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: Nagano and Matsumoto

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.

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.

China: Hong Kong

Our last stop was Hong Kong, which we reached after an all-night bus trip from Yangshao to Guangzhao (Canton) and a hovercraft voyage down the Pearl River from there. We spent a day and a half in the area before flying back to Los Angeles.