Sao Paulo

Though this was a short trip and I did not get much chance to travekl around the city, I had an amazing 4 days at Sao Paulo. I had gone to Brazil to participate in a Home & Living Fair. The one major down side for me was the long travelling time. I was travelling from Chennai in south India and it took me mopre than a day to reach Sao paulo.

We first travelled from Chennai to Frankfurt, were in transit for 5 hours before our flight to Sao Paulo. Upon reaching Sao Paulo I headed straight for the Novotel hotel at Zaki Narchi, just a 10 minute car ride from the exhibition centre.

As soon as I was shown to my room I chnaged my clothes and fell asleep within seconds.

The rest of the day was spent on unpacking, preparing for the exhibition, eating dinner at the hotel and going to bed early. The food was simple but nice - the soup and desserts were especially tasty. The food was excellent throughout the trip, Sao Paulo being known for its bakery. However, I was very disappointed to know that the fruits sold were not of very good quality and were expensive. Italian food can be found easily as there are several Italian immigrants. Brazilian food is predominantly non-vegetarian and baing a vegetarian I was unfortunately unable to try it, but was saved by pasta and pizza. We ate in a very nice Italian chain restaurant called Verdi.

Shopping is also good here. Go to Sao Paulo if you want to buy shoes. There are hundreds of shoe shops and they are value for money. I loved the many shopping malls I visited - Morumbi, Ibuerapuera, etc. They have international chains such as C&A as well as local brands.

On the whole the trip was a great experience and I certainly want to go back.