Blogs from Asia - page 148

Jaipur So having walked about a mile along the platform, we eventually found our carriage and settled in for the 5hr.journey to Jaipur. The Pink City. The train took off exactly on time but some how we ended up being 45 minutes late arriving at Jaipur. The first hour was mostly traveling alongside various rubbish dumps and shantytowns which was really very surreal and unbelievable that people lived in those conditions. We shared our compartment with an other couple, who where doing an organised tour....their luggage was following the train with their driver, who then met them on the station platform!!...why?!! Anyway we are now in Jaipur for a full week and even though there’s still lots of traffic and horns blowing, it feels very different to Delhi. Met up with Kevin and Elaine at the ... read more

Saturday, 22 February, 2020 Move from Ella to Kandy today by train. Heavy rain during the night. Woke at 7.00 am, stirred at 7.45 am and down to breakfast. Eggs, toast, roti, plenty of fruit and cups of tea. Our train is 2.15 pm and check out is 12.00 pm. So when we paid our bill USD 39.12 (GBP 30.09) we asked about keeping the room for a little while. She said she had no booking for tonight, so no problem. We also asked them to book us a Tuktuk to the station. We packed and showered and left the room at 9.30 am, for a last potter round Ella. Pat had seen a “Starbeans” she wanted to try. We found it and had a coffee and a coke. Then a meander looking in various shops. ... read more

Last night was frustrating. Admittedly, we should have allowed more time for dinner so we weren’t in a rush, but in theory it should have worked. We decided the quickest way to get back to the Marina Sands Bay Mall food court was by Grab, and it was, it took less than 10 minutes and cost 6SGD. The nice driver was complaining about business being hit by the virus. He works a 12 hour day and most of his journeys are 6SGD, like ours, so after deductions he only makes about 50SGD a day, and he can easily spend 20 of that on a McDonalds. Apparently the burgers are very small here so you need to eat a few of them! There are only a few Grab drop offs allowed and we chose the Skypark but ... read more

It's a Monday morning in Chiangmai ...... and my last Monday here for this trip. The sands of time are visibly running out now and each day is precious. How shall I fill it? Well, Monday morning was filled with finishing off my last blog and downloading photos. I sat under the old house and had good company from the dogs. Nui was watering her garden and Kong was tidying up the empty rooms. The only guests this week are me, Ronda ( who leaves on Wednesday) and Richard who is a long term resident. The water on one side of the house (where Ronda and I are staying) has been turned off as a crack developed in a pipe last night, and a water feature was created behind the building! So the sisters are waiting ... read more

Firstly I need to apologise for the sudden absence of blogs. On the last night that we were in Jodhpur I developed a problem with my eye and wasn't able to use my smartphone for more than a few minutes at a time. Hence no blogs for a while. Update: We're back in England thankfully, we managed to escape the shutdowns and flight cancelations everywhere, due to the corona virus, by the skin of our teeth. I have now been seen by an eye consultant at our local hospital and been given the all clear to use my smartphone. All be it in small doses and am in a ' wait and see how it goes' situation So, to back-track a few weeks. February 17th We were dropped off at the station in Jodhpur at the ... read more