Monday, October 20, 2008

Planning the trip

Initially I planned to go to India, October is a good time to go and my leave happened to coincide with an Indian Festival, so I thought it would be special, however, the fact that I could not find any tours going to India plus news of a serial bombing in New Delhi changed my plans.

With the recent earthquake in Sichuan, I thought it might be a good time to go, because there maybe slightly less people. (Even though October is the traditional high season, it is usually so crowded that you cannot take a photo without anyone else in it. =P)

The price is steep though. Especially since our planning is a bit late, and some flights are full already, and all the cheap tickets are gone...

If we can really see the red leaves, then it'll be worth it. =P That's why I'm checking this red leaves index! The leaves are turning red now! Will they stay red till I go?!

Most of the tours only spent one day in Jiuzhaigou itself, (maybe because the entrance fee with bus fee is >RMB300 already! not to mention the hotel is more expensive in Jiuzhai compared to Chengdu!), plus I hate all the shopping!! That's why we went into all the trouble to plan the trip ourselves.

Here's our plan (mainly due to plane ticket problems):
25/10 Hong Kong--> Chengdu
26/10 Chengdu--> Jiuzhaigou/Huanglong Airport--> Huanglong --> Hotel
27/10 Jiuzhaigou
28/10 Jiuzhaigou
29/10 Jiuzhaigou/Huanglong Airport --> Chengdu
30/10 Chengdu--> Hong Kong