You can click this link to return to the previous blog post on the Antarctica cruise.
14 Mar 2016 Thu, from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires
Our cruise ended at Ushuaia at around 7am. We disembarked and went to the airport to see if we could catch the early morning flight to Buenos Aires.
Ushuaia after 11 days...
Part ways
There were some queuing at the tourism office to get their passports stamped with the Ushuaia logo. We rushed to the airport to try our luck on the earlier flight. We had luck and managed to board the 9am flight. This was the original flight that I booked and I changed the timing after the cruise company told me i might not be able to make it. One big cycle and now I am back to the same flight I am originally at lol.
Aerial photos on the from Ushuaia back to Buenos Aires
food by Lan
I managed to get some wifi before getting into the plane. By the time our flight reached Buenos Aires airport, the china couple already reached the town. We checked into the apartment in Palermo. There were many green spaces for sports enthusiasts in this area. I always see people jogging in the park.
The lady NV came and met us at the hospital since she can speak Spanish. Some x rays done and they will be analysed by the specialist tomorrow. Need to pay 1000+ pesos for this consultation. Luckily can pay by credit card.
NV told us that RS was bitten by stray dog in Ushuaia after we parted ways at the pier. RS went to St Martin Ave (main street in Ushuaia) and a dog bit his leg. Holes in his pants and he started bleeding a little. NV told R over wechat that he needs to get injection in El-Calafate immediately. If he could not find a good doctor in El-Calafate then he should go Buenos Aires immediately to seek treatment. He didn't seem to care much. The lucky blook even bumped into Lin Zhiling (林志玲) (show host for adventure show and actress from China) in Ushuaia airport. He already bumped into her before on the way to Ushuaia. He suspected that Lin was on the ship that reached the pier almost the same time as us this morning (Quark'e Expedition) and departed almost the same day as us. His suspicion was confirmed the moment he met her again after 11 days.
The ship that Lin was on, which arrived the same time as ours.
Photo of RS with Lin, in the airport, on 14 March.
The travel reality shows hosted by Lin Zhiling: Huayangjiejie (花样姐姐-第二季） were finally aired on tv in China.
15 Mar 2016 Fri
The next day we went to see the specialist but we were too early. The clinic will only open at 12 noon as informed by the doctor yesterday. We took the opportunity to take metro to Julio 4 avenue cos i havn't been there before. We saw some nice coloured strings weaving so the 2 ladies bought some wrist bands.
We went back to the clinic but the clerk told us the consultation fee is 1000 pesos and the doctor will only accept pesos. We couldn't find cambios here easily. So doctor offered to take 100usd but give us change in pesos and we agreed. He analysed the X-ray photos taken yesterday, told my friend that the best is seek further treatment in China as operation might be required.
We went to the Emirates office and see if we could change the flight earlier to tonight. The office is at 25th storey and we had an amazing aerial view of the city - surprise! The Emirates staff explained that they will only allow changes foc in the event of death of passengers or family members. The changes incurred in this case is a whopping usd980 per passenger. We decided not to bring the flight forward. The staff however, noted that the 2 ladies are going have layover more than 8 hours in Dubai and offered to provide complimentary hotel stay in Dubai city. The ladies were puzzled as despite their insistence on the way to Buenos Aires, they were not granted the hotel stay in Dubai by the transfer desk then. The staff assured us that he has logged a request and all the ladies need to do in Dubai is to look for the sign Dubai Connect instead of proceeding straight to custom. The transfer desk will issue them hotel voucher and special transit visa. They just need to take the shuttle bus to the hotel in city. What a lovely arrangement.
Seen in Buenos Aires, looked like the weavings seen in Lima last time.
View from the top
From there we took some freebies and direction advice from the tourism office. We first walked to St Martin's Square. I was really impressed by the green spaces made available to the people in Buenos Aires.
St Martin's Square
We walked to the pacific galleries shopping centre along the Florida pedestrian shopping street to change more pesos but the rate at this official cambio offered worse rates than the one offered by the doctor. According to the lady who was queued behind me, those men who kept shouting cambio (money changer) along Florida Avenue will change pesos for better rates but they will charge u a fee which then come back to square one. I was more afraid that those guys have white papers in between the pesos. Do keep your receipt as you can change back USD to pesos later when you exit Argentina, if you wish to. Lunch was inside the food court of Pacific Galleries.
As I walked towards the Cathedral along Florida Ave, two fat ladies tried to search my friend's backpack behind her. My friend who was quite alert quickly brush the hand off. We saw two fat ladies quickly walked away. Always be extremely careful in touristy areas in Buenos Aires, particularly on touristy areas like Florida Ave.
We finally reached Congresso and the Cathedral. After a brief walk we took a cab back to where we stay.
The ride to the airport took almost an hour. The driver refuse to use meter for such long ride and charge me 550 pesos instead. We had a bit of jam on the way and he sped like a daredevil the moment we got on the expressway half an hour later. Some advice:
1. Expect some jams on the way the airport.
3. Do note the terminal that airline is operating in EZE. Qatar Airways and Emirates are using Terminal A. The cab driver nearly sent me to Terminal C despite acting like he knew which terminal Qatar Airways operates in.
4. Must do online check in before going to the airport. The queues at Emirates and Qatar Airway were spectacularly long. I managed to cut through it and head straight to the check in counter in Business Class since I have done my online check in.
The long queue at Qatar Airways counter.
At this stage I believe I was quite done with my Antarctica adventure. When I was doing my online check-in, the seat allocated to me was the last seat in the 777 which was 35K. I couldn't change it in the system, neither could I change it at the check in counter. Due to the space restriction, I couldn't recline my seat completely but it was quite a good window seat so no complain. I tucked into my nap after my first meal using blanket as my cocoon cover. The stewardess woke me up a few times to do the routine bag identification and flight tickets check just like what we had in the flights on 2 March. Nothing unusual. The stewardess woke me up one more time to announce something that I thought I was still in a dream - for the 14+ hour from Sao Paolo to Doha, I have been selected to upgrade to Business Class !!!!!! On top of that, they even got me the best business class seat 1A :)
I was in a trance from that point on...I woke up like a zombie and carry all my hand luggage over from the last seat of the plane 35k to the front most seat 1A while the plane was refuelling in Sao Paolo GRU. I was ushered to the seat and warmly briefed by the stewardess on welcome drink, wine list, the pyjamas etc etc etc....it was like a dream come true. Except that I was totally not prepared for it. I was like the Cinderella past 12 midnight, totally underdressed for the occasion. I wished I had put on my best dress or at least looked less like a beggar and more like a business class passenger. I was not ready. The stewardess even joked with me that if I was not willing to be upgraded she could choose another passenger. Kidding me??!?!?! I was all ready to even die for it!!! Really couldn't differentiate a dream from the reality cos' everything looked so surreal. My sleepiness suddenly all disappeared. I need to adapt to this 14 hour flight on business class now. And fast. The stewardess finally brought my new boarding pass to me in my disbelief. The colour code on my boarding pass was something I had never seen before in my life. NEVER.
To top it all, the passenger next to me is a pro soccer player from Florianopolis in Brazil, currently playing for a club in Saudi Arabia. He used to play in Israel and Thailand. A very friendly striker. He took short break to see his 2 year old son in hometown. This is yet another big surprise.
14 hour in biz class flat bed was not a dreadful thing at all. We reached Doha afresh. In fact I wish this journey could last longer but all good things will come to an end. The myth of being upgraded to business class is finally verified in the most unexpected way truly.
After I came back from my trip,
1. My cruise mate RS bumped into D&W in Patagonia.
2. N&A went to take a sailing course, after what they have seen in Antarctica. It was really inspiring to know that the trip has made some made even bigger dreams. Look forward to seeing them crossing the Drake in their sailing boat. I didn't know N came from Kamchatka, a place that I have always wanted to go since I heard about it in 2004.
3. My couch surfing host in BA, Iv, started his BA-Ushuaia long drive in April :)
His news appeared on newspapers, and he was even interviewed by DJ from radio station.
4. I was chatting with Kr (from Canada) in the cruise and learnt that her husband wrote travel books, totally awesome. N passed me the link to the books he has written.
Flight route taken
We have came to an end to this blog...hope you enjoyed reading it. There are many stories that I didn't manage to pen it down. If you have the time, there are other travel blogs I have written, feel free to visit them. Rest assured there will be new ones coming up as well.
Lets hope we meet again in the next adventure, keep in touch, just email me at kokwailam@yahoo.com.
Please click here to return to the Travel Blogs page to see other travel blogs that I have written, thank you.
Please click here to return to the beginning of this blog, starting from Ushuaia.
Please click here to return to the previous blog post on the Antarctica cruise.
Note on 24 Nov 2016: My friend from Taiwan confirmed that he has finally received the postcard I sent from the Ukrainian Base Station! Apparently they have sent it to Thailand instead of Taiwan. Cant they tell these 2 places are milessss apart??
