More penguins, more spectacular views and a very quick bath in the southern icy sea

Pléneau Island

Lemaire Channel, spectacular view

Well, it kind of had to happen. After a few days with a cold brewing where I had been on all  activities, gone camping outdoors etc, it came out in full bloom overnight.
The fact that one of my cabinmates moves the
temperature to the highest temperature all the time as well probably doesn't help either.

An early zodiac cruise around the icebergs at Pléneau Island was what I had to skip, but a few pills and a (maybe not so) healthy appetite for adventure was all I needed to be ready for our trip to Palmer Station. Before that I did get to see the Lemaire Channel with it's spectacular view from the boat, the channel had actually been froozen just a few days earlier, so that was another
nice bonus.

Palmer Station is an american research facility where there are room for 44 persons, usually full in the summerseason and about half during winter. They let on about 10 ships every season, so we were quite lucky to be one of the few choosen few. We took one of them with us on the way back, so that was probably the reason why we were choosen. We were however never told if he was a POW, a deserter or just a guy who was going home.


The facility in itself was partly selfmaintained, but they did of course bring supplies like food and diesel from the mainland.
It was interesting to hear from our guide, the onsite mechanic, that he himself couldn't phantom a life where you had to commute to the same workplace every day and then just get a few weeks off every year, when he now worked for 6 months and then got 6 months off. Personally I couldn't stand having 6 months off every year, usually the two weekend days are enough for me before I feel I need to get back to work and do something.

On Torgersen Island on the other side of the bay of Palmer Station there was an adelie penguin colony, these are smaller and a bit more  agressive than the chinstraps and gentoos we've seen a lot of earlier.
The chicks here was almost fully grown, or maybe not fully grown, but at least enough for the parents to leave them. The parents was clearly making them ready as they pushed them into clusters with the other chicks so they should understand that they should be dependent of each
other and not the parents any more.
The parents will most likely move to sea in a few days leaving the chicks to themselves, they will then wander around without any real clue to what they should be doing, but after a while when they get too hungry they will move to the water. This is usually the same time as the seals will move to the shores to pick off the easiest prays who hasn't understood how this works yet.
In some ways I'm glad I don't get to see that.

Polar Plunge, just do it

Back on the boat we were informed that they would give us the opportunity to do the "polar plunge" later that day. In short this is were you jump off the boat into the freezing water and get back up as fast as you can, mostly to be able to brag that you've done it. For me it was a bad day they'd picked for it as my fever was still lurking, so I did it anyway and have absolutely no regrets that I did it. Woke up the next morning without a voice, but it loosened up untill midday - worth it!


After the plunge there was yet another amazing dinner, the food on the boat was maybe one of the biggest positive surprises, being at sea for 1,5 weeks without any fresh supplies and creating 5-stars dinners day after day is highly impressive. I will however not continue the 5000kcal-a-day diet when I get home.
Desert being topped this day with a chocolate buffet.



At night we were visited by some humpback wahles moving in very close to the ship, one of my fellow travellers took the short movie shown below. Probably better to watch the short clip than whatever I can write about it.

Awesome Adélie Penguin not really ready to swap places with his/her mate after a few days of feeding

Adélie Penguins

Camping in Antarctica and the (in)continental landing

Camping in Antarctica, not something everyone can say they've done

The weather held and the outdoor camping was on.
We were shipped to land on a small island at 21:00 and could start dig our grave to sleep in/on the snow for the night.
I guessed I would be the one with the least experience with camping, but thenagain I might be one with the most experience with snow. I found a nice place close to a small hill and dug about a meter so I would have nice coverage for the wind - which it prooved to be none of.
Most just wandered off and sat down in the middle of the plain, stepped a few times on the ground and placed their gear down. A lot looked a bit confused and didn't seem to know what they were supposed to be doing, kind of like the penguins we'd gotten to know very well these last days.

Finally got the chance to do something other than eating and
going where I was supposed to, so I dug tunnels all over the place

The sunset was beautiful, eventhough it doesn't not really set, it sun just hides behind a mountain for a short while before it returns, it still gave a beautiful view.
More or less as expected I had a hard time sleeping, but managed to steal a few hours of on-and-off sleep.

Next morning we were picked up at 6:30 for a swift return to the ship, an even swifter shower and a tad slower breakfast before the first continental landing at Neko Harbour.

As the greatest surprise of the trip there were gentoo penguins waiting for us on the shore, more nesting close to the beach and even a weddell seal a bit further down the beach.
There was also a small hike up the mountain ridge to a viewpoint were we could get some pictures of ourselves with the Antarctica flag.
Most likely there will be more interesting sights on the islands than on the mainland, but of course to actualy set foot on the continent is an important part of the trip for most of us and now that goal has been reached. For me this means that Oceania is the sole remaining continent to set foot on, and for surprisingly many of us traveling here either Oceania or Africa is still missing to get all seven.

Before every landing there was, of course, an announcement that we should get ready to disembark at 9:00 or whatever time the first zodiacs would leave the mothership. There were also some other announcements, as e.g. dinner, lectures, the store is open etc.
From time to time during these announcements there would magically appear a jar with some strange words, if this was to appear the announcer had to pick a word from the jar and find a way to get it into their announcement. This is why we were told there would be an "incontinental" landing and not the ordinary continental. We did get a bit wet, but I think the worst problems are gone by now.

More Gentoo Penguins

It didn't feel like it was much of a hike when I was there, but the picture kind of proves otherwise

Most made it to the end of our hike at Neko Harbour

Another gentoo colony and the first zodiac cruise

Also here the view was spectacular

Gentoo penguin on the move

Marcella and an apparently sad penguin

The penguin in the background kept falling over time and time
again when walking on the snow

Day three started with a visit to the continents largest nesting area for gentoo penguins - Cuvert Island. These were later in the season than the ones we had seen earlier and there were some very young chick there, we were even lucky enough to see some hatching.
The penguins who were hatching also had to make sure their annoying neighbour wasn't stealing their pebbles for their own spouces nest. There were of course some skuas around as well, but they didn't seem too interested in the penguins so far either. Give it a few weeks and they'll probably be all over the penguin chicks.

The second stop of the day was supposed to be our first real landing on the continent itself and not just the surrounding islands, but the Argentine base denied us access.
The plan was originaly to let off about half of us and have the other half on a "zodiac cruise" were we could go around looking at the amazing scenery in Paradise Bay, being denied access the plan was (of course) changed to having all of us going on this cruise.
With about 100 passengers and 10 on each zodiac there will be some logistics towards it, but Quark is experienced and we barely noticed any problems here either. We were lucky enouogh to land in Damiens boat, very knowledgeable, easy to understand and interesting to listen to.
Paradise Bay is one of these places were it's easy to say that you have to experience it, but this isn't really a place many people would ever be able to visit so I'll give it a shot, but still the pictures would probably say more than my words.
Huge glaciers moving towards the bay with lots of activity, small avalances higher up in the surrounding mountains that were up to 1700 meters high. Some penguins and birds along the cliffs, an elephantseal sleeping on an iceflake in the middle of the bay, the larger icebergs that had earlier been part of the glacier and was now floating around in the bay, and of course the beautiful silence that broken (ir)regulary by an avalance, a bird or some other wildlife sound.
I didn't really know what to expect from the cruises, but the first one was highly enjoyable.

Tonight the plan is to go camping outdoors, if the weather holds.

Laura tastes the iceberg, it tasted like ice

The scenery wasn't too bad here either

A lone weddell seal didn't care much about us and just enjoyed his time on his new found iceflake

The blue eyed shag didn't care about us either, but when the boat slid into
his iceflake he stood up, and after a few more minutes he decided to leave

The size of these glaciers were impressive

First sights of land at Half Moon Island

Spectacular scenery at Half Moon Island

Half Moon Island

Elephant seal and gentoo penguins at Hannah Point

Whaler's Bay

As written our crossing was surprisingly smooth, and we were actually the fist ship who were able to cross the Drake quickly enough to do a landing already on day 2, and what a landing it was.
Half Moon Island being part of the Southern Shetlands was spectacular. The view was great, there were (of course) penguins waiting for us on the beach and more (and more and more...) all over the island.
On this island there were chinstrap penguins who has already had their chicks a few weeks ago.
They were mostly uninterested in us, which is a great sign as they've not been exposed enough to humans to understand that they are dangerous.
About 5 degrees, mostly sun and some skies which really just made the pictures more interesting.
All landings were done by zodiac, as they will be for the entire journey. Quick and efficient way of getting to shore where there are no harbour, which there are none of down here.
In addition to the penguins there were also an elephantseal and a leopardseal having a relaxing day on the beach.

For the morninglanding of day two we got to Hannah Point as this seasons first travelers who were allowed to go on shore.

Action Penguin at Hannah Point

What a wildlife that met us, as always there were some rouge penguins on the beach, but just a few meters up there were thousands who had had their chicks some weeks ago. The chicks were now close to being selfsustained, and they more or less just walking around thinking they were probably supposed to do something, but still really without a clue what they should do or how to do it.
A pack of younger elephantseals were also moulting on the beach, they saw us but as we were not allowed to go to close they really didn't seem to bother much.
The area was also mostly free of snow and there were quite a bit of grass around, so to be Antarctia this must be what they would refer to as lush and fruitfull although all the fruit was still onboard the ship.
The surrounding landscape wasn't as impressive, but the wildlife was spectacular.

Second stop of the day was Whaler's bay on Deception Island, an old whaling station where Norwegians had had their base in the beginning of the century untill it was abandoned and later fought about between the Argentins and British.
A massive beach where there were still remnants of the golden olden whaling days, which in short means some bones of some whales, some rusten parts of some barrels and a few buildings that could fall over if you farted high enough.
We held our flatulence for the visit and left the place as we found it.
The island itself is an active vulkano that had it's last eruption in 1971

Elephantseals moulting at Hannah Point

Chinstrap penguins with chicks at Hannah Point

End of the World and the Drake

Arrival in Ushuaia was slightly delayed due to some problems, or just something they messed up which is quite usual here in Argentina from what I am stating to understand.
The boat was to leave the day after they asked us to come to the Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city, and this could easily be because they know there will be delays comming down here quite often.
Small airport and a small city, usually means that there's not much to do, and this was no exception.

The foxes didn't say much though...

The ship was flagged from Nassau, not the most seen flag

Getting the missing pieces of your travelling gear, or even getting a full new gear if you had none with you or your luggage got lost would be easy here, but expensive.

I quickly befriended a Canadian couple and we decided to go to the nationalpark on a halfday trip the next day, with the boat(s) leaving approx 16-17, these trips was probably set up to match the Antartica travelers perfectly.
We were very lucky and got a great guide which made a trip that could've been a bit boring very interesting and fun.

At about 13-14 we were delivered in the city (or we could be sent to the hotel), but as written earlier there wasn't really much to do here. The street closest to the canal was mostly seafood resturants, and the secondary street was mostly travel gear and a few resturants.
After some checkin we got our cabin and headed out the Beagle canal and then off to cross the dreaded Drake.
Our crossing went surprisingly smooth, we were followed by a few albatrosses and there were some whale- and dolphin sightings, but nothing compared to what's to come.
Time was mostly spent listening to lectures about the birds, animals, rock, ice formations and other things we might see when we get there, well this and eating...

Mellomlanding i noen dager i Buenos Aires

2,5 timer til Paris og deretter litt over 13 til Buenos Aires, lang tur med lengre perioder med turbulens enn jeg har opplevd før, men fram kom jeg da. Kan også nevne at jeg hadde et eldre par ved siden av meg hvor hun var en aktiv prateboks, da hun forsvant på do snudde mannen som satt ved meg seg til meg og sa "parla, parla, parla" så han var klar over det selv også.

Awwa Suites & Spa hvor jeg tok inn ligger i Palermo området, hyggelig og trendy område, men nok ikke hvor jeg hadde tatt inn hvis jeg hadde kjent byen bedre, tok dog rådene jeg fant på internet og denne gangen var jeg altså ikke enig med de kommentarene jeg fant.
Zoo ligger derimot her, og ble et lett første stoppested. Fin zoo med gode innhengninger hvor dyrene så ut til å ha det ok. De vil nok aldri ha det direkte bra som innestengt, men de venner seg nok til det på samme måte som mennesker og andre vanedyr.

 Bildet viser fire skildpadder i et vann, nedfallet fra trærne dekket vannet fullstendig, så var nesten ikke mulig å se at det var vann der.

Dagen gikk videre til å se meg rundt i området jeg bor i, og selvsagt få en biff. Den var bra, men jeg håper å finne fantastisk her i Argentina.

 Dag to hadde jeg booket opp guidet sykkeltur med Urban Biking for å se nordre delen av byen. Til denne turen hadde ingen andre meldt seg på, så det ble kun jeg og guiden i fire timers tid. Frederico viste seg å være både meget hyggelig, kunnskapsrik og snakket bra engelsk. Mer kan man virkelig ikke vente seg, så det er noe jeg sterkt vil anbefale andre som drar hit. Ikke var han for opphengt i å alltid snakke politisk korrekt eller alltid være enig med turistene heller, noe jeg fant oppfriskende.

 Av perlene Frederico viste meg var en skrap-utstilling like ved jernbanemuseet, meget overraskende og flott utstilling som egentlig bare så ut til å være slengt fra deg i veikanten. Merkelig og uventet stopp som kanskje er høydepunktet på ferien så langt.

 Særlig denne øgla var imponerende. Zoomer man inn på bildet kan man se hva som har blitt brukt av deler, meget fascinerende.

Recoleta gravplass står også i alle guidebøker som et sted å oppleve, og det stemmer. Nærmest et lite borettslag av flotte mausoleum, bygd av byens rikere mennesker for å vise hvor viktige og rike de er. Også Evita / Eva Peron ligger begravet her under sin gamle familie; Duarte. Det tok dog sin tid å få liket fraktet hit hovedsaklig som følge av politisk spill kom hun ikke hit før 24år (!!) etter sin død.

Og for å avslutte, byens navn Buenos Aires er meget korrekt gitt, det er full sommer her, men det er jevnlig behagelige vinder rundt omkring som gir en avkjølende effekt

Saigon eller Ho Chi Minh City?

Vietnams første konge, plansje fra Reunification Palace i HCMC

Offisiellt ble den omdøpt til Ho Chi Minh byen, eller Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh på vietnamesisk, etter Sài Gòn) var navnet tidligere. Som så mye vi erfarte i byen har den beholdt sin vestlige innflytelse og det er f.eks. fortsatt like stor sjanse for å møte en person som kaller byen for HCMC som for Saigon. Interessen for politikk eksisterer nesten ikke, der er alt sentrert rundt Hanoi i nord. Når det kun finnes et parti (kommunistpartiet) i landet er det også begrenset hvor spennende det kan være å gå inn i politikken (skriver en tydelig ignorant nordmann...). Interessen for handel og generell kapitalisme er derimot sterk i sør. Selv om landet er komunistisk kan man se grensen mellom det kommunistiske i nord og det kapitalistiske i sør.
krigen, mens Saigon (

Før vi dro hit hadde vi blitt advart om at byen var stor og bråkete, og vår erfaring sett i etterkant er at byen er, vel, stor og bråkete. Rundt 10 millioner innbyggere, grovt regnet 5 millioner mopeder selv om det virker som ennå fler, og endel biler slengt inn i mixen gjør dette til en meget aktiv by hvis man tenker på trafikken. Muligheten til å bare vase ut i veien og håpe på det beste for å komme over fungerer dermed ikke like greit her som i resten av sør-øst Asia, men de har til gjenngjeld flere lyskryss og fotgjengeroverganger så det fungerer jo på sett og vis.

Vi begynte dag 1 med å se oss litt rundt, besøkte krigsmuseet som var meget pent oppbygd. Selvsagt tungt fokus på amerikanernes grusomheter, men omtrent alt var rene fotografier, så selv om de omtrent bare viste hva amerikanerne (og deres allierte) hadde gjort av skade betyr det selvsagt ikke at dette ikke er sant, og måten det var framstilt var langt mer tiltalende for en kritisk sjel enn hva vi så i Hanoi.
På kvelden dro vi til Ben Thanh markedet i sentrum, og fikk et skikkelig turisthøl for å si det enkelt.
Selgere som er særdeles vant med turister og som stort sett bare selger de vanlige turistproduktene som t-skjorter med "hands off my dong" eller "I <3 poh" finnes selvsagt, men det er ikke det mest spennende. Noen dager senere fikk jeg mast meg til å dra til Binh Tay wholesale markedet som var rundt 20min med taxi fra sentrum. Dette var noe helt annet. ALT fantes i enorme kvantum og prisene var mer eller mindre faste som gjorde at vi fikk gjort noen virkelig flotte kupp. I tillegg fikk man se en del av byen og landet som ikke var berørt av turismen på samme måte som det meste man som turist roter seg borti.

Dagstur til Cù Chi tunellene nord for byen booket vi også, hvor første halvdel av dagen gikk på å kjøre opp til Cao Dai templet (religion ved samme navn) hvor vi også fikk se de hadde bedestund. Litt merkelig at vi omtrent fikk gå mellom dem mens de satt på gulvet og ba, men de hadde sin egne som var satt ut som vakter og pekte hvor vi kunne gå hele tiden.

Ny lang tur i minivan fram til vi kom til Cu Chi, et enormt nettverk med undergrunnstunneller som Viet Cong (eller VietCom som de selv sier) bygget under krigen for å kjøre guerillakrig mot amerikanerne. Her var det også modeller av hjemmelagede feller de benyttet i krigen, små gjemmesteder i bakken man kunne gjemme seg i  m.m. Og selvsagt selve tunnellene, et imponerende nettverk hvor man fort kunne få problemer hvis man led av klaustrofobi. Svært varmt, svært trangt, og kanskje værst av alt, ganske fullt av treige turister som knapt nok beveget seg foran deg. Akkurat den siste biten slapp nok krigerene unna, men til gjenngjeld var noen av tunnellene utvidet for å kunne gi plass til vestlige turister.

Alt i alt var Saigon en helt ok by, men jeg vil nok som stort sett alle andre også sier heller anbefale å bruke mer tid i andre byer i Vietnam. Særlig Danang hadde jeg sansen for.
Og som vanlig er det mer hva jeg ikke gjorde enn hva jeg gjorde jeg angrer på fra denne turen. Store bunker med falske penger til salgs på markedet i Danang for "ingenting" burde jeg tatt med meg, skyte med AK47 burde jeg muligens gjort og utvilsomt kjøpt flere skjorter hos skredderen i Hanoi. De to jeg tok med viste seg å være særdeles godt håndtverk, men så kostet de en million også da (dog ikke norske kroner).