Writes of Passage

Montañeses 2118
Buenos Aires

… more pix on Google Maps; my second one at Vintage.

Def will return: enjoyed their work and atmosphere at this nail salon in Chinatown.

They’re between Mendoza & Juramento, in Chinatown. The young woman with neat teeth and genuine smile did a great job for me – a simple French. Everyone in the shop were friendly and accommodating.

Although they have sticker on the window that they accept credit cards but they don’t. Good practice that I asked before hand. And yes they accept USD. But in the end, they don’t and suggested that I go somewhere else to do the exchange. Two women in the salon offered to exchange for me. I took the first lady, who asked, eventually, how much do I want. I showed her my googled rate, which is 16,384.62 for $20. She gladly counted out the peso.

Re FX: I know there is an active black market, which at the moment, is $1=1,000. But I feel it isn’t the place to ask for it. Leaving something on the table for your opponent, even tho we’ll never meet again. She saved me a trip elsewhere. I’m happy, and hopefully so is she.

Later, when I looked at the receipt, I’m a little buffed at their charge: it seems the final bill is always higher than what they quoted. In this case, it’s 1,000 peso high: they told me up front 6,000 for the gel (not sure if they’ve dip… I didn’t press because I don’t speak the language…). then 6,200. But eventually, it’s 7,200. Not a big deal but I’d like to know, if it’s the tax? or What? When I casually asked my hotel, they said they can call to ask, I said no.

Mendoza 1700, Belgrano
Buenos Aires,

It has 4 star rating from 26 reviews on Yelp and 4.3 star from 1,913 reviews on Google Maps, but unfortunately we couldn’t find it.

I thought it was a straightforward lunch: pass the Arch and walk to the “intersection of Juramento and Arribeños in Belgrano“. But no. Not finding it.

It seems maybe the restaurants open / close / change hand often, so the reviews couldn’t keep up?

“In most of Argentina the Chinese food is pretty bad — it’s adjusted for Argentine tastebuds and every menu is the same, with the typical sweet and sour chicken, salty chop suey and chow mein.”

A BIG P.S. we later dined at Rong Cheng and Un Cuenco Chino 锦升餐厅 are pretty decent. So my new take is, Chinatown is for tourists -:).

Mendoza 1689
1428 Buenos Aires

… more pix on Google Maps and Yelp.

Love their front door! Probably will return.

Tour bus stopped at Chinatown, and many riders were leaving. Why not, we haven’t have lunch yet.

It’s a short walk from the bus stop to the arch, which I think is the best looking Chinatown: trees lined pedestrian only street, and it’s clean, and hip. Street food shops. Most people are not Asians. And most of them are young: A good hang out place.

According to the tour bus recordings, Buenos Aires saw rush of Chinese immigrants, from Taiwan began to arrive 1980s, and followed by the main land in 1990s.

One thing we noticed quickly, neither Yelp nor Google can keep up with the changing pace here: a couple of restaurants we thought we’d like to go (such as Cantina China) are no longer in business. So we went to Royal Mansion. A young Chinese couple just came out and the man was still beautifying his tooth with a toothpick. A very promising sign… but unfortunately they don’t take credit card. It’s a substantial establishment, at least two floors. Oh well.

So we ended up here, at China Rose. We actually passed by it and didn’t see any Asians were dinning, the first time around. Oh well, we became the Asian -:)

The only two places I saw are busy in Chinatown, with many Asians are supermarkets.

At Rose: high ceiling. Clean and modern decor. Menu has English as well as Chinese, aside from Spanish. A lovely patio at the back – it’s not open at the moment when we went. Full bar. No chopsticks were offered. Very good service.

We’ve two dishes, both tasted ok, too heavy with corn starch and NOT sweet:

1. braised tofu 家常豆腐, pretty good; but the sesame oil isn’t too appetizing
2. shredded pork with fish flavor 鱼香肉丝: the size of the pork is huge, like French fries. Gosh. And they added vinegar… But it beats out sweet -:)

The tofu was hot, which meant they cooked the pork first and served them together. Chinese dishes are served one by one, is the norm. But I noticed it, the US, especially at banquets, dishes are served simultaneously. Oh well! Little Irene can’t fight the huge tide.

Regarding Chinatown, I enjoyed reading this one Discover Barrio Chino.

I asked our server for nail salon and she went back with the recommendation, which I went: Thank You.

^{view from the Chinese restaurant Rong Cheng}
Tucumán 1171, C1049 Cdad.
Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

… more pix on Google Maps

In many search for top things to do in Buenos, this theater comes up at the top. My goodness. Unfortunately, there isn’t any show while we’re here. Imagine flying all the way from the north …

Someone, such as National Geography considers it the top ten opera houses in the world.

It was opened in 1857. The current one was opened in 1908, with Verdi’s Aida. The most recent renovation was done in 2005-10.

There perhaps a tour to visit the theater, but we didn’t go for it.

Retiro is a neighborhood (barrio) in the northeast end of Buenos Aires. Our hotel is here.

…  Recoleta

The neighborhood has a long history, dating back to 17th of a slave asiento (per wiki: The Asiento de Negros was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide African slaves to colonies in the Spanish Americas.). Bullfighting stadium in 1800, British gas company in 1854 …  nowadays, the area is home to many wealthy local and foreign residents, has many high end stores, and illegal immigrants who live in the “Villa 31“.

Plaza San Martin;

This video is taken at the junction of Suipacha and Arenales.

^{Two of 24 stops are at their store front.}
Buenos Aires

… more pix on Google Maps: here GL City Bus & here GL Argentina. My apology: couldn’t tell one from another.

Due to Antarctic cruise, we came to Buenos Aires.

This is my first time taking a hop on and off double decker city bus tour, because Buenos Aires’ public transportation is difficult to use, starting from buying the metro card. I don’t have feelings for the city due to my own ignorance – didn’t read any books on it, so it’s a lazy and easy way to spend a few days here.

For the same tour bus line, there are different rate on different site. So do your homework. We got ours on TripAdvisor: 24 hours $30 and 48 hours $35. 72 hours ticket isn’t available when we looked today.

Gray Line, reported, is the largest. It has 24 stops, runs every 20 minutes, from 10am to 6pm, BUT each stop starts and ends slightly different BE SURE to check the ending time at the stop you intend to get on at day’s end. The site offers English, Spanish and Portuguese languages. It has 24 stops with little sign and area, so you won’t miss it. At some stops, the line is very long. So be prepared to wait for the next bus.

We got on in the morning at 10:30am. We walked a little before decided to get on at that stop when we saw a few people waiting with their phones out – an easy sign that it’s the stop. We didn’t time it, but the bus came within two minutes. It was pretty full but everyone got on and have a seat. Some has paper code and we’ve digital. After scanning, each couple was given a map, and each was issued ear bud to listen to the recorded guide. Language it offers in English, Spanish, probably more, I didn’t check.

Passengers are mostly kept to themselves, except the couple behind us. As it turned out, we’re from the same state -:) and he asked early on if we’re here for the Antarctic cruise. They just landed in BA, and will sail on Celebrity, out of Ushuaia this Saturday.