Welcome to the humble Antarctica blog written by me! It is long overdue.
This blog is divided into 3 parts, the first part is on the days in Ushuaia before the cruise, followed by a very long post (with lots of pictures) on the 11-day Antarctica cruise on M/V Ushuaia, followed by the third post on Buenos Aires. As the blog is picture intensive, strongly suggest you load the blog only if you have wifi or on a cable connection, or if your phone is on unlimited data plan. Otherwise it might cost a bomb in data charges :)
I was initially booked on the end November cruise but has to postpone my trip due to the university exam. Instead of sharing a triple room with my friends, I ended up sharing with 2 other new friends that are totally totally awesome, and get to know so many interesting passengers on board. They are a marvellous bunch. Even stranger still, some of us become closer and chatted more often only after we left the cruise, through emails/social media. It is amazing.
At the time that I was writing this blog, some of my cruise mates are still travelling, some are preparing for their next trips, some are still waiting for the postcards that they bought and sent themselves and have yet to received. The trip brought different meanings to different people. Some couples were coming to the cruise to celebrate their anniversary, some to finally touch down on the 7th continent, some to see penguins and whales, some to spend precious time with their family members/partners. Everyone has an interesting story behind, just waiting to be discovered. Had I not chatted with some of them, I will never got to know them better and discover the rich history behind them, and their amazing pre- and post-trips. Many thanks to the cruise company, the crews, and the fellow passengers who helped me out and made everyday of on the cruise a pleasant and memorable one. It has been a big barrel of laughter, from morning till night. Never mind about the drake passage, prior suffering and pain only made the joyful landings later ever more memorable. The friendship made shall last till we meet again.
Please pardon the many many grammar mistakes in this blog, as I am never a good writer. I tried to make it up with more pictures than words, and hopefully you can find yourself in the pictures, one way or another. Enjoy!
2 March 2016 Tue morning 0200 @ Changi Airport
Took one of the last MRT to the Changi Airport Terminal 3. Boarded the flight at 0130. Brand new A350-900. Middle seat was empty so the person who sat at the aisle and me had some space between us. We were flying against headwind, so we reached 15 minutes late.
The next flight was the ever popular Doha-Sao Paolo-Buenos Aires route. Boeing 777-200LR that I took was full.
Many planes waiting for taking off during the morning peak period at the Doha International Airport.
The view shortly after takeoff beautiful. Get to see Doha in full sunshine glory.
I was sat next to a Bangladeshi who has huge appetite. His friends were sitting a few rows in front of him.
Entering the African continent.
Red colour, was it copper mine below there?
Linear settlements along the river.
After a long flight above the ocean, the plane is finally entering the South America continent. We were reaching Sao Paolo soon.
Our plane reached Sao Paolo 30min ahead of time. Raining at sao paolo airport, pity those who had to get down the plane at this remote gate.
Once the passengers heading for Buenos Aires disembarked, elaborate cleaning operation was carried out with passengers going to Buenos Aires remained on board. The stewards and stewardess were busy identifying the cabin baggage with the remaining passengers so that no stray baggage remain onboard.
The staff in green stock up the supply meant for the next sector while those in orange vest took care of the cleanliness in the plane.
Passengers from Sao Paolo boarded the plane towards Buenos Aires (BA) and the plane was full again. I asked one of the passengers why he didnt take LAN or Aerolineas who have more frequent flights between Sao Paolo and BA, he said Qatar was cheaper. He said sometimes he takes Gol (a budget airline in Brazil) too.
Sunset seen from the plane as it flew from Sao Paolo to Buenos Aires, a short 2 hour flight. Only one choice of meal served, beef. Landed in BA ahead of schedule.
Waited at McD for my couchsurfing host Iv. Iv turned up punctually at 9pm. He took me to the town square of Monte Grande (his home town, very near to the airport, 40 minutes from the city centre) to have a look, before we went to pack dinner. IV's parents were very friendly. His friend came over too. 3 dogs and a cat welcomed me at his house as he opened the gate. His dad knows South East Asia well and could relate the tsunami that happened few years back. Coincidentally Sumatra just had a 7.9 quake that day and tsunami warning was issued, then revoked.
Iv told me he is going to drive to Ushuaia in April with his friends in his car. More than 2000km journey by road!! Envious. He is a swim coach in a neighbourhood swim school. In order to pick me up from the EZE airport, he ended work 1 hour earlier. Owed him much.
Had a warm water shower before retreating to a much needed short nap.
3 Mar 2016 Wed @ Monte Grande, Buenos Aires
At 319am, body woke up naturally ahead of alarm. Iv already woken up, omg i cause him so much trouble :/ the remis (taxi) that we booked the night before turned up at 4am. I said goodbye to IV and his dogs and went up the remis. The driver offered me chips on the way. Long ride to AEP domestic airport as compared to the short ride from EZE last night.
Cambio was closed at this wee hour. The rate displayed was 15.95. Restaurants rate was ok - 15.55. Had a good breakfasts before going into transit area.
I didn't know that the sea was just outside the passenger building, totally amazing.
Buenos Aires cityscape in the morning.
Meal served by LAN
Aerial photos taken from the plane, as it flew out of the coast of Buenos Aires, above the ocean and entering continent again near Ushuaia.
Leaving BA coastline.
Into the continent again.
The plane presented spectacular aerial views to us before landing in Ushuaia. I saw an emerald lake.
Ushuaia coast line.
Landing in Ushuaia.
Reached hostel at around 12 noon.
The beautiful lounge of Antarctica Hostel.
Travel map that laid out all the interesting spots in Ushuaia
Last Minute cruise deal posted on the notice board.
Met the friendly hostel manager who recommended me a good lookout point. After putting my stuff in the locker I requested him to help me arrange a cab, skipping my lunch (ouch!). The fare was 120 pesos. There was a tourist information office there that explain the hiking route to the people.
Map of Ushuaia town
Map of Glacier Martial hiking trail
Trekking up the Martial Glacier with empty stomach
Half way up. Weather was really good.
The end of the hiking trail.
Martial Glacier.
Panaroma. Please click on the picture to see the BIG panorama picture.
Closeup on Ushuaia from Martial Glacier.
I went to the end of the trail and bumped into 4 gentlemen, who were having picnic lunch and offered me bread, ham and wine. I really could not resist the food as I was damn hungry by the time i reach this high point. Thank god I met these nice people
One of them RS is taking the same Antarctica cruise as me. The other guy from Canada, E, did Aconcagua unguided in 15 days. E told me he sometimes met cars that bore Canadian plate. He chatted with some of these ultra long distance drivers, turned out that these guys were mostly mechanics themselves.
On the way down.
Glacial stream.
E testing out the integrity of the net.
Near the taxi stand.
I offered my bunk to E since the hostel was full. Did a last minute search on Airbnb app and got a positive reply from the owner of Hol Hot 1439, M. Quickly took a cab over to secure the room. The young lady who received me M was a gorgeous looking Argentina lady that just came back from her Southeast Asia tour.
Instead of a room I got the whole annex to myself since the main house was full. The house offered to me normally cost 2000 pesos but she offered me at 500 only. What a bargain.
M's mum drove me back to the Antarctica hostel so that I can still chit chat with the folks, so nice of her. Went out with R to St Martin Street which is the main street in Ushuaia.
Cruise ship returning.
R brought me to the protest site.
Dinner at Chinese restaurant. I didn't take the buffet cos' R made spaghetti earlier and i was still quite full. The restaurant lady owner offered me to pay my food by weight. I can pick anything I want from the buffet table. It came up to only 65 pesos total.
4 Mar 2016 Thu @ Ushuaia
Night
Day
It rained during the night. The next morning was slightly cloudy. This Airbnb hostel does not provide brekkie normally (not included in the cost). Yesterday I asked M's mum if she could provide simple brekkie for me. M's mum agreed and cut so much hams and cheese for me, I couldn't finish them. She said I ate too little.
She told me that she came from BA to Ushuaia 30 years ago. The old airport short runway was short and there was once the plane landed in water. Now they have a new airport in Ushuaia with a longer runway.
M told me this Airbnb hostel will only be accepting guests till July as she is going to leave this place. What a pity, this hostel is quite popular though the location is less ideal than the Antarctica hostel. The two huge houses will be rather empty without the backpackers.
Took a cab back to Antarctica hostel after I bade farewell to the ladies, M and her mum.
I was quite keen to see the emerald lake (Esmeralda). The hostel manager told me that Esmeralda was doable in terms of timing but will be really tight since I have a cruise to catch at 4pm. I took the chance and went to the bus station at around 11am. Theres a bus to Esmeralda but it will only be back by 4pm, reaching Ushuaia at 430pm roughly. Unknowing what was going to happen later part of today I went ahead and took the trip. The bus ticket was 250pesos for a return journey.
The driver came with a baby on board. The journey took about 20 minutes. The driver told us in Spanish that he will be back to pick us up at 4pm. There is a restaurant with toilets nearby but we must came back to this pick up point for the bus. U must be wondering why suddenly I understood Spanish. Well I didn't. I just made up what he said by looking at his gesture and by noticing some words with similar pronunciation to English.
The trek was supposed to take 2 hours but I made it in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Muddy at some places and I walked into wrong path twice which wasted some time. If not because of some walkers who always appeared in the nick of time somewhere far away which is a warning sign that I had strayed off course, I might have got myself more lost and wasted more time.
Bumped into a big group of Israelis in the first two emerald lakes and they asked me to take photos for them. The moment i told them to jump after taking first two standing straight photos, they laffed. Few girls chatted with me. I have to hurried up so I left them behind.
I was totally unprepared for the vastness of the panorama point at sign number 8. Totally awesome. Too wide for my camera. All the muds on my pants and my shoes were all worth it.
Panorama. Please click on the picture to see the BIG panorama picture.
Happy moment at the lake.
I got back to the starting point at 230pm.
Never knew the signboard would mean something to my fellow passenger N when I took this photo.
There was a bus there waiting for passengers. And I was the only passenger on board. I whipped my ticket out and he said I could take the bus. Yay! At 245pm we started to drive to Ushuaia. I was in town before 3pm.
The protest has moved nearer to the town. Police were all around.
I went to a nearby restaurant to try the king crab. The restaurant looked quite good since it was full of patrons. The lady from Guangzhou sat next to me told me that this restaurant was recommended on many travel sites. The Tripadvisor award certificate they displayed gave me confidence. I found out later the restaurant was Freddy's.
I ordered the king crab set. The lady told me she over ordered and asked me if I wanted to try her food. I couldn't refuse. With some champagne I started to gobble down her fish before mine came. I overstretched my stomach. We parted ways after I showed her where the supermarket was.
Took a shower at the Antarctica hostel before I went over to board the ship at 5pm. Lets go to the next post on the cruise itself.
Please click HERE or click on the picture below to go to the next page. Lotsa pictures in the next blog post, please view it when you have wifi connection/unlimited data plan/using cable connection :)
I have written an article on Ushuaia and submit to a local newspaper (Mypaper), it was published on 15 Jun 2016 :)
