Been there volume 2 | Hello from the Five Star Vagabond

Happy Trails Volume Two

April 29, 2018 by David Herd

As Satchmo would say, what a wonderful world.

Happy Trails Volume Two

Happy Trails Volume Two is a photo records of some wonderful locations I have been fortunate enough to visit. Producing these photos blogs allows me to re-live many great experiences that I have enjoyed during my long happy life.

The first photo in Volume one was taken in New York so as it’s my favourite city I start again with the Big Apple.

North Coast of Brazil

You have probably never heard of Canoa Quebrada, it’s 164 kilometers from Fortaleza. We travelled along the beautiful long beaches and wandered through the amazing coloured sands.

Balneário Camboriú

Balneário Camboriú is a major beach resort in the Brazilian southern state of Santa Catarina.

Where are those places?

Here is a map to show you where they are. 🙂

Tiananmen Square Beijing

Beijing is a fascinating city full of history and wonderful breathtaking palaces, parks and buildings, and the food, well the food, Peking or should I say Beijing duck is to die for. Not to mention all of the other wonderful cuisines available, even though half the time you don’t know what you are eating. Having said that I must admit the best Peking duck I have ever eaten was the previous week in Shanghai, but that’s another story.

Happy Trails Volume Two include Sofitel Hotel Bangkok

L’Appart restaurant at the recently opened Sofitel is a delightful multi-faceted venue occupying the entire 32nd top floor of the hotel tower.

Nha Trang in Vietnam

All the fishing boats are painted blue, they really look terrific, then again I really like boats. I even found some boat yards where they were repairing and refurbishing some older boats. Constructed from solid timber and designed to handle the rough seas in the monsoon season.

Café A Brasileira in Lisbon

The A Brasileira was opened by Adriano Telles on 19 November 1905 at No.122 (an old shirt shop), to sell “genuine Brazilian coffee” from the State of Minas Gerais, a product generally unappreciated in homes of Lisboetas of that period.

Now I wonder where this is? 🙂

The Tower Bridge is certainly one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

Happy Trails Volume Two includes the girl from Ipanema

I’m at the Garrota de Ipanema restaurant where the song was written. It was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (now known as Helô Pinheiro), a seventeen-year-old girl living on Montenegro Street in Ipanema. Daily, she would stroll past the Veloso bar-café, not just to the beach (“each day when she walks to the sea”), but in the everyday course of her life. She would sometimes enter the bar to buy cigarettes for her mother and leave to the sound of wolf-whistles. In the winter of 1962, the composers saw the girl pass by the bar.

Here she is.

The song became so popular, she became a celebrity.

Iguazu Falls Brazil

I’m on the Brazilian side, a walkway along the canyon has an extension to the lower base of Devil’s Throat.

Big crowd at Harajuku Tokyo

It’s Sunday morning & the crowds are huge, Harajuku is renowned for its colorful street art and fashion scene, with quirky vintage clothing stores and cosplay shops along Takeshita Street,

Many come to see the Harajuku girls.

Harajuku girls the term used to describe Japanese youth culture who cos-play or ‘costume play’ on Sundays in the district of Harajuku. Seen as rebels to conformity, Harajuku is a popular place for them to show off their own creations and usually pose for others. Styles include Gothic, Lolita, anime/manga based or futuristic.