Panda-monium

It was early rise today after what is one of the worst nights sleep I have had in a long time. The hostel was loud and the bed uncomfortable but, hey, as the other Tom keeps saying hostels are always hit and miss. My mood doesn’t stay down for long though as we are doing something I have been looking forward to since I first read it on the itinerary months ago: we are visiting Giant Pandas!!!

When we get off our bus and start walking to the Chengdu Panda Base, a research centre and zoo, my excitement grows; but so do the crowds. It is crazy there are so so many people, thousands of Chinese nationals enjoying their mid-autumn festival by visiting the face of Chinese diplomacy and the WWF. The place is massive; we walk for kilometres and kilometres. The first enclosure we come to isn’t actually Giant Pandas it is their Red cousins. Actually although named the Red Panda I learn that they actually don’t share the same genome as their fellow Giant companions. Our guide Simon insists on calling them raccoons which, for some reason, I find myself taking offence to. These cute creatures deserve the grandeur that the Panda name carries and to be compared to a trash bandit raccoon is an insult! We are lucky enough to see a few different Red Pandas. To be honest I would of been happy to spend more time watching the cutie pies play wrestle with each other but Simon is ushering us on.

Simon is a nice enough guide but he does have this annoying habit of steaming ahead, always in a rush, losing us as he pushes his way through groups of people packed together like sardines. Unlike the British, who are famous for our love of a queue, the Chinese mentality seems to be one that is more on the side of impatience and pushing past anyone who may stand in your way, no matter how legitimately they managed to be in front of you or how little it matters about getting to your destination quicker. Anyway, I digress, our next stop after the Red Pandas is an exciting one – the baby enclosure, an inside enclosure where the babies are closely monitored and looked after by the staff and researchers here. As we wind our way down various different paths surrounded by greenery we come to three separate paths that for reason unbeknownst to me the staff have decided to close, meaning there is only one small winding path in which to queue for the baby enclosure. Simon does seem to get into a bit of a tiff with one of the guards as he tries to push past him. After being shouted at, Simon, annoyed, leads us to the back of the queue, I say queue more of a mass of people all pushing their way towards the babies. The guards, who all use megaphones to call to the crowd, say it will be about an hours wait.

Erika, the other Tom and I arrive at the Chengdu Panda Base

Red Pandas or Raccoons?
(click on the top right hand icon)

After the quick restroom break the group continues on passing an enclosure with two two-year-old Pandas that aren’t quite living up to their Giant name yet. Although not babies they are immensely cute and it is a treat watching them chase each other around their enclosure and wrestle with each other. As well as a few more Panda enclosures, we visit the research centre and museum. It is interesting learning all about the conservation efforts as well as how it is funded; mainly by the one million dollars a year that international zoos pay to rent pairs of Pandas. China owns all Giant Pandas in the world and even writes in its terms that any Pandas born anywhere in the world have Chinese citizenship and the Chinese government have the rights to the Panda. This income along with the international research help that China demands for sending Pandas abroad has helped immensely in learning about this endangered species so much so that the centre is now shifting its focus from not only breeding but also developing training to slowly and, hopefully, successfully reintroduce those born in captivity back into the wild, to help their dwindling numbers.

Worth the wait!
(click on the top right hand icon)

The walkway itself isn’t that bad it passes multiple enclosures where we are able to get our first sightings of Giant Pandas although the masses of people and constant megaphones do take a lot of the pleasure out of the moment, not to mention that for the first time in my life my stomach seems to be having adverse effects to being in a foreign country, which does nothing to help my discomfort! Nonetheless the others and I wait diligently, making our way for an hour being pushed in every direction until we are finally at the front of the queue. Next to an empty outside enclosure used by the mothers of the baby pandas we are waiting to see, who are currently in the inside enclosure. I shouldn’t say empty really; a peacock and his baby have flown into the enclosure receiving a big cheer from the increasingly loud crowd. While waiting at the front I take the time to google translate the signs held by the workers at the gate,. It asks for the crowd to keep the noise down – the Pandas, especially the babies, are not fans of loud and excessive noise. A sign seemingly ignored by everyone around us. As I read this, shouting starts coming from the enclosure. I obviously don’t understand what is being said but it sounds like some people are not happy! I quickly find out what the commotion is about; after an hours wait, just as we arrive to the front of the queue the enclosure is closed for the day, no baby pandas for us! I am devastated of course but also feel relief that I can now get to a toilet.

Research Centre and Museum

Once we finish with this amazing, if crowded, experience we take the metro back to the hostel for a couple of hours of needed rest. We’re then back together for a Chinese language lesson from Simon. Those who know me know that, thanks to my Dyslexia, I struggle enough with my English let alone Mandarin. I am interested to learn that although completely different spoken languages, Cantonese and Mandarin share almost 95% of their written language. Erika and the other Tom do much better at learning the basic phrases such as hello, one to 10 and, of course, how to ask for a beer. I struggle with all of these as well as the fact that there is no word for please in Chinese! After about an hour of me butchering another language, we head out for something I do enjoy, dinner. Tonight we go to a row of street food vendors that the other Tom noticed earlier in the day when out on a coffee hunt. I treat myself to a load of mint fried dumplings and then a nice sweet treat apparently called Indian Pancake. Although I question its origin, I enjoy what is essentially a crepe filled with banana and sugar! Once full the group heads back to the hostel where we see in the end of the day playing cards on the hostels rooftop bar. I treat myself to a lemon Lipton tea before heading to bed for what I hope is a better night’s sleep than I had yesterday!