8 days Inner Mongolia Photography trip in October - looking for travel kakis

[cheersjy]

Dear all,

I am thinking of making a short trip to inner mongolia to see the golden populus (胡&#26472 in the desert. These trees have lived hundreds (if not thousands) of years, and will turn golden in autumn at a short window period (end Sept - mid Oct), after which the leaves will all fall. Currently I am looking at 7-14 Oct 2010. Hope to gather a few travel kakis to join in

I have come up with a preliminary itinerary but need to be fine tuned. Can PM me your email address if you are interested. It can be a DIY trip which is cheaper, but i have also found a local travel agent which can take care of everything - might be a bit more costly but save all the trouble in the application of border pass and arranging for accommodation/driver.

More about 额济纳旗
http://bbs.51766.com/bbsPost.jsp?bbsboardId=127&clubTopicId=67733

Some photos of Populus or 胡杨:

http://www.bsps.cc/html/remenjingdian/namenggu/2010/0505/977.html

http://www.bsps.cc/html/lianmingyinglou/jiazuoxinshang/2010/0419/905.html

PM me if you are interested. Thanks

 

[skarekrow24]

Sounds pretty interesting! What sort of costs are expected?

 

[cheersjy]

Sounds pretty interesting! What sort of costs are expected?

Thanks for the enquiry, i am waiting for the travel agent to get back to me. Will post the cost here once i have the figure

 

[pkhunter]

I am interested too..

 

[dashbodz]

yeah interested if the cost fits my budget!!!!

 

[vian2101]

Hi,
Interested in the trip as well.. Do post the cost and all the details here k.. Look forward..

 

[campoes]

Hi,

Did u got any info on the cost ?

 

[cubo21]

Hi is there any update on this trip, may be interested.

Cheers!

 

[wuminlee]

Hi TS, any updates on the trip itenary and cost?
may be interested.

 

[cheersjy]

Oops, i replied several PMs but i forgot to revisit this thread. Sorry for the delay in reply.

Thanks for the interest in the Inner Mongolia trip. i got quotes from travel agent who said they can arrange everything (land transport, accomodation, airtickets, etc) but the estimated cost is a bit one the high side:

Estimated cost for 4pax: $2538/pax (not inclusive of meals)
Estimated cost for 6pax: $2338/pax (not inclusive of meals)

I also did some calculations to find out the cost to DIY the trip:
1. Two way air-ticket from Singapore-Beijing-YinChuan: SGD$1100 - $1200/pax
2. Land transport from Yinchuan to Ejinaqi: RMB2000 / car (this price is for an 11-seat car)
3. Local transport at Ejinaqi: RMB 300/day/car (4 seater)
4. Accomodation: RMB120 / room (twin sharing)
In total, about $1500/pax, exclusive of entry tickets and meals.

According to the travel agent, air tickets are hard to book during that period so the soonest we can confirm, the better chance we can secure the seats. But the problem now is i have yet to get anyone who can confirm going. If you can confirm, let me know.

Detailed itinerary in Chinese (with dates and flight details)
http://www.pbase.com/neophotography/image/128507695/original

Simplified itinerary in English (using Google translate)
http://www.pbase.com/neophotography/image/128508095/original
http://www.pbase.com/neophotography/image/128508155/original

 

[cheersjy]

I did a google for photos of the places of interest found in the itinerary:

额济纳旗
http://www.google.com.sg/images?um=...=额济纳旗&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

巴丹吉林沙漠
http://www.google.com.sg/images?q=巴...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1344&bih=559


海森楚鲁怪石林
http://www.google.com.sg/images?q=海...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1344&bih=559

诺尔图湖
http://www.google.com.sg/images?um=...sch:1&sa=1&q=诺尔图湖&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=


黑水城
http://www.google.com.sg/images?um=...isch:1&sa=1&q=黑水城&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

怪树林
http://www.google.com.sg/images?um=...isch:1&sa=1&q=怪树林&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

 

[daredevil123]

Oops, i replied several PMs but i forgot to revisit this thread. Sorry for the delay in reply.

Thanks for the interest in the Inner Mongolia trip. i got quotes from travel agent who said they can arrange everything (land transport, accomodation, airtickets, etc) but the estimated cost is a bit one the high side:

Estimated cost for 4pax: $2538/pax (not inclusive of meals)
Estimated cost for 6pax: $2338/pax (not inclusive of meals)

I also did some calculations to find out the cost to DIY the trip:
1. Two way air-ticket from Singapore-Beijing-YinChuan: SGD$1100 - $1200/pax
2. Land transport from Yinchuan to Ejinaqi: RMB2000 / car (this price is for an 11-seat car)
3. Local transport at Ejinaqi: RMB 300/day/car (4 seater)
4. Accomodation: RMB120 / room (twin sharing)
In total, about $1500/pax, exclusive of entry tickets and meals.

According to the travel agent, air tickets are hard to book during that period so the soonest we can confirm, the better chance we can secure the seats. But the problem now is i have yet to get anyone who can confirm going. If you can confirm, let me know.

Detailed itinerary in Chinese (with dates and flight details)
http://www.pbase.com/neophotography/image/128507695/original

Simplified itinerary in English (using Google translate)
http://www.pbase.com/neophotography/image/128508095/original
http://www.pbase.com/neophotography/image/128508155/original

Waaaa so ex...

 

[cheersjy]

Waaaa so ex...

Yeah, guess it is near to their Golden week so the cost of air ticket cannot come down... :sweat:

 

[sinned79]

i would have joined you if i am not going to melbourne mid next month!

i got a mongolian friend there but i think she is not in the country haha.

 

[pinapple]

sent a pm to u.

 

[ed9119]

Take Air Asia from KL to Tianjin...... it is quite near to Beijing (less than 1hr by bullet train)

From Beijing catch a train to Hohot (capital of Inner Mongolia )... take overnight train, save hotel and train has bed for u to sleep
http://www.chinatravelguide.com/ctgwiki/Special:CNTrainSearch?from=Beijing&to=Hohhot

Plenty of hotels big and small at all sorts of budgets so dont worry

Be prepared to eat lots of mutton ha ha !

Then either take bus or best book entire car or taxi for a day or 2 to bring you out ....... OTHERWISE just walk into any tour agent office and tell them what u want........

You WILL be MOBBED at the train station when arriving with touts for tours, cars, hotels etc etc ........ enjoy it, let them make a little money for 1 day to save the trouble ($1-3 in commission only lah) and get you settled down quickly for a day......... rest of the time u should be able to hump it without much help from touts.

Eg. HOLIDAY INN during that period should be about S$80 a night........... so an inn or a zero-star hotel is going to be MUCH MUCH cheaper. Otherwise you can go to bathhouse to shower up and sleep-over for the night if you are REALLY budget

WITHOUT ANY SHOPPING...... average cost for 4 pax INCLUDING AIRFARE would be in region of $1200 to S$1600 per head .... depending on quality of transport (land and air) , lodging and u are eating simple or fine dining


Enjoy

AND MOVE THIS THREAD over to the Travel Section of the forum please ? Its more relevant and you might get more help or interest there

 

[sinned79]

based on my mongolian friend... she always catches a flight to incheon airport to transit to mongolia or somewhere nearby i think. but i am not sure if this is more expensive.