Eleri is off from school all week for spring Break. Emersyn has Thursday and Friday off for school conferences. Jennifer Jenkins decided it was a perfect time to go see the Giant Pandas in Chengdu. She organized a “Mom and Kid” trip through the travel agent, Country Holidays. She invited us, the Humes and the Bishops on her adventure. Only the Lyons made the decision to go for the adventure. We planned the trip to leave first thing Thursday morning to return late Saturday night. Then, we had the day on Sunday to catch-up on life before school on Monday.
Day One – April 8:
We left for the airport at 6:30am on Thursday. Jennifer moved to Yanlord in December so it is easy for us to travel to the airport together. We were flying out of the new Terminal 2 at Pudong Airport. These fun statues are in various places in the airport. All was on schedule as we left Shanghai on time – an amazing thing in China.
We arrived in Chengdu after our 3-hour flight. Our tour guide, Ken, picked us up at the airport and we were off to the first stop – good spicy Sichuan food. After lunch, we drove 20 minutes to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (æˆéƒ½å¤§ç†ŠçŒ«ç¹è‚²ç ”究基地). The Research Base is a non-profit research and breeding facility for giant pandas and other rare animals. The Chengdu Panda Base was founded in 1987. It started with 6 giant pandas that were rescued from the wild. By 2007, it has had 110 panda births and the captive panda population has grown to 62.
The Base is a beautiful park with bamboo trails through out the paths. The Park is over 100 hectors with plans to double the size in the near future.
Upon arriving at the Park, we walked in with bus-loads of school children on a field trip. The hardest part was avoiding the children as they all wanted to yell “hello†to us – not a common site for them to see laowai (foreign) kids. The pandas don’t like noisy so it was a loud day for them. Our guide did a good job of taking us around the Park to avoid the masses of children.
The pandas are kept in large areas to roam with the feel of an upscale zoo. The pandas spend most of the day eating and sleeping. The scientific name for the Giant Panda, literally meaning “cat-foot black-and-white”, is a bear native to central-western and south western China. The Chinese name, dà ​xióng​mÄo (大熊猫), means “big bear cat”.​ Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the Giant Panda’s diet is 99% bamboo. Other parts of its diet include honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, and bananas when available. The Giant Panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. It is estimated about 300 Giant Pandas living in captivity and about 1, 500 individuals living in the wild.
We saw the various pandas throughout the park. The next stop was the baby pandas about 6 months old. They were having fun playing. It was a cool day so the pandas were all out playing. In the summer, the temperature in Chengdu is hot and humid.
We saw the red pandas which looks nothing like a panda. The Red Panda, “shining cat”, is a small mammal and the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs. It eats mainly bamboo, but is omnivorous and may also eat eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals. It is a solitary animal, mainly active from dusk to dawn, and is largely sedentary during the day. Endemic to the temperate forests of the Himalayas, the Red Panda ranges from Nepal in the west to China in the east.
We watched a video on the animals about their habits and breeding. The most interesting is when the baby panda is first born, it is pink, furless, and blind. The cub is not fully developed at birth. Cubs weigh only 90 to 130 grams (3.2 to 4.6 ounces), which is about 1/900 of the mother’s weight. Giant Panda cubs weigh 45 kg/99lbs at one year and live with their mothers until they are 18 months to two years old.
We took a break for ice cream (for the kids), soda (for me) and coffee (for Jennifer). After our panda break, the children had fun feeding the fish and the swans. The bag of food was 2rmb. We also had this beautiful peacock looking for food.
We left the Research Base around 4pm for a 2-hour drive to Ya’an. All the kids had their backpack full with activities and itouches with movies…except Emersyn. Unknown to me, Emmy & Jim decided to delete all the movies off her itouch to put her music on it. She informed me of this on the way to the airport…too late to do anything about it. Well, she did a lot of reading!
At the gift shop, Elle and Sophie found these panda claws and slippers for their souvenirs. Sean and Emmy picked out a keychain and book markers. It is the first time I realized that Emmy has outgrown the “childhood stuff”.
We arrived in the remote city of Ya’an around 7pm. We decided to eat prior to checking into our rooms at the local Hongzhu Hotel. We walked into the stale smoke filled large dinning room with no one in it. We sat down at a large table with the “dirty” table cloth filled with cigarette holes. Hum, looks like dinner might be interested tonight. With expectations set low, we did have one good dish, dumpling soup. The kids liked it so we ordered a second.
Now, up to the room to see what our 3-star Chinese hotel had to offer. A basic room with two beds. We had an extra bed added to the room which was a bamboo board slat bed. Hum, Elle and I will share a bed. Jennifer and I enjoyed a glass of wine in our room while Emmy & Sean were reading a book. Sophie and Elle were busy being the ayi – they opened all the hotel free items. They put the shower caps on and began to cleaning Jennier’s bathroom. Jennifer reported the next day, her bathroom was soaking wet and they used most of the towels. She said she should have known as Sophie has been banned from bathroom play. Sophie and Elle are the cutest little “Troublesomes” together.
Day Two – April 9:
We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel…no one ate much. We wanted to be at the Bifeng Xia National Park ( 碧峰峽) when it opened. As we waited for the gates to open, Elle and Sophie went to the little gift shop. They came running back to the van with the wide eye expression asking if they could have panda hats. Well, there was no way I was saying no to those sparkling eyes. The hats cost 25rmb/$3.50. Now, the girls had their hats and their paws. It was determined they could be pandas for Halloween. They found a cute panda purse…yep that will work for Halloween candy. We will just need to find/make the panda body – they will be cute pandas on October 31!
We entered the Park to catch a large golf car to the main center. We did pay extra to have the children help with daily chores of the panda. The kids had to put on their brown jumpsuits before beginning work. Elle was so cute in her suit as it was five sizes too big.
The first job was to sweep the leaves down the hill. As Jennifer and I watched them, we realize our children have never raked leaves or swept large areas. I guess living in high-rise on the 29th floor would explain it. They would pass a small load of leaves down the hill to each other. After watching them and realizing we could be here all day, we recommended to the kids to bring the leaves down in one large load so they were not re-sweeping the same area. Hum, for some reason they thought they were doing just fine!
As they swept, Jennifer and I took photos of the pandas near the work street. We noted this Park was a larger and a more natural park than Chengdu. The areas the pandas were kept were larger with room to roam and the pandas were dirty – true to nature. They were not fluffy white pandas – I guess bathing is not part of the work experience.
After the children finally finished sweeping, they gave us no other assignments. We were told to come back around 10:30am to feed the pandas. We walked around to view the various pandas in the park. The young pandas were fun to watch as they were busy playing like children.
We walked back to the pandas where the children had clean the walkway. We had paid a “donation” of 1, 000rmb for 5 minute of photos with the pandas. It is a complete rip-off, but everyone we talked to said the same thing…you just do it as it is an experience you only get once – so we did it. The kids got geared up in their hospital gear to keep the pandas safe from any germs/virus the children may be carrying.
Next, the children we given the opportunity to feed the pandas as part of the work experiences.
It was 11:30am, time to leave the pandas and get back into the van for our next adventure – LeShan Big Buddha. Our choice for food was to go back to the hotel for lunch – a big “NO” from Jennifer and I. We offered the option of a McDonald’s (if we could find one) as we were short on time. Jennifer and I changed the itinerary set by the travel agent. If we squeezed in the Big Buddha today, we would save three hours of drive time. The original plan was to drive back to Chengdu today and drive 2 hours to the LeShan and back in one day. If we go from Ya’an, we travel in a circle pattern. Everyone settled into the car with snacks and Easter candy set by Scott’s sister, Aunt Sue. Sean and Emmy were busy with a mean card game of war in the back of the van. We arrived in LeShan looking for lunch when Ken spotted the Chinese version of McDonald’s. Jennifer and I would prefer to find the real thing, but time was not on our side. Elle asked if we could use the “pass through” method like we do in Nebraska. Hum, she doesn’t even know the proper terms, but we explained to her there are no “drive-through” in China. The China McDonald’s place had just open 3 days ago. Jennifer wanted to order one hamburger to see if it was real meat. No it was not, so we moved to plan B of chicken nuggets and chicken sandwiches. The chicken sandwiches had an interesting spicy. In general, the food was mamahuhu(not so good), but we were hungry.
Next, we boarded a boat to view the LeShan Giant Buddha. Everyone had to put on life vests that would provide no safety for the two little pandas if they fell over.
The Leshan Giant Buddha ( ä¹å±±å¤§ä½›) was built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). It is carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in the southern part of Sichuan province in China. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet. It is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world and at the time of its construction was the tallest statue in the world.
Construction was started in 713, led by a Chinese monk named Haithong. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels travelling down the river. Apparently the massive construction resulted in so much stone being removed from the cliff face and deposited into the river below that the currents were indeed altered by the statue, making the waters safe for passing ships. At 71 metres (233 feet) tall, the statue depicts a seated Maitreya Buddha with his hands resting on his knees. His shoulders are 28 metres wide and his smallest toenail is large enough to easily accommodate a seated person.
After docking, we passed on walking to the bottom since we didn’t have the time. We walked to the view at the top, about 200 steps. It was a good view to see the head up close.
Down the hill and back to the van. Ken, our guide, asked Jennifer if we would be interesting in eating closer to tonight’s Face Changing performance. That was a big “NO” as we had prepaid for Shangri-la buffet dinner. We hit traffic into Chengdu due to construction, but we still had an hour to eat. The kids enjoyed the Western food and the dessert buffet complete with chocolate fountain including marshmallows. Many times the chocolate fountain in China will only have fruits to dip in the chocolate – just not the same.
We arrived to the performance only 10 minutes late. The show was in an outdoor setting of a large tent. Tea and peanuts were served to enjoy during the performance.
The performances were various acts ranging from traditional Chinese to shadow puppet and stick puppet. The final performances was the Face Changing.
We got back to the hotel around 10pm. The kids had fun building forts with the blankets and pillows in our room while Jennifer and I enjoyed a glass of wine in her room. It was after midnight when we tucked everyone in, but no worries as we had plans to meet for breakfast at 9:30am – a well needed sleep-in.
Day Three – April 10:
After a full, restful sleep, we had a buffet breakfast downstairs – a big difference from the Ya’an Chinese breakfast – everyone ate! Our guide took us to Jinli Lu (Street) – a shopping street.
The kids found the bow & arrow stand to shoot 10 sticks for 15rmb/$2. Emersyn wanted to buy a small wooden one to take home with her own money – 100rmb/$15. I said we would think about it and maybe on the way out since it really doesn’t meet my safety standards. We did buy it and she loves it…I don’t.
Jinli Lu reminds me of a small Lijiang with the buildings, ponds and green areas. There was even a wishing tree similar to the wishing house in Lijiang.
We left this street to go to another shopping street. It was a busy street similar to Nanjing Dong Lu in Shanghai. We asked our guide to take us back to Jinli Lu. We enjoyed another hour of shopping & walking around before an early dinner. We are in the heart of Sichuan food so we were looking forward to a good meal…but, it was not. Oh well, we had a great time. Our flight left 30 minutes late – typical for China.