VISA APPLICATION FORM INFO
The visa forms ask the day of arrival and day of departure. for your convenience this is the information:
Mongolia : Arrival ? your day of arrival - Departure Wednesday Aug. 23, 2006
China : Arrival Wednesday Aug . 23, 2006 - Departure Tuesday Aug. 29, 2006 7 Days
Kirgyzystan: Arrival Tuesday Aug. 29, 2006 - Departure Friday Sept. 01, 2006 4 Days
Kazakhistan: Arrival Friday Sept. 01, 2006 - Departure Monday Sept. 04, 2006 4 Days
( If you are staying in Alma Aty longer please put your personal departure date)
CANCELLATION INSURANCE
Please buy a trip insurance if you might cancel the tour then trip insurance can pay you back all the non refundables of the tour quotation there are probably many insurance companies which will offer you the cancellation insurance but this one had worked well for many tour members http://www.tripinsuranceusa.com/index.html
POSTAL SERVICE
IN CHINA Lobby counters of hotels provide guests with postal services which includes a post box.
They sell stamps and accept postcards ,letters and parcels. Post offices in various places providee EMS and 24-hour telecommunications. Business hours of post offuces are 08:00-19:00.
MONGOLIAYou won't find letter boxes on the streets .In most casses you will have to post your letters from from the post office. You can buy your stamps in post office (from top-end hotels) in Ulan Batoor and Aimag ; else where, stamps are in short supply. But we will make sure you have enough stamps in Ulaan Batoor
TELEPHONES
International telephone cards work from most of the hotels that we stay in
The tour members have been using their own cell phones sucessfully
IN CHINA Sometimes visitors have to pay for city telephones in hotels. Use of a public telephone costs 0.3 yuan Renminbi. Long distance calls can be made from street telephone kiosks, railway stations or telephone bureaus by using cads or paying in cash.
MONGOLIA In Ulan Batoor it is easy to make international or domestic calls. Out side of Ulan Batoor making calls is difficult : no one will understand you unless you speak resonable Mongolian or Russian, and the telephones may not work any way. Ulaan Bataar now has a few card phones are available in post and telecom offices.
For emergency please make sure you leave MELITOUR phone and e mail back at home. Meli will have her cellular phone for emergency contact.
KIRGYZISTAN The hotels will have e mail access but it is terribly expensive. The telephones at the hotels are just as expensive.There are INTERNET cafes available in Bishkek
KAZAKISTAN The hotels will have e mail access but it is terribly expensive. The telephones at the hotels are just as expensive.There are INTERNET cafes available in Alma Aty.
POWER SUPPLY
IN CHINA 220 Volt AC current. Many middle and high classes hotel washrooms have transformers plugs for electric shavers and dryers , but it is better to be prepered with an adapter plug.
IN MONGOLIA, KIRGYZISTAN & KAZAKISTAN Electric power is 220 Valt, 50 Hz.
WATER
IN CHINA Only in some high class hotels tap water is potable. Tourist should ask hotels if the tap water is drinkable. If not, use the thermos flask water provided by hotels. In China, botteled mineral water is popular.
MONGOLIA Mongolians insists that the tap water is safe to drink in Ulan Bataar and most other places-Indeed we never had any problems drinking tap water in the larger cities. However, there can be occasions in late summer when the water level in the cities rises as a result of heavy storms and the water becomes unsafe to drink- in this case, be careful of the water if you don't know for certain that the water is safe, assume the worst.
Bottles of water are available in Ulaan Baatar (not in the country side).
KIRGYZISTAN & KAZAKISTAN We will make sure the agencies in these countries supply us with bottled water.
SHOPPING
China is a kingdom of silk. Embroideries and brocades and silk woven handcrafts w'll not take too much space. Calligraphy and painting will be also tempting. Ceramics, traditional medicins, carving and sculpture , filigree enamel might become good Christmas presents. Traditional stationeries and baskets will make inexpensive but excellent gifts. Kashkar Market will probably use up a lot of your film.
Bright paintings and cashmere sweater, local ethnic dresses, chess sets make almost the complete list of shopping in Mongolia
WHAT TO WEAR
The temperature will vary between the evening and the day. The change in the altitude will also make the temperature variation quite big. We recommend you to check the weather page . For the Plains of Mongolia and for Kirgyzistan make sure you have a warm jacket. Shorts are OK. Since some of the bathroom stops where the bathroom is nothing more than a hole in the ground will be a memorable experience, skirts for the ladies will be best.
BRING
* Your own TP
* Snacks
* more film than you plan to use
* batteries for your camera
* With the digital cameras from our experiences 1GB cards are not sufficient to capture the whole tour
be prepared for down loading your card several times on the tour or bring more cards.
MONEY
Bring LOTS of US $ cash , five dollars and tens...they prefer that but cannot make much change if larger bills. Practically impossible to change traveler's checks anywhere (despite what the travel books say) as hotels do not want them and stores won't accept them nor will individuals.
More and more places accept credit cards in these countries but we will stay away from most of the tourist shopping areas so you better NOT count on your credit card.
Changing US$ to the local currencies is easy. You do not need to buy the local currencies in the USA.
GIFTS TO BRING
On MELITOUR tours we DO NOT LIKE giving little trinkets to the children not to create beggers out of them. We do ,however, like to give gifts to the schools that we visit. Few simple school supplies will be appreciated. They like maps, deflatable globes.
The school supplies you bring will be delivered to a school in Kirgyzistan.
In our previous experiences with the children, we have seen that the kids enjoy breaking the ice with the visitors by drawing pictures or blowing bubbles. If you want to bring little play items such as a little puppet, crayon and paper to draw pictures or a bottle or two of bubble , you can have a lot of fun and you can eas'ly become center of attention among the local children.
Pictures of your home and your family is another good way of connecting with the people |
