South America: Encarnación and Jesuit Missions
We visited Paraguay to see the Jesuit mission ruins at Trinidad and Jesus de Tavarangue. Our base was the border city of Encarnacion.
South America: Iguazu Falls
We spent two days viewing Iguazu Falls from both the Brazil and Argentina sides and enjoyed the panorama from each side.
Trans USA Train: Glacier National Park – East Side / Canada
The east side of Glacier National Park was no less spectacular than the west side. We continued our day hikes in the area and stayed in one of the historic lodges. A day trip to Waterton National Park in Alberta, Canada was a highlight.
Trans USA Train: En Route and to New York City, New York
New York City was our final destination on the Trans USA train journey. Here we visited a variety of locations in the city, including the United Nations, Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich Village and Central Park.
Email: Greetings from Namibia
We are now in route from South Africa to Namibia (about 4 hours into a 21-hour bus trip). It is a fairly comfortable vehicle with 2 stories, air-conditioning, a bathroom and fairly frequent stops to stretch one’s legs.
Costa Rica: Corcovado National Park and San Jose
The highlight of the second part of our Costa Rica trip was a day trip to Corcovado National Park, which provided some great hiking and nature viewing opportunities amidst the rain forest and ocean beaches.
Cosmos: Brunei
After leaving Australia, we stopped in Brunei for 36 hours before continuing to Bangkok. This country, on the island of Borneo, is one of the wealthiest in the world.
Japan: Tokyo and Nikko
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.
Japan: Hiroshima
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.
China: Luoyang
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.