Panda Day

  Chengdu, China
Saturday, August 30, 2008

Today we went to the Panda research center! We had to be at the bus at 9 am. It wouldn't have been that bad but I ate something the night before that didn't agree with me all too well. I am not sure what it was, but when I thought about it I did slip and had some ice.

Anyway I feel better now, so let's move on to the more important part of this day. Pandas. The research center is on the outskirts of the city, about Third Ring Road.

(A side note: Chengdu is set up with the center being Tian Fu Square and there are three roads that make rings leading out from the center. First ring road is the one I live closest to, but even though it is close to the center, it still would take like 18 hours to walk around or something intense like that.)

The base is in what I would call like the suburbs of a city. It is still the city, but not the bustling hub that I am used to.

rukou

The entrance was kinda sudden and we parked in the middle of a ton of panda shops. I was really excited to see really little pandas because this time in the summer is right about when they are born. I wasn't disappointed.

Eating

But first we stopped at the adult pandas. These things are so lazy! Seriously if you wanted to come to life as something that gets pampered and only job is to eat and sleep, be a panda.

A Cutie

The toddler pandas are more active since they are younger and not so fat yet, so we walked over to their outdoor enclosure. We got there just in time for feeding so they were super active and moving around. Seriously, the only thing that can get a panda to move its little behind and tussle with the other pandas is bamboo.

Om nom nom

They are really cute though, just a bit boring after a while. They had these swings and I really wanted to see one take some initiative and just jump on the thing, but alas! I was to be disappointed haha.

A nice candid shot of me taken by Vivian

After we were done taking pictures of panda after panda, one of the girls, Trista, wanted to hold the giant panda. It was 1000 kuai. I decided that this price was a little too steep for my blood and thought that the money that would have gone to the panda holding could go to a nice electronic dictionary thing. I also thought that if I really wanted to hold the eating machine, the spring USAC group would be going there again.

3-red panda

Finally we went to look at the Red Panadas. While more active, I think they are a little uglier, like what would happen if a fox mated with a raccoon. To feed and hold one of these was cheaper, only 50 kuai, but I decided that my total spending would be 5 kuai for a nice cold 可口可乐 (Coke or as it is pronounced here ke kou ke le)
Whoot! I get to talk to my Dad... but it just broke up. Darn

Anyway, after the panda thing we (my four roommates and me) ended up going to lunch. But we went to a place that has two locations and half of us ended up at one and half at the other. So I ate lunch with Eli my roommate who is from Rhode Island and we ended up just taking a bus that we knew eventually would get us back to our apartment. It was a fun lunch and adventure. A bus is just 1 kuai so its like really cheap. It was a god way to learn part of the city.

Well I am going to go talk to my parents now if the connection works. Zai Jian