So Good, Like I Knew that it Would
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
May 26, 2009
We were up at 6:30 and I ate some strawberries and mulberries and had to throw some out. Without refrigeration, they did not keep very long.
At breakfast I had some bran buds with (warm?) soy milk, melon, noodles, sticky rice, a bun with pork, a sweet bun and tea. Bill had melon, banana bread, bacon, a croissant and juice. The only eggs available are hard boiled chicken or quail eggs.
We took the most terrifying cab ride! I was honestly concerned about our well being. We were almost hit by at least 4 buses. Then we were doing 80 km/hr along one stretch of the city streets. If you have a death wish, fine, but don't involve us!
We did arrive safe and sound (incredibly) at The Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Base before 9 am. It was 50 yuan (less than $10) to enter the park. It is 1,333 square km and has a staff of 170 people. There were 6 giant pandas when they first opened and now there are 83.
Giant Pandas are an endangered species. There are only 1,600 left in the world and only live in China. There are 30 areas of bamboo forests with a population of 10 - 30 pandas each (the math does not work for me, but that is what they said in our audio guides). The purpose of this facility is to protect the pandas, raise awareness and expand the population.
We asked at the tourist information desk where we could go to hold the pandas (we saw this on the Travel Channel, I think it was Samatha Brown's show). We were directed to the Nursery, so we headed over there right away. Along the way we saw two adult pandas enjoying some bamboo breakfast! They are so beautiful!
We arrived at the nursery and playground area. There was a group gathered to watch the youngest pandas playing together. They play and rough house and roll around like puppies and kittens. So adorable! We noticed a line up near the door and Bill started talking to a couple from Maryland. They had been here yesterday and could not figure out how to hold the pandas. They had asked at their hotel last night and came back to try again this morning. We were lucky to find it because it is not advertised anywhere.
So, we waited in line with them and shortly thereafter people started going in one at a time and getting ready to hold the pandas. I was the 6th person in (a couple of people snuck in ahead of me). Bill was not allowed to come in to take pictures. We have to rely on the staff to take them for me. Bill could have come in too, but it would have cost 1000 yuan ($175). So, I am the very spoiled and lucky one today!
The first couple each held the panda individually and together. A young girl had a hard time holding the panda, so they set him down beside her. This panda was very fidgety for the American lady too, so they brought out another youngster and he was the one that I was able to hold. His name sounded like Bebe and is around 9 months old and weighs around 20 kilos. I tried to verify this on their website, but it does not show any pandas born in 2008 (they need to do a better marketing job).
It was so incredible. I really only held Bebe for a couple of minutes but it was amazing. He was so calm and just ate apples the whole time. I talked to him and petted him. Sadly I had to wear gloves, so I could not really tell what the fur was like, but it felt thick and course. He is so sweet and so beautiful! I am so happy that I was able to hold a panda. The staff did a great job of taking photos, but they did not turn the video recorder on. When I was done I tried to watch the video and show Bill and realized that she turned it on when I was done. The worst part is that she realized and shut it off and did not give me a chance to get some video. For 1,000 yuan it would have been nice to get the video too. I was devastated and shed a few tears. Thankfully we have some really great photos though...
More about these wonder mammals: they secret a scent that other pandas can recognize their status, age and sex. That says a lot! It is difficult to determine if a female panda is pregnant. One spring all the females acted as if they were pregnant, but only one gave birth that summer. The gestation period is 3 - 5 months. The range is long because it can take 1 - 3 month for the egg to implant. When the babies are born, they are very small, are pink and have no fur.
They begin to walk at 4 months old, at which time the center begins to separate them from their mothers. It is at this time that they feel the babies are no longer at risk and provide them with a name. At 5 months old the children are moved to a public enclosure and at 6 months they are completely separated from their moms. In the wild this would not happen until they were 18 months old, but the separation occurs earlier so that female pandas can give birth every year instead of every three years. Pandas only drink milk when they are young and do not begin eating bamboo until they are 1 year old.
Pandas can grow to 1.6 to 1.8 meters and 80 -150 kilos. In the wild they live to 20 years old, in captivity they can live to 30 years old. They are slow moving creatures because they do not have predators (other than humans). At the park the best time to catch them awake is early morning or early evening. They like to sleep during the day.
The adolescent area is for pandas that are 1 1/2 to 5 years old. They are very active and very curious. The staff at the park give the pandas toys such as balls to keep them active.
There are 2 red panda areas. The red pandas look more like raccoons than bears, but they are bears. They are also endangered, there are only 500 in the wild. They only live in the Himalayas near Nepal and Burma, SW Sichuan, Yunnan and Jinjang. They live in trees at altitudes of 1800 to 4800 meters. When angered or frightened they make cat-like sounds of hissing or growling and stand on their back legs.
Red pandas also eat bamboo as well as grass, leaves, berries, bugs, eggs, small birds and rodents. Like the giant pandas they have a carnivorous digestive system and have a hard time digesting vegetation. These adorable little creatures have been in captivity for over 17 years and still have not been successfully raised in captivity for reintroduction into the wild. The species is in grave danger of becoming extinct. We were very lucky to see them awake, eating and walking around.
As I just mentioned, the giant pandas can not digest vegetation very well. They digest only 1/5 of what they eat, thus getting little nutrition. They used to be carnivores, but their teeth and paws (now have a 6th digit) have adapted, but not their stomachs (Bill either!). In the wild their diet is 95% bamboo and it takes them 10 hours each day to eat. They can also eat fruit, plants and bodies of dead animals. In captivity they eat bamboo, stems of plants, carrots, bread grains and apples. They can eat 20 - 30 kilos of bamboo a day or 60 - 70 kilos of bamboo shoots. They can eat 40 different varieties of bamboo (I did not know there was more than one!).
We spent over 4 hours at the park. We had a snack of almonds and pistachios. Bill also had 7-up and ice cream. We toured around the swan park and saw tons of gold fish, black and white swans, ducks and peacocks (they are very noisy). The park is really beautiful and of course the pandas are unbelievably awesome! The center is incredible and the living accommodations for the pandas are really good. It was not like going to a zoo at all. We were thrilled to see so many pandas of different ages. They are so funny to watch whether they are playing, sleeping or eating. Of course holding a panda was a once in a lifetime thrill. It was great!
We left the park and no taxis were there. What is with that? How times have changed... Two guys wanted to give us a ride back for 40 yuan and we said no because it only cost 28 yuan to get here. 10 - 15 minutes later a taxi showed up. He took a different route back, through some very "blue collar" neighbourhoods. We were back in the downtown area, but we had no idea where we were. The meter was already at 42 yuan and we decided to get out. Bill noticed that we were being charged 2.1 yuan/km while other taxis advertise 1.4 yuan/km. UGH! Just when we thought that we did not have to worry about the taxis!
We walked around for a bit and could see that we were actually quite near where we wanted to be dropped off. We were in the area with all of the expensive stores and could see Starbucks, McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut. Why are there only fast food chains (they have Dicos and some others too) and hole in the wall restaurants (where they do not speak English)? Are there no real restaurants anywhere in this city? It is very puzzling and frustrating. There is no shortage of places to buy clothing. There are shops all over the place....
I was hungry and picked a place that was steaming buns. I pointed to the word pork in our book and they nodded. We sat down and they brought a small order of steamed pork buns which I enjoyed and Bill did not (he ate 2). It was 4 yuan (less than $1) for my lunch.
We stopped at a small fruit store near our hotel and bought some apples and a banana. Bill had the banana for lunch...
At the hotel we both used the internet. I did some blogging and Bill went up to the room before I did. After a while I joined him, had an apple with peanut butter, read and then napped.
We tried to find a teahouse that the book recommended, but could not. I have started referring to the maps that we have as "sketches" because they certainly do not function as maps.
We ate at a Japanese restaurant in a mall. We ordered beef and bamboo soup, tuna sushi and salmon sushi. Bill even had a second helping of the tuna sushi. I had iced tea that tasted like it was from a can (yuk) and Bill had coke. The food was pretty good despite the frustration we had with ordering. We walked through the food court after dinner. Perhaps we will eat there next time. There is lots of variety and you can point at what you want.
We walked through Tianfu Square. There is a large statue of former Chairman Mao. There are many fountains and there is supposed to be a light show, but it was not on while we were there. I read that the metro station was supposed to open in 2008, but all of the street entrances that we have seen are closed. It would be a good thing, I am sure it would cut down on the traffic here. Crossing the street can take some time.
I used the slow computer at the hotel and it made me really mad. I was only able to write a few lines in an hour for the blog and it would not save my changes. I was using some choice four letter words from the English language! Bill helped me to send a note to Ange through Travel Pod, so hopefully she received it and can send it to me through hotmail. Otherwise I will have to rewrite a bit.
We went to the room and I read my book for a while and Bill watched CNN, HBO is down right now... It was after 11 when we went to sleep.