Day Nineteen

The Real Panda Sanctuary

Up & at it & waiting in reception from 7.40 waiting to be picked up so we can be taken to the Panda Sanctuary just outside Chengdu. We had to be at the sanctuary early in order to see the pandas active because early morning is feeding time. In the afternoon the pandas tend to sleep.

On the bus with 4 other people some are who we met at the dumpling party last night which was cool as they felt less like real strangers. We arrived in the panda park car park & then we met another 2 girls that were also joining our tour, if you can call it a tour because our guide couldn't speak a word of English hahaha! Before the tour started we all had to wear funny smiley faces badges like we were all aged 5 again.

Inside the sanctuary we trekked for about 15 minutes. We had soon realised that the non English speaking tour guide driver man was a prat. As we where walking around he was flirting with the ladies (not me, thank God!) & he was just fooling around. In fact he was beginning to grate on me but Andy encouraged him & made him worse.

We came to an open enclosure where there were 4 little pandas eating away. It was hilarious, they lie on their backs to eat as sitting up is too energetic for them. They were pulling the bamboo trees & branches towards them so they didn't have to stretch. We couldn't believe we where seeing pandas this close. Up close they don't look real but they are very cute.

The tour then moved on so we could see the red pandas. We had never heard of red pandas until we came to China. These are smaller than pandas, their bodies & movements are more like that of a fox but their face is panda like. They are quite strange animals but fun to watch as they were very active & were jumping in & out of the trees.

Moving further on we went to a another part. This time the pandas were a bit bigger & older looking. I was glad we went that early as it's really funny to watch them eating & pottering around. We walked for about another 10 minutes, gosh this place was huge & there was plenty of space for the pandas so I liked that aspect.

We came to a swing bridge & the views out in to the mountains were great. We all crossed the wooden bridge & headed to what looked like sets of different style gardens. When we got closer we realised that these gardens where actually panda enclosures. They where really spacious & had lovely water features for them to mess around in. The first enclosure was empty but as we walked further around the pathway there where bigger pandas & they too were feeding. We looked around the enclosure only to see a panda sleeping awkwardly in the tree, surprisingly though we bet the panda had the most comfortable spot. Whilst leaning on the fence looking at the pandas our non English speaking tour guide/driver prat thought it was funny to blow dandelion bits all in my hair when I wasn't looking. It must have been his lucky day because he wasn't dead. I was proper fuming with him, there was just no need for his antics - 1st class wally!

Further round again in the next enclosure was the biggest panda we have ever seen. It was walking around it's water feature & occasionally stopping to mooch around. It was strong & was pulling itself up this high wall, again it was great to watch. The pandas weren't bothered by us watching them, in fact they are oblivious. In the next one was 2 pandas together but they were both asleep. There was a small one which was curled up & sleeping on it's head. The other one which seemed bigger was sprawled out on it's back!

We then walked around through lots of nice pathway which had lots of bamboo trees either side. I wonder what we were going to see now. We finally came to a doorway & we walked through. Inside the building were big glass windows, as we walked further down the corridor there were people all gathered around the window. As we looked through the window there were tiny baby pandas all snuggled up in a big wooden cot. You could tell that these pandas were being hand reared - gosh they were gorgeous, so cute & there was an even littler one which stood out from the rest. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photographs but I got a few sneaky ones. The reason you couldn't take photographs is because they were charging people a ¥1000 (£100) each to hold a baby panda. Proper extortion, for that price I would want the panda to bloody hold me & hug me, cheeky swines!!!

Now that we had seen the babies our none English speaking tour guide took us to a place we could get some food. We had not had breakfast & we were starving so we got a plate of beef fried rice & chicken fried rice to tide us over. Whilst we were eating our food in the cafe like place they had a short film on about the pandas & the sanctuary which was very interesting & we watched it through about 3 times. Food all gone we where taken to the panda museum. To be truthful it was hardly a museum because they just want you to buy things & there was panda merchandise everywhere. Sick if it all we perched our bums on a bench & waited for the others to finish off what they were doing. After that we headed back towards the car park, the idiotic guide started to swings from the trees & hang upside, Andy thought he was hilarious but if I am truly honest I wanted the d*** to fall & land on his head.

All back in the minibus & heading back to the hostel. I was glad to get away from the driver he was big idiot & if I'm honest I was holding a grudge from the flower incident! He made us give our smiley face badges back but I refused & kept mine but he didn't seem to bothered. Whilst the driver was messing around again & with us all back inside the minibus Andy grabbed all the badges from the front by the drivers chair & gave them back out to everyone to wear to see of the driver noticed. Back at the hostel & with us all still wearing our badges we got out the minibus & then the driver noticed & started laughing - he still made us give the badges back but he didn't get mine!!!

After a short sleep back in our rooms due to our early start we woke up hungry as usual! It's so cheap for food in China & it's bad because we're eating double but for half the price. At this rate they way we are eating we will both need doubles spaces booking on the plane for Vietnam. The hard part now after dragging ourselves out of bed was deciding on a place to eat. Sick of noodles, rice & spice (see the rhyme on the line, poet & I didn't know it!) we opted to jump on a bus & head for the Turkish restaurant on the other side of town. We had heard good reviews about the place, it was in our Lonely Planet book, it was on our tourist map plus it was easy to find - so off we went.

Sitting in a lovely booth in the Turkish restaurant we placed our order. God we were so hungry & the food took over an hour to come. We tucked in to the best ever tasting hummus, it was just to die for & the bread we were dipping in was a warm Turkish naan bread - lovely jubbly! Out came our donnor kebabs. Our pitta was stuffed to the brim & there was chips, cottage cheese & some other lovely sources. The meal lasted for all of 15 minutes because it wasn't chewed, it was just swallowed. I think it was the best meal we have had in China so far & it's just a pity it's not frigging Chinese. Satisfied once again we left the restaurant & headed back to the bus stop. On the way we popped in to a shop & bought ourselves ice-cream as desert - being greedy we know but there is always room for ice-cream!

On the main strip where we get the bus there was lots of outdoor & camping shops so we went in to see what type of clobber they had & how much they were selling it for - to be honest it wasn't cheap, if anything it was cheaper back home. Coming out of the shop we hadn't noticed but the whole area was a camping shop extravaganza - there must have been over 30 different camping shops, totally outrageous. We have come to realise in China that they have sections or groupings of things. For instance if you want to buy a pair if shoes then all the shoe shops are in one area & vice versa. It makes us wonder though how they make their money as virtually every shop of it's kind sells the same things.

Back on the bus & we had a bit of murder with the snotty bus driver lady! She was a nasty piece of work! She was shouting at us because we only paid ¥1 (10p) each for the bus when it should have been ¥2 (20p) each. We thought we only had to pay ¥1 because that's what it is in all of the other places across China so why is Chengdu any different or have we got the wrong end if the stick & we should have been paying ¥2 instead of ¥1 all along??? - who knows & who cares!

Back in the hostel we managed to watch 60 minutes of the Blackpool v Everton game on the Internet with a couple of beers so Andy was a happy chappie!

What does tomorrow hold? No plans or ideas yet. We'll see..........