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THE REAL KUNG FU PANDA!
Our time in Chengdu was very brief but really we came here to see only one thing, China's special treasure, the Giant Panda. After a snug night's sleep in the world's most comfortable bed, we got up early to head straight to the Chengdu Panda Base in the north of the city.
The Panda Base, established in 1987 and holding over 100 Giant Pandas, was set up as a breeding centre to boost the severely endangered panda population. There are less than 2000 Giant Pandas left in the world with around 80% living in the Chengdu mountain region. These creatures only have a window of 72 hours to fall pregnant and are particularly choosey about their mating partners; with this in mind the Chengdu Panda Base has set up state of the art facilities to artificially inseminate pandas that are not able to find suitable mates.
We spent almost seven hours at the sanctuary observing all the different pandas from the mischievous 'teenagers' to the more dignified older creatures. Our favourite area was where four of the babies were playing together in an enclosure with their surrogate mother. Here, we learnt that for a rather hefty 'donation' to the breeding centre you could hold a baby panda. After some consideration, I decided that this was too good an opportunity to turn down so I booked in for the experience for later that afternoon. The wait was the longest four hours of my life (talk about suspense) but luckily we had lots of amazing panda bears to watch and a delicious Chinese lunch to keep me distracted.
We had to sacrifice our trip to the Wenshu Buddhist Temple but the chance to interact with one of the most endangered species in the world was worth it. After much anticipation, I was taken to learn more about the panda species and given a chance to help prepare some of their bamboo before getting to meet 'my' panda, Mia Miao, one of the playful babies we'd been watching climbing and splashing in the water earlier in the afternoon. Miao Miao was very content to just sit in my lap and liked being tickled behind her fluffy ears - it really was a surreal experience and something that I won't forget anytime soon!
That evening, still very much on a 'Panda-High', we headed to JiLi Old Street, a famous shopping district in Chengdu. We wandered the shops and explored the humming nightlife in the city before heading to a local restaurant to try the traditional Chengdu Hot Pot (a very spicy dish of different boiled meats and vegetables). People in the South love spice and we were warned by our guide in Xi'an that in Chengdu "your lips will be dancing". He was right! The Hot Pot was scorching with more chilies in it than I have ever seen in my life. Nevertheless, with a few glasses of beer we were able to polish off the tasty dish.
High: Very special cuddles with 7 month old Miao Miao!
Low: Not having enough time to explore some of the other sites in the region.
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