Agravation

Day one of our short Indian odessy saw us arriving at Delhi airport on Friday morning (22nd February) shortly after 11:30.
Customs, visa check and security were a breeze and we went to the Government pre paid taxi desk and ordered a yellow and black to Hazrat Niamuddin railway station for INR 450. Delhi traffic was horrendous. Our driver was innovative.
By 13:30 we were getting onto the train 50 mins early. Sleeper Class to Agra. As usual we were the main attraction on the carriage.

Nothing Toulouse

Saturday 18th November 2018
We arrived yesterday evening and took a bus into Toulouse City Centre from the airport.
We walked the ten mins to our apartment/hotel on the Rue de la colombette. This morning we took the train south east to Carcassonne and it's medieval walled citadel.
It is a very impressive structure and it's extremely quaint inside. We had a good long walk along the battlements a very unedifying lunch and then headed back to Toulouse.
Sunday 19th November
We went via metro and bus to the Cite d'Espace this morning which was very good. Sue could get in a Soyuz space capsule and walk in the 1986 Mir space station. Our return timings via bus, metro and tram back to the airport were spot on! In November South East France has cold nights/mornings but when the sun comes through it gets warm.

Taking Stock

We've a fun-filled day taking trains and metros from Uppsala to the centre of Stockholm. Their transport system is not the easiest thing to navigate - SE Asian systems were a breeze compared to this bizarre load of old nonsense! Apparently we had the wrong ticket, or we were on the wrong train for our journey into Stockholm this morning - I say apparently because the conductor pointed to our tickets, spoke in Swedish, shook her head, pointed to our tickets again, looked at us, we shrugged our shoulders in unison ... she walked off! Still we made it to our destination - and eventually made it back Uppsala without incident.
We joined two free walking tours, first one round the newer part of Stockholm  (slightly boring for me, very interesting to Pete ☺); second one around the old town (enjoyed by both of us). Our trips were punctuated by Fika; this is my new favourite word and means to have a hot drink, cake and catch up; perfect! ☕.
We walked just over 7 miles so felt we'd earned our meatballs, mash and lingonberry jam/sauce; at about £15-20 a glass we decided not to have an accompanying glass of wine!!! Alcohol is very expensive; in fact, everything is expensive.
We're going to check out the sights of Uppsala tomorrow before flying home in the evening. Don't forget your clocks go back tonight ⏰ 😀. Have a thought for the poor souls on night duty tonight having to work an extra hour - or worse, due to finish at 2am and then have to do their 1am -2am hour all over again!! 😔

Holm under the hammer

Stockholm sweet holm

Yesterday evening we arrived at Arlanda Airport at 9pm. It was the least busiest airport in the world (beating Bournemouth and Luang Prabang). The train to Uppsala is the most expensive 18 minute railway journey on earth. Beating Aspley to London Euston by £1 per mile.
For the same price (£22) you can travel from Bangkok to Chaing Mai!.
Tomorrow it's Stockholm.

Ayutthaya and out

Yesterday we flew down from Chaing Rai airport, arriving at Don Muang (Bangkok) at about 11:55. We got to the railway station and took the North bound train to the former capital of Siam, Ayutthaya.
From the station at Ayutthaya, our hotel, the Baan Thai House was walking distance and on arrival it was hot in Southern Thailand.
The accomodation was stunning. A stilted Thai Villa by a lake. As it turned out, inhabited by an extremely large lizard the size of an 11 year old child fed exclusively on Haribo!!.
You could paddle around the lake and I did.
The pool was hotter than a hot bath and the restaurant was very nice.
We ventured out on bicycles today to the historical park which is on an island roughly 3k x 2k. We got a ferry across the river and visited the ruins of the 1767 attack by the Burmese that meant that Bangkok became the capital of modern Thailand.
We spent our last afternoon by the pool and then took the train back to Bangkok at 16:40.
We got to the Vie Hotel in Ratchetewi at 19:00. The Vie had come up trumps and upgraded us.
We had a massage and then got a tuk tuk for our traditional Koh San Road trip. It was a bit disappointing as Songkran is very much in full swing here.
We have checked in for our return flight so its all systems go. Breakfast at the Vie tomorrow