We just finished watching the New Europe seven hour DVD series that Michael Palin did in 2006 – 2007. The series covers travels in 20 countries, ranging from Turkey to Romania to Poland to the former Yugoslavia. Boy, was I surprised and greatly entertained.
After flying back to Delhi from Sikkim, we made our way around Rajasthan for 10 days. The first five days were spent visiting two national parks.
We spent the last few days in Rajasthan taking the train to visit the cities of Jaipur and Jodhpur. Jaipur is known as the Pink City and we saw the City Palace, Observatory and the Palace of the Winds.
After arriving in Japan, we spent the first three days in Tokyo. We visited several of the city sights, including the zoo, Ginza and Shinjuku. We also took a day trip to Nikko, which was a two hour train ride each way.
Our first extended bullet train ride to Hiroshima was a great event. Once there, we spent time exploring the beauty of Miyajima Island and also visiting the important and sobering sights associated with the atomic bombing at the end of World War II.
We began our second week in Japan by visiting Kyoto and the wonderful temples in the city. Also included in our time there was a day trip to Nara.
Our last stop before returning to Tokyo was in Nagano, the site of the 1998 Olympic Games. In addition to visiting this city and large temple, we took a day trip to Matsumoto to visit one of the few surviving castles in Japan.
Beijing was the first stop on our three week trip. We visited the Forbidden City in addition to our day trip to the Great Wall.
We left Beijing’s West Train Station at 12:45pm on Wednesday to begin our ten hour journey to Luoyang. We were able to get hard seats (for about $12 each) on a ‘K’ train, which is an express that makes very few stops.
It was a 5 1/2 hour journey on a double decker express ‘K’ train from Luoyang to Xian. The next morning we went back to the train station to catch the bus to the Army of the Terracotta Warriors. Nothing prepares you for the enormity of seeing the warriors in lines as you first enter.
