Is anyone interested to visit Jiuzhaigou in Sep / Oct / Nov this year to catch the fall color and most importantly to photograph the place?

Whats wrong with the usual tour?

The usual trip itinerary that you get when joining a tour group will never be suitable for photography. During the 8 days or so trip, you only get to spend about 1.5 days in the park. Youll be visiting the rest of Chengdu for the other days. And after paying so much for the trip, the agency will get you to stay in a nice hotel outside the park. It will take some time to drive up to the park and wait for it to open. So it is inconvenient and youll hardly have the chance to photograph during the golden hours.

What do I intend to do

Get a Singapore tour agency to customise the trip solely for us. Alternatively, well buy air tickets ourselves and get the agency in Chengdu to arrange transport for us.

We will spend about 4 5 days in the park itself. We will stay in the nice hotel during the first and last night while for the nights inbetween, we will stay in the Tibetant guesthouse inside the park. We will also arrange for transport inside the park to ferry us around.

The guesthouse is cheap is the facilities are basic. Meals may be plain and you may even need to bring your own down sleeping bag for the cold nights. Dont expect to have the luxury of a hotel.

The main intention of the trip is to photograph the park. If we can afford extra days, we will visit other attractions in Chendu like Huanglong and the breeding place of the Panda.

Whats the Price?

The normal price for a 8 days trip is about $1000. If there are enough people for the trip, I dont see much variation from the usual price. Be prepared to pay more if the duration exceeds 8 days.

So let me know if you are interested or have any info on Jiuzhaigou.
Please note that this is only my intended plan and is not firm yet.

-- Wee Keng Hor (weekh@singnet.com.sg), January 31, 1999

Answers

Hi So any plans for a trip this Oct 2000 ? Scenery will be great around mid Oct when the leaves turn reddish.

-- Victor How (victorhow@bigfoot.com), August 08, 2000.

Hello Keng Hor,

This response is 5 years late to your article, dated 1999. I was going through the articles about Jiuzhaigou and found yours extremely interesting. Particularly regarding spending more days in the park itself and staying in a Tibetan guesthouse. How heavenly.

Maybe you can give me some tips/suggestions since you would probably had done it. Or maybe you would like to go again since its such a beautiful spot on earth.

Anyway, we (a few of us from Perth, Australia) are planning a trip this October 2004, and we are trying to hook up with any other groups of people wanting to stay longer in Jiuzhaigou itself instead of the normal 1 day offered by standard travel agents.

Thank you and regards, fuiling

-- fuiling (fuilingc@hotmail.com), June 15, 2004.