Rob Cheng’s Blog

One of the best things that we did for our kids here in Rio de Janeiro was to put them in a day care. We searched for the best and we finally found a place called Ativa-Idade, which means Active Age. Another huge benefit is that it is only about 1/2 a mile from our apartment so it is a quick and simple exercise to drop them off and pick them up.

Since going to the school, they get along better with each other and they talk a lot more. Although it is preschool, we get detailed reports on the kids progress. Or the best they can estimate given their age.

They have also made a deal with a professional photography firm that takes tons of photos of the kids events and they make them available on the web site for the parents and the kids. Here are bunch of photos from that web site. There are three events. Mother Day, a day in the park, and then something called Festa Julina. It happens every July and they try and dress the kids to look like little adults. Not sure why but that explains a lot of the photos. Check them out.

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September 2nd, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Photos, Rio de Janeiro, Slide Show | Leave a comment

Since my wife has a new, expensive and complicated camera, she decided to enroll in a photography class here in Rio de Janeiro. We went to the first class last week, and I understood much of what she said, but it isn’t so easy since she is talking about a tough subject in a foreign language, but I managed. This week, she decided to meet us at the park for a photo session.

Since my wife had the new camera, I had to go to the shoot with my little point and shoot camera. Every one in the class had a nicer camera than me. But that was OK. I figured that once I learn more about photography, I will buy myself a nice camera too.

This was a fun experience because the park is called Parque de República, and I have never even known this park existed. It is located in the neighborhood of Catete and the park unlike many parks in Rio is very nicely done. It is about 2 city blocks big. It has a lot of very cool statues, and many of the statues have a common theme of little children strangling animals. Pretty wild! In addition to the statues, there are several large fountains, a water fall, a monkey feeding station, and a turtle station. we were also quite lucky because the weather was beautiful for a cool winter day in August. The place was alive with people of all walks of life. Lastly, there is a huge children’s playground which was packed the entire time.

So our entire class basically start clicking photos in the park. I had no idea what to expect, and I just started. I know how to use my Panasonic Lumix more or less but I never really bothered to learn the finer points of my camera. So I asked the teacher, and she proceeded to give me the best digital camera advice EVER. The impact on the quality of your photos can be amazing. It is so important than I thought I would share it here. More »

August 21st, 2011 | Category: Brazil, Photos, Rio de Janeiro, Slide Show | Leave a comment

A big surprise about China Tours is that they control your schedule from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. And they keep you busy, very busy. Finally, by Day 9 of our trip, they gave us a day off in Shanghai. Some people in our group decided just to stay in their hotel, because they were just tired. We decided to go shopping and see Shanghai with Özgür and Selin Tanriverdi our new friends from Dubai.

Based on the recommendation of our guide, we walked to Metro City to purchase a new camera for Solange. Her point and shoot camera was slowly breaking, and I decided to spring for a professional SLR type camera during this trip. Metro City is a very different shopping experience than American retail outlets. It is a huge building with four floors of all things electronics. It is like 20 Best Buys all rolled into one. The problem is that it is possible to buy the same camera from over 20 different merchants.

First off, we had no idea what we wanted as I have little experience with SLR cameras. Fortunately, Özgür is a camera enthusiast, and we finally settled on a Nikon 3000 with a 18mm – 200mm lens. It was no easy task to figure this out because there are so many selections by all the manufacturers. Then we wanted a good price but we had no idea. Finally, we found a place with a great deal, but when they realized we were tourists, the price went up. They wanted another $200 for a warranty. I felt like I had been slimed, like I could not trust these people. So we left and went to another shop where we found the same camera including warranty. Great! But now, they won’t accept my international credit card. In fact, they don’t accept credit cards at all. The price was about 9000 RMB or about US$1400. I had no idea on whether it was a good price but I was positive it was a better price than I could pay in Brazil. More »

August 16th, 2011 | Category: China, Photos, Slide Show, Travel | Comments (2)

As part of our package with China Tours, we went to four different artistic shows in four different cities. Below is a quick list of the shows and the cities.

Kung Fu Show When I first heard about this, I had thought it would be a Kung Fu demonstration which I thought might be entertaining. However, it was quite different. The Kung Fu Show was actually a small play set to music and dance. The sound system in the theatre was awesome and the music truly floated through your ears. The play was about a young boy that wanted to become a Kung Fu master. He learns the ways, but he loses his focus because he falls in love with a beautiful woman. Ultimately, he finds his way back and becomes a master. The dance moves are quite elaborate and physically difficult. They are running and spinning through the air doing marvelous things. Many thought this was the best show of the tour. The one problem with this show was that photography was specifically prohibited and they made an announcement before the show began. So no pictures.

Ancient Dynasty This show was very elaborate and spectacular but in a very different way. The show endeavors to give us a flavor of how music, art and dance were during the times of ancient dynasty. Again, the sound system and lighting was fantastic. The costumes were amazing. More importantly than that, there were close to 200 people participating in the show. Because they were all running around changing costumes, it felt more like 400. They also had a few music scenes which really gave a nice feeling for Chinese music and the stark differences from the commercialized western approach to music.

Solange deserves a lot of credit because they allowed photo, and she stood up the entire time, so she could take as many photos as possible. We have the best photos from this show. More »

August 14th, 2011 | Category: China, Photos, Slide Show, Travel | Comments (1)

One of the must-see sights in China is the Terracotta Warriors. It is really an almost unbelievable story. Way back, well over 2000 years ago, the first emperor of China make the most elaborate tomb in the history of time. The tomb itself was the size of a small city covering many square miles. He decided to protect his soul in the afterlife, that he wanted to be surrounded by an army of his best servants. So he put all of his people to work to create life size replicas of his army.

Flash forward to 1974, and researchers were speculating that there must be untold treasures in this city size tomb of gold, art, and other valuables. They did not find that, but they found close to 8000 life size warriors, chariots, horses and so on. Although the discovery happened over 35 years ago, they are still working to unearth many of the warriors. It is a pain staking process because they must be careful not to break the warriors when excavating and then they must restore what time has damaged.

It really made me wonder what it was like to be a Chinese Emperor. I really marvel at someone that decides to build a city just for his tomb. Maybe they were going through a recession and it was his way of stimulating the economy and putting the people back to work. On the other hand, the same guy that did all of this was also the one that made the Great Wall of China. No doubt about it, that this guy (Qin Shi Huang) thought really big. If you look carefully at the warriors, each face is different. The amount of time to do this project must have been stunning.

I also learned a lot about photography. The lighting is not very good, and then on top, you need to zoom to get close to the warriors. This is really pushing the limit of what a point and click camera can do. Some of the photos are blurry because you need a perfectly steady hand or the picture will distort. Solange bought a new expensive camera and maybe that will take better pictures in tough conditions like this. Anyway, I still think that the photos give a pretty good flavor of what the Terracotta Army looks like in Xian, China. More »

August 10th, 2011 | Category: China, Photos, Slide Show, Travel | Leave a comment

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)

We traveled back to Myrtle Beach, SC in December 2010 for the Christmas holidays. Little did we know, but it would be coldest winter on record. It actually snowed in Myrtle Beach, although it was just a light frosting, it was the first time my wife and the kids had seen snow.

Solange took the kids out in the cold and they had their first ever winter photo shoot. I think the photos turned out great and Solange just used her point and click camera. The technology sure has come a long way!

We bought Teddy gloves for the cold, but for some reason, Teddy preferred to put socks over his hands. Jesse didn’t seem to care either way. More »

April 20th, 2011 | Category: Jesse, Photos, Slide Show, Teddy | Leave a comment

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

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)