March 12, 2025

RIO DE JANIERO - Day 5 - Cinelandia Square, Selaron Stairs & Ipanema Beach

Our happy little group together for another day touring with Lucas on the bus. First stop, Cinelandia Square ( where it turns out Callie and I had walked on Thursday, when we went to clinic).  This square was created for theaters back in the day, today only one remains, but there are several historical buildings lining it.

Next we headed to the Selaron Stairs or Lapa Steps in the Lapa Neighborhood. These world famous steps are the work of Chilean born artist Jorge Selaron who claimed it as "my tribute to the Brazilian people". Jorge worked on the 215 steps from 1990 till his death (a mysterious suicide) in 2013, installing ceramic tiles from over 60 different countries  around the world, totaling over 2000 tiles. In the beginning Seleron used scrap tiles from waste throughout Rio. In later years tiles were donated by visitors from all over the world. Of over 2000+ tiles 300 odd ones were hand painted by Selaron depicting a pregnant African woman, who he only commented on that it was a personal problem from his past. Below photos from web, Selaron below painting on right in 2nd photo.

Our last stop was famous Ipanema Beach. Infamy came from song "the girl from Ipanema Beach" covered by so many, including Frank Sinatra. The young 17 year old, Helo Pinheiro, ( shown in last photo at 17 and 80 years)  had no idea she was inspiration for song, until many years later. We walked to cafe she used to walk by everyday, on her way to beach. The waiters were super friendly and we had some beverages, before walking to grocery store and then back to beach.

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ENTERING HONG KONG HARBOR

By Pat Patrick • September 1, 2026
On Saturday August 29, 2026 we achieved another historic milestone on this circumnavigation of the World , we cruised into Hong Kong Harbor. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The land encompassed by Hong Kong is confusing. It includes part of the southern coast of mainland China, just below Shenzhen, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories . Looking at a map helps, but the rules changed so many times! I asked my buddy Chat several times, to tell me if what I was looking at was the Hong Kong that the British had owned for years. The answer was never straight forward!

HA LONG BAY, VIETNAM

By Pat Patrick • August 31, 2026
Ha Long Bay in Vietnam is one of those bucket list places I have had in my sights for years. It's the iconic picture in my mind's eye, whenever I think of Vietnam . We had made plans to go with 8 others on a brand new, swanky Red Dragon Junk boat for a harbor cruise and overnight stay, but sadly the weather did not cooperate the whole 4 days we were in port. No ships were permitted to sail, per the local government. Many of us were bummed! This is typhoon session and there was a lot of rain and high winds our first couple of days - we were hoping it would blow out the last day and we could at least do a day trip but no luck! 

HAI VAN PASS to HUE, VIETNAM

By Pat Patrick • August 30, 2026
To get to the final stop on our Vietnam FUN Tour in Hue, we had our driver take us on the scenic route called the Hai Van Pass. This 3 hour drive took us back through Da Nang and then into mountains and along coast for what is generally a very scenic route. Unfortunately for us, it was mainly covered in clouds and fog.