Chengdu and the pandas

Trip Start May 02, 2007
1
50
70
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of China  ,
Friday, November 23, 2007

Well, maybe soft sleeper isn't that much better than hard sleeper! We got stuck with a stinky old man and a young guy who cleared his throat and coughed every two minutes, and who also liked playing music with his cell phone without earplugs. Getting stuck at the end of the carriage near the toilet and sinks was bad too. Waking up to an endless stream of Chinese hacking up a night's worth of god knows what and spitting is not the way you want to start your day. To be PC about it, they lack a sense of hygiene. Or, to be blunt about it, they are downright disgusting! We've resorted to buying and wearing a face mask in buses and trains, whenever we are in enclosed spaces. They spit everywhere and all the time, even inside buildings and on buses. It is no wonder we got sick. In fact, it's amazing we didn't get sick sooner.

But enough about that though. We spent a day or two in Chengdu just nursing ourselves back to health. We met up again with our Aussie mates Carl and Emma and visited the Panda Breeding Research Base thirty minutes from Chengdu. It is pretty much a panda zoo, which is a bit sad, but they claim they are doing them good Feeding time
Feeding time
 . We hope so. Because of deforestation, expansion, tourism, poaching, etc. the pandas have lost much of their natural habitat and only 1000 or so exist in the wild. The rest are bred here, often through artificial insemination, and raised by the researchers. As of now though, the adults are not released back into the wild, but we've read they are planning on expanding the research base to better simulate the wild and for preparations to release them. Once again, we hope so!

We arrived at the Panda Breeding Centre in the morning, in time to see the feeding. Once they've eaten they are pretty lethargic, so we got to see them roaming about and playing with each other. They are so cute! Just like giant teddy bears. We also saw red pandas, which are much smaller and have these long bushy tails. They look a lot like raccoons actually.

Afterwards Yvonne managed to get our driver and panda "guide" fired! He drove like a maniac through Chengdu traffic, scaring the living daylights out of all of us. The Chinese are pretty maniacal drivers to begin with, but he topped them all. He didn't speak English, so when it was time to move on inside the panda base he would clap his hands at us and yell "let's go!" It was extremely annoying. Back at our hostel, Yvonne told the owner about our experiences. The next day, our friends Mark and Natalie arrived in Chengdu and they were trying to plan a trip to the panda base, but were told that our hostel wasn't doing them for the time being because they let the driver go! So they had to book through another hostel. Finally, our complaining paid off! But seriously, it's good to know that we were taken seriously.

The rest of the time was spent wandering around. Chengdu is a massive city and at a quick glance appears to be just like any other big Chinese city - grungy, polluted and crowded. But digging a little deeper we found it to be quite pleasant. There are some really nice and peaceful tree-lined avenues and parks to stroll in. Tea houses abound here (as they do in the Sichuan province), where many of the locals hang out all day long, sipping tea and playing cards or mahjong. The city does grow on you!
Slideshow Print this entry Chengdu hotels