uraguay: colonia

Colonia, is a Uraguay city which is closest to Buneos Aires. It feels like Macau to Hong Kong. People has to cross the border but it only takes 1 hour boat ride to get there.

Different from Buneos Aires, it was built by Portuguese about 500 years ago. At the beginning for smuggling goods into Buneos Aires. Then, the city was once abandoned for it was no longer necessary to smuggle.

Anyway, the old city was perserved and it is beautiful.
Maybe there is not much to do there and you can easily see people painting here and there. Some are good and some are... same as what I can do.

Again, as I booked the cheapest option. Got about 12 hours there. At first thought it was too long. So we headed to a Toro stadium about 20 minutes by bus from the town center. And found the stadium is... abandoned. Because it is about to fall.

Walked to a beach nearby and again found a torn pier.

Lucky there was a bar with good view, playing English songs from the 90s. Got a good time there and head back to the town for food and night view of the old city.

This is what claimed to be traditional food in Colonia. (which i later on found available in other Argentina cities as well) Egg with beef, sausage, Fries, tom

argentina: buenos aires (2)

schedule only allows about 3 days in buenos aires.

lucky that bus arrived Sunday morning. We can see the Sunday market. It looks like the one in Paris. With people dancing, selling painting and handicraft, playing music on the street. The market is about 1 km long. And, there is antique market in between. You can find old records, photos...
In the town of tango, we followed recommendation from guidebook as every tourist does.

It was a small show from a cafe with long history. The show sounds a bit like EYT from TVB Jade. Though the dance and the music is great. Passion and skill of dancers are really different from those I saw on the street...

If so happen you are travelling to Buenos Aires, make yourself a guest there...

internet

many people may have said that, but cannot image the day without internet, especially for travelling.

when i was travelling in Europe 10 years ago, every stop we had to stop by tourist information, got hostel information or booked via them. Now, i can book accomodation for next stop via internet. Same for flight and buses. Really makes travel much easier than before.

Though, what internet cannot replace is the information exchange in hostel. Every now and then you may meet someone in the common room, talking about information about destination you are heading to. Or, you are sharing tips with people going to where you visited. Meeting people from all over the world...

Argentina: reality

Yes, scenery is nice so far. Though, you also need to face all the logistic, even as simple as getting money.

Heard that some major cities are not quite safe, we chose to take cash from ATM instead. And... here is what we got in one of the ATM in Buenos Aires
No English option. We dont know if it is cash advance or not. So we gave up. (We did found another one with English version later on)

And, south America is so huge, the places we wanna see is so far apart. Say, from Rio de Janeiro to Iguazu, the bus trip is about 24 hours. And, the only facility is a seat that can be tilted like a flight seat and a toilet.

Lucky that buses in Argentina is more luxurious. For 'long-hual´buses, they provides meals, movies, blankets and depends on the price you pay your seat can be tilted up to 180 degree (i.e. flat)

And, i have watched about 4 - 5 movies so far. And there is more to come....

argentina: buenos aires(1)

After another 20 hours bus ride, arrived in Buneos Aires, capital of Argentina.

People said it is the most beautiful city in South America. When arrived, feel like I am in Europe. To me more precise, in Paris.

Walking along Avenue 9 de Julio, feel a bit like walking in Paris. with all the European building on 2 sides... And, here you can enjoy museum, tango shows, cafe on the roadside, being lay back in park, concert and performance... of course branded good shopping. Though. at a HK rate.


Here you go the tourist spot. A graveyard of the upper class, including the Evita family. Graves are actually houses, with road in between, as if they are still alive

La Boca. An old district next to cargo pier. People adding color to their houses and these colorful houses become symbol of the district.

Argentina: iguazu fall

yes... it´s the same fall. But from the other side of the border.
it´s a much wider national park than the brazilian side. You can do white water rafting, hiking... no matter what. The famous Devil´s throat is really breath-taking... mist stirred up and sound like thundering...

What i did was, took a boat trip. Riding on the boat, running right underneath a fall (not this one) :)

brazil (2) - leaving brazil

after seeing beaches and favela in Rio, having the local fast food, we head to our next stop Iguazu, via a 24-hours-bus... YES, 24-hours.

Read from books that bus offers meals. We took nothing and found it is not the case for bus in Brazil... They have breaks every few hours. And we have to eat the not-so-good food there... even biscuit and coke costs double the price than normal... The seat can be tilted like those in plane. The trip was a bit tough but not unbearable

Especially when you see the fall... (and also the hostel that we stayed.)anyway, details gotta wait until i am back.

The fall can be seen on both Brazil side and Argentina side. And, the latter is way more impressive. Stay tuned, wait until i got another chance to upload my photos.

arriving in brazil(1)

after 30 hours flights, arriving on a sunny morning. Not able to speak a single word of Portuguese. Good that we arranged pick-up.

Rio de Janeiro is our first stop. A city of beaches, mix of poor and rich people, night life and grafitti.
Yes, you can see grafitti everywhere, even on the wall of 15 floor highrise.

Lots of tourist spots. Visited Jesus Christ statue, which is actually located on a steep cliff form by erosion.

Weather was fine while we took the tram uphill. But when we headed to the beach... it rains, heavily. Nothing we could do but stay in hostel. Enjoyed a relaxing night.

嘆世界: SA - 30 hours flight

yes, when you see there is no photo and content in English, you can bet that I am travelling.

After 30 hours flight, finally landed in south america this morning, for the first time in my life. It was a sunny morning. Sitting in the cab arranged by youth hostel, watching the dawning Rio de Janeiro while listening to cozy 90s oldies. Emerged in holiday mood... though there was a lot waiting for me today.

To cut it short, not able to read portuguese make even ordering lunch almost not possible. Riding on wrong bus or missed the stop, prices are higher than expected...

Anyway, was relaxed and laying on bed to recover from effect of jet-lag just now...

Stay tuned~ will be updating irregularly.

我自己: 大花筒

當你唔覺唔覺咁用晒銀包D錢，唔知你會唔會講：
「駛錢好似倒水咁」

又或者
「真係荷包有鬼」

我最近就個鐘有鬼......返o黎幾個禮拜，起初仲會諗，趁有時間温日文，做運動，睇戲．點知每日執o下野，上o下網，食o下飯，咁就冇晒D時間．而且同駛錢唔同，冇得揀唔駛，儲埋第日先用......

不過話雖如此，頭先就好耐都冇試過咁將朋友D blog近期update睇左一次．先發覺，如朋友覺，可以如此hea都係一種福份．睇見有D blog半年冇update...
p.s. 這是中環的一個短期糖果籌款corner．

我自己: XXXX

「XXXX．一蚊一隻雞」
「XXXX．都唔知份工仲可以番幾耐」
「XXXX．唔好氣餒，為香港打氣」
「XXXX．逆景自強，點樣可以盡快番身」

呢四個字，比當年宣傳愛滋病廣告更厲害，開電視、聽收音機、睇報紙，一日最少聽倒廿幾三十次．唔通真係咩都關XXXX事．遲D可能

「XXXX．越來越肥」
「XXXX．今日好眼瞓」
「XXXX．屋企隻貓死左」

可能名古屋都係咁．好能聽唔明，冇咁o既feel...

意外

真係冇陰公．一個二個瞓晒响條街度．

路經o既司機都唔忍心，會駛過隔離線．
下晝再經過案發現場，已經全部都唔响度．

我自己：走了

因為煙花每年都有，認定下年也會有．

日本的一切，就像櫻花，知道有限期，任何的相遇也可能是最後的，任何事都覺得新鮮．香港的一切嘛．暫阻讓自己放下．

在香港的他走了．

知道留在香港亦不會有太大改變．畢竟就像日落般自然的事．或許走會比留下來得輕鬆．只是會覺得遺憾．當然，沒有來日本也會可惜．

名古屋一個窿：再見櫻花 櫻花再見

「日本年年都可以見到櫻花，點解大家都仲好似咁期待？」跟一起聚會的日本人看過夜櫻後，這樣的提問．答案很簡單，就是從小都有這種期待．

用自己的思考方式，香港每年都會看到煙花，漸漸會當家常便飯．所以見到他們這樣熱中會覺得不可思議．

去年剛來時看櫻花，一條人跑到名古屋城看櫻吹雪，覺得很有詩意．這次，朋友帶我到有早櫻的地方，看到花，想到轉眼一年．

同時，也體會到將要跟這邊才開始熟絡的朋友說再見．說到底，是因為知道有一些人是「此次一別」，所以在珍而重之去講，去見面．

名古屋一個窿: skyline

朋友說，10年前的名古屋沒有高島屋，沒有midland square等．那麼，照片中的高樓當時都不存在．據說，車站旁會再建一座80層的大樓．
去年剛來的時候，就像所有遊客一樣，「啊望到好遠啊．」極其量就講到多一兩個地標名．昨天再看同一景色，會認得出踩單車經過的街道、常到的百貨公司、當然還有在最左邊的學校．再看看去年相似的照片，感覺不一樣．

p.s. Skyline... 中文叫咩?