mar del plata
decided to stop off in mar del plata for some beach and sun! the beach is super packed and if you thought barceloneta or waikiki are crowded, this makes it seem like nothing. people trying to sunbathe sardines style. not nice at all.
i booked the cheapest hostel ($9) but completely forgot to read the reviews. oops. so the directions said to catch a mini bus from the main bus terminal and i should get off at ‘playa de los lobos’. well, since the minibus stop was a walk away and i couldn’t be bothered, i hired a cab. big mistake. the driver had no idea where it was and kept pointing along the coast saying it is somewhere that way. well, turns out the hostel like like 20km outside the city…a 60 peso ride. a rip off considering i just paid 100 from bs as for 6 hours!
once i got over my stupidity, i looked around and loved the hostel. there is absolutely nothing around but big fields and houses divided by dirt roads. and on the other side? the secluded and almost private coast! this means beach for the day, chill for the night. can’t wait!
buenos aires 2
met up with juan pablo! meeting up with him was great in that i now had a local to show me around, but also because it took me 2 days to get a hold of him. who knew that mobiles in argentina require a 9 before the number? well now i and you know. i f you are calling an argentinian mobile, it’s 011-54-9 then mobile. without for a land line.
we spent the early part of the evening around puerto madero, which had changed dramatically in the last three years. apparently construction is still booming here…opera bay was demolished to make way for a high rise and new buildings were being built around the area. he also took me down corrientes avenue which is kinda like broadway. full of theaters for musicals and shows.! a peculiar sight also down here are book stores that are open 24hrs…a really cool idea. at midnight there were still people browsing the aisles.
buenos aires!
made it back to buenos aires! what a shock coming in from london…the heat wave (high 30’s) and humidity hit me as i walked out in my winter gear. ugh. atleast they’ll come in use when i hit patagonia 
i forgot how congested the city is! way worse than barca, and i am sure emission testing is not required. getting a fresh breath is almost impossible. i checked into a hostel in san telmo where i’d stayed before and was surprised that no one spoke english in my room. all argies and brasilians! weird cuz there’s always some german or aussie around. well atleast it’s good for my spanish…as long as i’m not picking up a random accent which i prob already have. haha.
la tomatina BUNOL-SPAIN
ok tomatina was crazy. i can honestly say i’ve done it and don’t ever want to do it again. a good group of us went by bus, then local train to bunol to partake in the festivities.
the event starts when someone is able to climb a pole that is traditionally greased (now with soap) and reaches the jam at the top. well we watched people climb over each other in a hot, packed street for almost 2 hours and no one ended up reaching it. but the horn sounded and the festival started anyway. the water hoses started spraying the crowd and we eagerly waited for the trucks.
oh my god if i were claustrophobic i woulda died. when the tomato trucks come, it pushes everyone against the walls as people have to part and make way for it. i’ve been squished in mosh pits. that’s fine. but being not able to move as rotten tomatoes get chucked your way is not nice. i tried hiding behind the tall lads but pinche paul kept grabbing them off the ground and attacking all of us with them. i don’t remember how many trucks passed but by the end i was over it. everything from wet clothing, shoes, to food was being thrown across the crowd by this time and it was turning into a war zone. no thank you. people were gathering running rotten tomato water off the street and dumping them on passerbys as well.
the showers that were supposed to exist were urban legends as we all got separated and people were begging neighbors to hose them down. lucky for us some kind old man dumped water over us form his balcony. still, at the end of the day, we all had crusty tomato stuck in random places and smelled awful. we caught the first bus back to barcelona and itched for a week after.
THAILAND ko phangan to ko tao
i hate boats and i tell you why. we had to get on a boat to get to ko tao, so we chose the catamaran because normally those are the smoothest. well, not these ones. the shipcrew basically handed out bags as soon as we boarded and it just got worse from there. about 10 min into the ride the sea got rockier and rockier and people started puking. i was doing alright concentrating on my music till karl next to me started to puke. and when he pukes he does it with his whole body, as if he’s dry heaving. so then i started to puke into the smallest ziplock ever and then off the side. all the while there is this girl READING A BOOK a few rows ahead. i wanted to throw her overboard. karl all of a sudden says he has to go to the toilet, and i was like, “just puke off the side.” well turns out he got the shits as well. apparently the next 30 min was spent in the small ship bathroom with sea and sewage water splashing on him because of the rockiness of the wakes. he said he went to wipe his mouth after throwing up but realized it smelled like sewer water, and then would throw up again in a never ending cycle.
needless to say, we made it to beautiful ko tao. we were shaking and i was crying because i had never felt that bad. i don’t really remember how we did it, but we managed to find the dive school our friend works at and got a ride there. we showed up a mess and then slept for the next 15 hours. no more boat rides!
THAILAND ko phangan (black moon party)
we made it to a moon party! we weren’t in town for the full moon, but were able to catch the black moon party. the rave scene is not my thing but ‘when in thailand’, right? to get ready we painted each other with shitty body paint that stung as it settled on your skin…aaah what it takes to participate in ‘cultural’ things! it was random designs and words but we looked ready anyway.
the beach scene was really cool because the organizers had set up blacklights and what looked like 20 ft-high 3-D spirograph designs on the shore; surrounding us were eager body painters, drink booths and stray dogs. and since there were no toilets you could see the shadows of people using the shallow water in the moonlight. dancing on the shore was cool and looking around made me think i was in some sort of movie. so in the end the music was actually alright and we had a great time!
THAILAND ko phangan
next we set off to ko phangan to meet up with karl’s buddies. the irish are everywhere! it was his best mate gav, their other friend mark, mark’s cousin and her bf, and then like 15 other friends who were also passing through at the same time. anyway we stayed at a wonderful resort on the beach called milky bay. this place is amazing-with a bomb restaurant, ping-pong and pool tables, we had enough to do without leaving the rooms were amazing as well because the cleaners set it up with fresh orchids everytime they cleaned your room!
at night we went to the lady-boy bars and basically frequented ones with pool tables where we could chill and drink buckets. the most horrendeous lady boy works at “mermaid bar” and looks like a drag samoan rugby player. the first night she was moaning as loud as she could while grinding the bar stool trying to get some guy’s attention, and the next she was pulling something out that looked like a sock cock. the last time she put on a stripping hot wax show. gross.
THAILAND ko samui
so it rained hard for two days but it was alright since we had a spacious room and the rain was more like a raging tropical rainstorm than drizzle. i even gave in and bought an aqua rain jacket with some transformer named ^protector.^ it was really cool.
the thai hotels broadcast channels you actually want to watch. like ESPN!!! we were flipping through the channels when i saw colors that looked all so familiar…i couldn’t:t believe it when i realized it was the 2008 APPLE CUP! imagine. lazily flipping through the tv in thailand and the apple cup is on! well it was really exciting and we watched it till about 5 min left in the 4th when it was clear the huskies were going to win. we left for dinner and as soon as we arrived karl thought he forgot our money so he went back and even caught the LAST MINUTE. i went to bed pretty satisfied and when the replay was on the next day wanted to watch the clock run out for a win. well….shit. the term coug it which was a joke in university has sudden turned itself on the huskies. double overtime loss with a missed kick is a hard loss for anyone, i guess.
THAILAND ko samui
after a couple days of khaosan road, we got a last-min flight with thai air from bangkok to ko samui for about 5000 baht each. i suppose i can’t really compare it to the low-cost ones in europe cuz this one is cheap for us but not if you are only making the baht….but i have to say it is an amazing airline for the price. like all thai people we’ve come across, the service was great and they even gave us food and free drinks! the flight was only an hour or so but it still made our flight that much more comfortable.
the ko samui airport is the best airport i have ever seen. i mean, with an outdoor terminal, it is like a resort! with palm trees, lush grass and overhead fans, as well as a huge fish tank in ALL the bathrooms, it was amazing.
at night we hit up the main drag of lady-bars and ended up with the ubiquitous sang-som buckets while people watching. most guys picking up girls were in their 20’s or 30’s, but there were definitely groups of old men in their 60’s doing so as well. sick. i feel bad for the girls who have do hook up with them. i hope they get the lady boys.
THAILAND bangkok
a little holiday time from ‘work’ in barcelona! i’ve been taking little trips but this is the i’ve been looking forward to since we bought our tickets a few months back…especially since it started getting cold for the winter! the flight wasn’t bad-about 12 hours or so from amsterdam. we landed in bangkok and it seemed like most people spoke english so that was a change from barca. anyway, karl and i took a bus straight into the khaosan area which cost us around 4 euro (same as the airport bus from bcn to the city centre).
khaosan road is the tourist/backpacker central of bangkok, so we thought it would be a perfect place to start our trip. it is actually a pretty amazing street. it’s overstocked with bars, tuk-tuks, bright neon lights, music, and vendors selling everything from food to clothing from carts and make shift tents, but step away a few blocks away and you see none of it. i’ve never been anywhere like this in a while that overloads you with so much!
we spent the first couple of days here eating great thai food and sleeping in…just the beginning of a relaxing holiday!