Bye! Chau! South America

After spending 4 months in South America, I am now flying to Madrid in business class. I was upgraded due to overbooking of my flight : )

I have uploaded 1,055 photos for my trip in South America and Antarctica. May I invite you, to pick the photo which you like most. Your support will make me feel good and continue to take better photos.

Here is the steps to pick your favorite:

1. If you have Yahoo account, go to Step 3. If not, go to Step 2.
2. Sign up for a Yahoo account (free of charge)
3. Sign in www.flickr.com using your Yahoo account
4. Go to my Flickr page, www.flickr.com/photos/leungchitak/
5. Choose your favorite photo, only one photo
6. Click on that photo
7. Click the [Add to Faves]
8. Type your name in [Add your comment], or add more comment if you like.

The timeline is 2 weeks and the deadline of this voting is 15 Mar 2007. After counting your choices, I will let you all know the photo which has most votes.

Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

This is my last stop in South America, I took night bus from Rio at 1:20am midnight, but it happened that the day was the last day of summer time. So, the clock will back to 11:00pm when midnight, 1 hour back to normal time. My hostel helped me to check with bus company to make sure that my bus is the new time but not summer time. However, when I arrived in the bus station, they did not change the clok. So, I missed my bus!

Then, what can I do? That was the last bus to Sao Paulo of that company. I asked fro refund and finally I got some of my money back and took another bus from another company which was the last bus of the whole bus station.

In Sao Paulo, I stayed in the place of my friend, Etienne, who I met her in Chile. She took me out to the city centre and Chinese neighborhood. Even though Sao Paulo is the third largest metropolis on the earth with more than 18 millions people, she still have some decent building and church.

And, I cooked chinese dinner which I have missed for a long time!

Back to Rio

Rio, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

After 29 hour bus, I am back to Rio. Just stayed here for a couple of days before heading to Sao Paulo to catch my flight to Europe.

Taking the cable car to Sugar Loaf adn have beautiful view of the city.ç

I joined a tour to Favela, the slum area where the poor people live. The area I visited is called Rocinha. In every guidebook, they tell the tourist not to go there because it is very dangerous. If you saw the movie, City of God, the story was happened in Favela.

However, I found that the people here is very friendly and the kids are very nice. Very interesting place to go!

Salvador

Salvador, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

Carnaval in Salvador is the biggest party in the world. There are million of people dancing on the street!

Slow-moving trucks with huge speakers and live bands play on the top. Tourists, local, woman selling beer, kids collecting cans, all people dancing on the street following the trucks all night.

The Carnaval in Salvador last for six days. People drinking and dancing for the whole week!

Shall I share the joy and happiness here with you and wish you have a very very very happy PIG Year!

恭喜發財!

Rio de Janeiro

Rio, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

Rio is the only place of Brazil in many people´s mind. Corcovado, the Chris in the hilltop overseeing the whole city and Rio is really beautiful surrounded by beaches and green.

I have gone to a Samba school during their Carnaval rehearsal. Loud music with the dancers moved their with crazy speed.

Watching Botafogo v.s. Flamengo in Maracana football field. I can still hear the screaming after the goal and the flag of the teams wave like I saw in TV games.

And, of course, the Copacabana beach, 4.6km long, is good for people watching.

Finally, I have to thank my friend, a very nice guy, Sergio, who I met during my Antarctica trip. He took me out and show me another face of Rio.

Itaipu Dam

Itaipu Dam, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

This is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. And it is really huge that it provide 90% of electricity of Paraguay and 20% of Brazil!

I do not know what is the environment impact they made to the surrounding but I know that they put lots of money for image promotion. Why I know? The tour to the dam is free of charge!

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls (Argentina), originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

It is the most forceful sight I have ever seen. The Iguazu Falls is located between Argentina and Brazil where most of the falls are in Argentina. So, you can get a closer look in Argentina but overview from Brazil. It is really fall(s) as there are many falls around the area.

The most awesome one is Devil´s Throat which you can get really wet even though you are on the top of the fall. Powerful!

After that, I went to the bird park which has different interesting bird, very close to me and my camera!

San Ignacio Mini

San Ignacio Mini, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

It located in my way from Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls. San Ignacio Mini is one of the remains of Jesuit Mission.

I am not good at history and I do not know much about the Jesuit. So I found the ruins are not very special.

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, originally uploaded by Tak from HK.

After 52 hour bus ride, changed 4 buses, I finally arrived Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

It is famous for steak and tango. It also has the widest road named Av 9 de Julio and different styles neighborhoods, like colorful La Boca.

And the most important, the Argentina girls are really beautiful.
But, sorry guys, no photos available.

Did I mention it is very hot here?