I started my trip a week ago, with a stopover in London -- my first in summer. After half a dozen visits there bundled in wool or down jackets, I couldn't get over the shirt-sleeves weather. I'd hoped to have more time there, but after a delay out of San Francisco, and more than an hour in the immigration line, I didn't meet my friend at the Royal Academy until 5:15.
Read MoreMy final day in Beijing, Mom and Dad caught a train to Shanghai, so I wandered the city by myself. First off, I wanted to explore a nearby grocery store we'd passed but not shopped in. Compared to independent stores, I figured they'd have both good - and fixed - prices for things like tea, no bargaining required.
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Thursday, June 29, we rose around 5 a.m. to get ready for our 6:30 a.m. pick-up at a nearby hotel. By the time we headed out of the city, our party had grown to nine, plus the driver and our English-speaking guide, Emily. As Dad began befriending them all, we became a cheerful party.
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Wednesday morning we planned to go to the Great Wall because of rain forecast for Thursday. But after a leisurely start to our day, our homestay host counseled us to get a tour instead and go Thursday. After Dad successfully negotiated a pretty low price - about $30 per person for the whole day - we instead went to see an ancient temple.
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After an early morning flight Tuesday, I reached Beijing midday. I only had about $20 in Japanese yen on me, but once I exchanged it for Chinese yuan, I learned prices here are quite cheap. A bottle of water -- at the airport!! -- costs 2 yuan, about 33 cents. My hour-long bus ride from the airport to our homestay cost 30 yuan, about $5.
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I haven't had much time to myself the past few days, but I wanted to share a little about my final day in Tokyo. For a little context on our schedule during the trip, most of our host church's parishioners work during the day, so they're free to meet mainly in the evenings and weekends.
Read MoreAfter several days of non-stop walking and lots of time outdoors, today brought a significant change in routine, but several great conversations.
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I first noticed the shift from Tokyo's work week to weekend last night when we were returning from the game night. After almost exclusively silent trains rides in which our group was one of the only parties talking, I noticed small knots of people conversing -- some on the train, others in stations. Though many still wore their work-week "uniform" (white shirts and dark suits for men, conservatively feminine skirts and dresses for women), you could sense a new air of relaxation.
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This morning's event only required our pastor, so most of the rest of the team used the chance to sleep in and do some exploring.
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After a cheerful breakfast at Denny's, we set off for a large Buddhist temple popular with tourists. It was interesting to see all the commerce surrounding the temple and how multi-sensory the experience could be: incense, things to shake or bang, and the vivid colors of paintings and robes as you neared the central room, where they were concluding some sort of ceremony or service.
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