Buenos Aires

It took a while to get these photos from Argentina and Chile done. No excuses actually, but I'm going to blame the refurbishment of the flat and planning of the move to Örebro. Närke, here we come :))

How did it all start - A birthday gift from my wife (how awesome is she? :))

After a 14h flight via Frankfurt we landed in Buenos Aires. My first time in South America and I was excited. The plan was to stay there for 3 nights - explore - before heading even further south to Patagonia

Buenos Aires feels like a bit European. Not that strange considering that the city was built by the Spanish, later occupied by British, and later on, the enormous agricultural exports and immigration from Europe changed the city altogether. Today city shows off with wide boulevards and impressed construction work.

We stayed just outside the center in an area called ​​Palermo. Quiet, although hip and relaxed area with lots of restaurants, bars, shops, breweries, street artists, and so on ..

The hotel had bikes that we borrowed, which was the perfect way to get anywhere in the city. Not to forget to mention that the paths were well marked and great.

The hotel had a complimentary guided bus tour too, that was the best. Quick way to get a guided overview, and gave us a hint where to and not to go back :))

Below is one of the more famous areas - La Boca - famous for its colorful houses and being the birthplace of Tango.

India, Alappuzha backwaters

Its taken few weeks to get back here, but here we go :)
Our last days in India were spend at Kondai lip backwater resort - A fantastic place surrounded by lakes and canals. The birdlife was incredible, bird where ever you look and best of all  - many different kinds of kingfishers - My favorit. Unfortunately I only had my normal zoom with me which also mean no good pics of birds. As a part of the package, the first evening we went on a bout trip through the canals all the way to the Arabian Sea, or actually we had walk the last couple of hundreds meter over the sand banks but it was worth it :) 
The water was surprisingly warm, although unprepared as we were there were no swimming. Not sure its even 'possible' due to the strong currents.
Following morning we went out by ourselves in a small paddle boat for some fishing and bird watching - we saw a lots of birds but didn't catch a single fish.
Around lunch we got collected by our driver that took us to the last place we would be visit in India this time - Alappuzha. A harbour filled with hundreds of houseboating, also called rice boats.
We had the whole boat to ourselves till the next day, including a chef that cooked and served us all the food and the refreshments while we were cruising the canals and lakes. By the time it was dark and bedtime we were back to the harbour. Following morning, during breakfast the course was shorter as were had to be back by lunch to head back to the airport.
Time flies by when having fun, it was time for us to get back to Sweden.
                                                                         

Impressions of India

Couple of weeks before Christmas we were off to India to join couple of friends (from UK but with origin in India) for loads of sightseeing.
Priyanka and Prashant have arranged with the route - suggested the sights, booked the hotels, boats, trains and airplanes - well, everything to be fair. BEST! Thank U guys so much!

The trip started with four of us meeting up in Mumbai where we spent few days visiting temples, the beach, Gateway of India and loads more. The impression - it is as chaotic as you have seen/heard :)
Especially the traffic, it goes in all directions at the same time filling up every little space with rickshaws (motor and bike), taxis, trucks, bikes, etc etc.. All the honking.. That was an experience where there was no time for hesitation, just Go :) 

After leaving Mumbai we flew to the capital Delhi where the traffic was more 'aggressive', the people more loud, the colours darker and the air much more polluted (heavy thick smog). Despite all of that, the sights were amazing - the Lotus Temple, Qutab Minar, Humayuns Mosque and Tumbes, India Gate..
2h by train south east of Delhi is Agra, mainly famous for the Taj Mahal Temple, but even there so many more sights are breath-taking.
The experience of taking train was 'interesting' too, as we were in the 1st class the trip was probably completely different compared to other options. We got a rose and they just kept feeding us during those 2 h. Much appreciated :)
In Agra beside visiting Taj Mahal  (A must) we also saw the Red Fort with its beautiful red sandstone walls located just a few kilometers from Taj Mahal. There is so much history there that I would love to tell you about, but I'm rather sure I would end up writing a whole book :)

Anyhow, from here we were off to Kerala by airplane and all about that in the next post :)
                                                                           

Global Vipassana Pagoda

A family on a scooter

Taj Mahal

Red forth

Red forth

Busy hotel street in New Delhi

Qutab minor

Qutab minor

Lotus temple

Lotus temple

humayuns tomb

Humayuns tomb

another family ;)

Croatia

Skriv text, ange adressen till en webbplats eller översätt ett dokument.

Avbryt

Visar översättning av i slutet av juli och 3 veckor framåt

Översätt istället från i slutet av juli och 3 veckor framåt

Starting in late July and 3 weeks ahead, it was time for a long-awaited holiday at the summer house in Croatia.
Lazy days mixed with adventure and refurbishment is how our holidays usually looks like - perfect mix if you ask me.
The camera came out few times as well so some pictures were taken and here comes the results :)