Sao Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world, and it is the business capital of Brazil, and for that matter South America. And in all honesty, it is a city for work, and it does not really make itself a major tourist attraction. But it is still an interesting city.
The Japanese Quarter
Sao Paulo aparently has the largest Japanese population outside Japan, and it is easily noticable. The area of "Liberade" is the Japanese quarter, and features a number of Japanese restaurants and the like. When I arrived in Sao Paulo, I had a craving for sushi, so I tracked down a Sushi restaurant (there were surprisingly not that many to choose from) which offered a sushi festival - which equated to almost an "eat as much as you can" sushi option, for a fairly decent price.
Space
I think there are probably more high rises in Sao Paulo than in New York - but the high rises in Sao Paulo are not really that high. But despite that, the sometimes claustrophobic nature of Manhattan is not repeated in Sao Paulo, because there seems to be just so much open space - not just in parks and gardens, but also in broad pedestrian avenues that seem to connect various parts of central Sao Paulo.
One interesting part is the job recruiters, who seem a lot like your standard flyer guy at the traffic lights. The jobs advertised seem to be mostly semi-skilled ones - drivers, cooks, etc. but it is an interesting approach.
The city centre is around the Cathedral (which features a sizable plaza and park around it) which is also where the concentration of what remains of old Sao Paulo. Brazil, it seems has a fascination with the Parisian opera house, as the city theatre is also modeled on the Parisian opera house (like Rio's main theatre).
Helipads
The roads in Sao Paulo are noticeably more congested, and one of the more recent features of Sao Paulo are the helipads on top office buildings and the helicopters ferrying people (most probably business executives) between the buildings. Public transport in Sao Paulo is not bad - I did not take the buses, but the metro is super efficient (there seemed to be one every 2 minutes, even after 10pm), although does not have a great coverage.
Shopping Districts
In general, there is a trend of "shopping districts" - where a certain area has all the shops associated to a certain industry. For example, near the hostel, all the shops seemed to be either mechanics or dealers for motor parts. One of the more interesting shopping areas was the "Gallery of Rock", which is a 6 storrey shopping centre with shops dedicated to rock music (and rap and hip-hop music on the ground floor): not just the music, but also clothing: from T-Shirts of your favourite rock band to studded jewelery, and other "lifestyle" products like tattoo and piercing studios.
Street People, and the "old" look
There are a lot more people sleeping on the streets in Sao Paulo - I suppose it is to be expected, as it is the "richest" city. One thing that does strike about Sao Paulo, is that it has a old, faded look - buildings seem to age very fast, probably in the inevitable smog and pollution (which is a lot less than one can expect in a city this size), but also possibly due to a lesser zeal for maintenance when compared to cities like New York.
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