The 2008 Total Solar Eclipse in Xinjiang, China, is drawing near, though still one year ahead, it's the high time to settle the accomodation issue as there are tens of thousands of people going for the desired observing site.
For this eclipse, the totality path streches from northwest China to central China, and for northwest China the sun will be higher during totality. Below is a map of the totality path.
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[/align]For a eclipse trip, a high percentage of clear sky is very important. And for the 2008 eclipse, we got some places in the northwest China having nearly 80% of clear sky. From the following graphs and tables, we can see that the best are the areas around Hami and Jiuquan, and Hami has a higher sun elavation during totality.
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[/align]We can see from above that the chance of successful observation is quite high for this eclipse, and even if we got clouded out for the eclipse, the numerous famous tourists resorts in Xinjiang will well compensate for it, beautiful grasslands, snow mountains, desserts etc. will give you a memorable experience you will never have in Singapore. Besides, there will be over 70 thousands amateurs from all over the world going for the eclipse, making it a good chance to meet people and share experience.
However, since there are so many people going for it, we need to reserve hotels as early as possible cos so far many many hotels around the observing site are full already, if we don't hurry, we will end up sleeping in tents...
So far the people registered agreed to the following plan:
Plan: We join the team organised by China's biggest astro forum, Mufu Astro Forum. For this plan, the organizer has already given me some rough details about the trip. Below is the map for the three major sites for their trip:
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[/align]First we fly to Dunhuang on July 27/28/29th, where there will be receptionists from the China team receiving us, and then direct us to the base station, Hami, for gathering and accomodation.
At Hami, for the few days before the eclipse, there will be some ice-breaking activities and visiting to some famous tourists resorts around Hami.
Then on the actual day of eclipse, we will travel to Yiwu, the observing site, for the eclipse.
After the eclipse, there will be several travelling plans for folks who want to travel in northwest China. But if we don't have that much time for travelling, we can simply fly back on our own on August 2nd. That means if we don't join in the following travel plans, we will spend less than 1 week's time for this trip.
The total cost of this trip should be around S$1500.
UPDATE Jan. 15th:
Sorry to folks who have already registered, for not keeping you updated regularly. I've been doing some research on airtickets, travelling plans etc. Now it is still too early to book airtickets. Normally the price and discount plans will be available 3 to 4 months before departure date.
If we follow the original plan, flying to Dunhuang, the airticket tends to be more expensive and harder to get, and there will be two stops for the flight. Besides, according to the China organizer, we will take our flight back from Urumqi (which is a much larger city than Dunhuang). So we will be flying to Dunhuang, coming back from Urumqi. In this way the tickets will be somewhat more expensive.
So an alternative I thought of is that we fly to Urumqi on Jul. 27th, take a one day trip to the famous snow mountain lake there on Jul. 28th (hotel and transport can arrange with local travel agent), then leave for Hami by train on Jul. 29th (can have a great view of Xinjiang on the train, desserts, grasslands, snow mountains). The airtickets should be cheaper and less hard to get, and we can have more fun in Xinjiang.
So what do you guys think of this? Or do you still prefer the original plan? Please reply me either by following this thread or by PM.
P.S. After I get confirmation and contacts from all of you, I will keep you updated through email, or SMS/forum PM if you want.
Jia Hao
