We decided to visit friends in San Jose and spend a few days in San Francisco so we boarded a Southwest Airlines flight and landed in the Bay Area a few hours later. We stayed in a motel close to the airport and took BART into San Francisco each day. Since we don't have a subway system where we live, we find this a great way to travel. Besides, with buses, trolleys, and cable cars in San Francisco, one doesn't need a car. A car is actually a lot of trouble to drive and park in that city. Our first plan [View Full Entry]

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We boarded our Eastern Airlines flight in Xian at 8:00am for a two-hour flight to Shanghai. The weather had turned cold and it was sleeting and snowing as we boarded the aircraft. We sat on the aircraft for an hour and I watched as the wings iced over hoping that the flight would be delayed or cancelled. About an hour later the word came for the passengers to exit the aircraft and proceed back to the terminal. Around 4:00 in the afternoon, we again boarded the aircraft. By that time, the weather had subsided somewhat and the runways had been cleared. [View Full Entry]

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We said so long to Beijing and boarded a Hainan Airlines aircraft for the two-hour flight to Xian, home of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. They were discovered in the mid-seventies by a farmer who was drilling for water. Today, he is pretty well off and spends his days signing books at the museum which millions of tourists visit each year. Before going to the area where the warriors are located, we stopped by a place where replicas of these warriors are made. They are made the same size as the original warriors and smaller. It was quite interesting to wander [View Full Entry]

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We went with a travel group to China. Our Korean Air flight from LA, via Seoul, landed in China's capital city sometime during the morning. The tour guide met the group, 30 of us, after we collected our baggage and cleared immigration. We boarded a bus and proceeded through the crowded streets to Tiananmen Square. As we walked across the huge area, he explained to us that the Chinese government doesn't like the guides, or anyone else for that matter, talking about the three Ts. These are Taiwan, Tibet, and Tiananmen. Soldiers of the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army), police, and non-uniformed [View Full Entry]

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The Andean Explorer arrived in Puno around 6:00pm and our hotel arranged for a pickup for us at the train station. The next morning, we took a tour to the Uros Islands out on Lake Titicaca, the highest navgible lake in the world. It was a short ride by van to the boat landing. Then we took a boat through the polluted waters of the lake to one of the Uros Islands. These islands are called the floating islands and are made of reeds. The people living on these islands have to keep replacing the reeds as they dry out. We [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at the train station around 7:15am and checked in our luggage. Outside of the station, there is a small steam locomotive. Then we entered the waiting room with other tourists. At around 7:30am, the attendant began the boarding by checking our tickets against passports or other identification. We soon boarded the Andean Explorer for the 10 hour trip to Puno on Lake Titicaca. This is really a luxury train with great service. The seats are comfortable with a table for each set of seats and there is a good view from the windows. The top part can be opened [View Full Entry]

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We had to check out of our hotel in Aguas Calientes at 9:00am but were allowed to leave our luggage there. Since the train did not leave until 5:00pm, we had about 8 hours to kill. It went by pretty fast and we were soon at the station along with scores of other tourists. Once on the train, we found ourselves seated across from a French-Canadian couple. Since their English was very good, we struck up a conversation with them. The Urubamba River parallels much of the rail line and we could gaze out the window and view the scenery as [View Full Entry]

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The train station in Ollantaytambo was a short walk from our hotel so we walked down to the gate and gained entrance after giving an attendant a copy of our tickets. During the two hour trip to Aguas Calientes, we talked with a group of South Koreans from the city of Andong who were in Peru on a trade mission. The mayor was among them and we had our photo taken with him. After arriving at our hotel, we found that the electricity had been off since that morning. We purchased a flashlight and were given candles by the hotel staff. [View Full Entry]

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We left Pisac by car and traveled through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo. Halfway there, we passed through Urubamba as we wound our way along the base of the mountain and through the valley. About an hour later, we arrived in Ollantaytambo. After checking in at the hotel, we took a walk around the town. There was a lot of maintenance work going on in the center of town next to the square and trucks were going back and forth at a regular pace. There were huge piles of dirt around the plaza and it appeared as if they were working [View Full Entry]

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We had sufficient miles in our frequent flyers account so we booked a round trip flight to Lima and planned an itinerary whereas we stayed for two weeks touring around Peru. Our hotel in the Miraflores area had arranged a pickup for us at the airport and the driver was there to meet us on our arrival. The next morning, after breakfast, a bus was there to pick us up for our city tour of Lima. Lima is a huge sprawling metropolis of over 8 million people and is the gateway to the country. It sits at sea level and its [View Full Entry]

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