vacation in Frade back to Rio de Janeiro, there was a song on the CD called “Rio de Janeiro”. As I was driving, it made me think of all the things that I love about Rio de Janeiro. I decided to put together a video of all those things and then I put the song as the background music for the video.

This was a fun project but I struggled with finding the best video software to do it. My prior videos I had been using Camtasia Studio, but I wanted HD and my version did not support HD. So I downloaded trials of Sony Movie Studio, and Corel Video Studio Pro. Both of them had their flaws and it made certain things quite difficult. Finally, I tried Microsoft MovieMaker which is 100% free. Prior versions were kind of clunky, but the latest version has some very cool effects. Watch it in full screen mode. Let me know what you think. More »

March 28th, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Technology, Videos | Comments (2)

We just got back from a great vacation at Frade during Carnaval. It is great for running because there are mountains that come straight up to the ocean. But one of the most enjoyable things is to rent a boat and go swimming. Off the coast of Frade are over 300 little islands. It is a snorkeling and diving paradise. Here is a video we took of a few of the dives. I literally can dive and swim with the fishes for hours on end.

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March 19th, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Technology, Videos | Leave a comment

I have lived in Rio since April 2003. Now that Rio de Janeiro will host both the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, one question keeps popping up. Is Rio de Janeiro a safe place to visit? It is certainly understandable. Quite often, photos of violence in Rio de Janeiro are shot around the world.

Not only is Rio de Janeiro one of the most beautiful cities in the world but it is also one of the largest. All large cities have a certain amount of violence and some precaution should always be taken when traveling the dark and unknown streets of a large city. Putting that aside, Rio de Janeiro does have a higher level of violence.

I place this in two categories.

1) On going drug war
2) Tourist related crimes

When we see all the photographs and video beamed across the world, it is usually related to the government’s on going drug war. There is quite a bit of poverty in Rio de Janeiro, and it is all focused in these large slums called favelas. Rio boasts some of the largest favelas in the world. Favela residence do not pay utilities nor do they pay property taxes and so on. Hand in hand with the favelas, is also a thriving drug trade. This drug trade creates a certain lawlessness. More »

February 17th, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro | Comments (1)

It was Sunday December 5th. The prior Thursday, I had tried to purchase tickets for the final Brazilian championship game but to no avail. There was a line a mile long and many people had camped out with tents, barbecues, chairs and umbrellas. I knew that I didn’t stand a chance so I gave up. The day of the game, my buddy John who was visiting from London rang about 9 am. He was very excited and explained to me that he could get scalped tickets for the game. Each ticket would cost about R$400. I did some quick calculations, and we had a group of 7 people (me, my wife Solange, my two kids Teddy and Jesse, our nanny Sida, and my two friends John and Mark). That means I needed to come up with a little less than R$3000, and I had a little less than an hour to come up with the cash. The scalpers were skeptical that a gringo could come up with that kind of cash on a Sunday morning. They had another thing coming. More »

December 30th, 2010 | Category: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Slide Show | Leave a comment

We just got back from one of the most awesome vacations ever. Angra dos Reis is the most beautiful place that I have ever been. I don’t say that lightly. I have traveled throughout the entire world, and up to now, I thought that Yosemite National Park was the most beautiful. I visited there in 1983.

Angra has everything. There are many mountains and water falls very near the beach. But perhaps most beautiful, are all the islands off the coast. They say that there are over 300 islands of all different sizes. Because of all the islands, there are very few waves and boating is very peaceful. Three times, we rented a boat and tried to explore new places. There are many private beaches and restaurants that are only amenable by boat. Many of the islands do not have electricity, only by generator. I really love to swim and I could spend hours just swimming in the clear waters with the fish. While swimming I saw many many fish of all colors and sizes, star fish, and a big tortoise. It was so much fun. The water is so clear that you can see everything in the water while swimming which probably has the best snorkeling in the world.

Here are our pictures of this marvelous place although pictures do not do it justice.

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April 26th, 2010 | Category: Brazil, Jesse, Slide Show, Travel | Comments (5)

We are on our first day of a much needed vacation. We are staying at a place called Hotel do Frade which sits on the beach but also has a golf course which nestles against the mountains. I woke up early and decided to run the golf course TWICE. I am not sure how far I ran but I am estimating between 10-11 miles. Then we went swimming in the hotel pool. Later, we went bike riding on the golf course for about an hour. It was a good full day and a great start to the vacation. More »

April 19th, 2010 | Category: Brazil, Jesse, Photos, Slide Show, Teddy, Travel | Comments (1)

I have now lived in Brazil for close to 7 years. I have married a Brazilian woman, and I have two children, one which was born in Rio de Janeiro. So I am very embedded in Brazil, but I believe that I can state in an unbiased manner why I believe that Brazil is set to become an economic super power. When I look at the facts, it is a stark and scary difference to compare the fundamentals of the American economy with that of Brazil.

1. No wars or enemies

Only 25 years ago, Brazil was a military dictatorship. But since that time, Brazil has avoided military conflict. This of course is in stark contrast to the United States, where we manufacture reasons to go to war (weapons of mass destruction).

2. Made in Brazil

By and large, Brazil’s trade policy has been protectionist. Still today, many conveniences of American modern life are either non existent or very expensive. One area where they could improve greatly is in technology such as computers. Computers are still very expensive in Brazil and hence internet adoption and basic computing skills lag behind other developed nations. That said, the upshot of this policy is that Brazil produces almost everything it consumes. A great example are cars. Cars are affordable in Brazil, and I would say that 90% of the automobiles in Brazil are made in Brazil.

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March 22nd, 2010 | Category: Brazil, Financial Crisis | Comments (9)