Day 127 - Panda hangover in Chengdu

Still drunk, I crawled out of my bed and turned off my mobiles alarm. The tour was due to leave in 5 minutes. I jumped into my clothes still stinking of booze ran out of the room. As I arrived in the reception a guy was walking around counting heads. We jumped into two minibuses and head off straight away. I apologised to my travelling partners for my alcoholic stink. For some reason I was in flying form as I knocked back my bottle of water on route. I think I was still fairly twisted. Our tour guide John was great fun. It wasn't long before we arrived. We walked straight through to an outdoor compound were a group of three 3 year old Pandas were munching away having their breakfast. Supposedly the best time to see the Pandas is in the morning. They are pretty lazy animals and sleep for most of the afternoon. So, if you go to see Pandas, do it in the morning. It was a delight to see happy looking Pandas, after the depressing ones, myself and Aidan had witnessed in Shanghai zoo. They were quite hysterical to watch as they pulled down the bamboo branches and munched away happily. Sitting back on their bums like big cuddly teddy bears happily eating away. The crowd gathered around to take pictures. Some American lady started protesting, whether this was all we were going to see. Thankfully, she was not in our group and she was lead off to protest her annoyances somewhere else. John joked away with me as we headed to the next group of slightly older Pandas. More munching Panda's. This time not so close that you could get a good photo.

We were brought to the nursery next. Here we got to see Pandas that were just less than a year old. Just like a nursery for babies, a group of 9 Pandas lay in a large cot. Some sleeping others with eyes closed, trying to snuggle into the warmth of another. Two uniformed staff went about their days activities. One removed a Panda, just like you would a baby. Kissing it and then placing it on her lap. She placed it on its back and then began stroking its belly in a downward position. With a bin placed underneath she was helping it go to the toilet. A kind of weird sight to see. John asked us next if anyone wanted to have their photo taken with one of the Pandas. For 1000rmb you can have your photo taken, with a Panda on your knee. Not something I would consider, although an American young girl travelling with us, wanted to the photo. John left us for a bit and headed off to organise the photo. Next group of Pandas we visited were the best. Four Pandas that were four years old and in a large outdoor area with a large wooden playground of platforms and ladders. For the next half an hour we got the best Panda show you could possibly hope for. One Panda seemed to be the culprit as he started play fighting with the others. He had the lot of them in a big commotion. They were chasing each other up and down the platforms. They were wrestling with each other and biting each other and rolling all over the place. Even after three of them got tired, he continued to cause mischief. After most of them lay down and one climbed up on to a branch of a tree, he didn't give up. He decided to go for the one that was lying precariously on top of a fairly weak looking branch. He climbed up and started grabbing hold of the leg of the other Panda with his teeth. A wrestling match ensued and finally after some time he knocked the other Panda down. The crowd that had gathered were delighted with the performance. Snapping away with their cameras and this very unusual sight. It was a great thing to see Pandas that looked so happy and made you realise that perhaps some forms of animal captivity are worthwhile. Especially with the ever decreasing population of pandas and the great work this sanctuary had being doing for the past 30 years. They had now over 70 pandas from the breathing program they had put in place.

After the american girl had her photo taken with the panda we were brought to the panda cinema to watch a movie and then on to a museum. The museum was the least impressive thing. Unless you are interested in seeing the internal organs or a still born panda in a jar, I'd give it a miss. By the time we headed back to the minibus I was feeling a tiny bit more sober. Slightly wrecked although alive and happy after the panda visit. We got to the hostel and I resided to doing nothing for the rest of the day. I had come to realisation that i wasn't going to able to do much else in China, so I headed down and booked my flight for Shenzhen. This works out well if you are trying to get back into Hong Kong from China. Its sits one hour by bus from Hong Kong and because its a domestic flight and not international, flights are cheaper. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and online.

I met up with an Irish couple and one of the girls that had being on the Panda excursion. We headed for Hot Pot in a place around the corner. As the saying goes, “When in Rome...”, when you visit China its customary to have Hot Pot. We had tried it our first night in China when we arrived in Xiamen. I thought it was fairly alright. You are normally brought out two pots of flavoured water. One spicy and the other savory. You then order a collection of sliced raw meats and veg. The centre of the table is a stove and the water boils away and you cook your food and eat. Its probably not the best idea if you are really hungry, because you got to wait. So we sat there. Ordered a selection of meats and veg and cooked our dinner. Thankfully our waitress spoke really good English, compared to our Chinese and she treated us like she was our mother. Making up our oil mix. Telling us what to do. The spicy water was way to spicy and just left my mouth numb after a few minutes. Then adding oil into an already numb mouth did nothing for me. I didn't enjoy it and neither did the majority of the table. The other Irish lad, Gary, moaned the least. The restaurant was empty by the time we went to leave, with the staff sitting at tables with their hands in their heads. I went in and watched a movie when we got back as my table guests headed to bed. I fell asleep within minutes, with the Da Vinci Code playing on the TV. I awoke and headed to bed.