São Paulo – Mega City

Do you have any idea how big this city is!? I was so very surprised by the sheer size of this city, and how similar this city is to Singapore/ other big asian city. This is my second stop in my 2 months LATAM trip.

Is São Paulo worth going?

This is a hard one. Don’t get me wrong, this is a metropolitan city, but I am not that much of a city guy, and it reminds me too much of Singapore, so that removed some of the uniqueness away. I also did not have time to visit all of it, I just had a taste of different neighbourhoods, it felt safe, and I could find good asian food everywhere, so that is a plus.

Food

Food here is pretty similar to Rio! I went to Navitas a mid-range all-you-can-eat steakhouse. The sushi there is very bad tho (Brazilian Sushi, with jam, yuck). But meat is very good. My Brazilian friend brought me there, and she has since migrated to New Zealand. I like making friends with international people, hope she is doing well.

Flavourful Brazilian rice
Brazilian Rice – IDK what to call this
Brazilian Steak House (All you can eat style)
Brazilian Steak House (All you can eat style)
Churrasco dish in Brazil
Churrasco!
Acai Ice Cream
Acar Ice Cream, I love this as a lower-calorie alternative
Brazilian Soda
IDK what is this flavour

Random Street Photos

So I took a bunch of random photos because I was so surprised by how similar this place is to Singapore/ other South East Asian cities.

Jardin Botanic garden in Sao Paulo
Jardin Botanic garden in Sao Paulo – Looks like Singapore!
Pinheiros neighborhood in Sao Paulo
Pinheiros neighborhood, reminds me of downtown Singapore
Sao Paulo Streets
Sao Paulo Streets taken from their train station
Sao Paulo train station
Sao Paulo train station

Avenida Paulista

Probably like Orchard Road in Singapore, a road with stuffs to do on the weekend, live music, pop-up stores etc. I liked the vibe here a lot, definitely come here on a weekend!

Avenida Paulista Sao Paulo
Avenida Paulista – Very long road

Mercadão de São Paulo

This place is super cool, the first floor are shops that are really nice selling different goods, second floor are restaurants. It is amazing, BUTTTT the outside areas are shady and slightly dangerous. It is close to Chinatown though, and I always fancy asian food whenever I get to find some.

Mercadao de Sao Paulo
Mercadão de São Paulo(Central Market)
Mercadão de São Paulo store
Mercadão de São Paulo store. Colourful merchandise!

Liberdade

Now this is the famous Japanese town in São Paulo. Lots of Japanese, I think the Japanese population here has been around for 4 generations? And they speak really good Portuguese… I think culturally they are more Brazilian than Japanese. It was an interesting visit for the most part, although a little small. Highly recommended.

Liberdade
Liberdade (Japanese Town)

Thoughts

São Paulo is huge, and is the financial centre of Brazil. Personally I think there’s so much to do here, but in terms of uniqueness I prefer Rio. Nevertheless, if I am living in Brazil long term, definitely São Paulo. The most international city I have been to in South America so far!