This is the “I could have held a Panda for 1200 Yuen” Post

June 4: Arlene, Reyna and I signed up for the Panda Breeding Center Half Day Tour at our hostel for a morning trip to see the Pandas. We had to leave early that morning, and we got into a mini-van with some middle-aged Australian couples, which made us wonder whether at that age we’d be hostelling it around.

It was about 8 AM in the morning, and our shuttle van dropped all of us off a very empty, desolate parking lot (remember this detail, since I will come back to it) at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding Center. Of course, there were a few other tour groups there, all busting out their cameras for the anticipated cuteness that would consume us all. But it wasn’t enough to feel like you were in an amusement park; in fact it almost seemed as if we had the whole park to ourselves…just….like….Jurassic Park…hmmmm….

Anyway, we entered the park this early morning; all seemed quiet. As we walked towards the panda grounds, we bumped into a small sign at the front of our first site. The sign said, “I’m the national treasure and I hate noise.” Then we saw pandas, two big ones! One was sitting up for the cameras—it was so close that you can jump in to join their fun! The other one was eating some bamboo. In a few second, instant snap shots. The pandas appeared to be absorbing it all. I was amazed at how close they really were. Their fur was very clean and they seemed aware of the paparazzi around them. They seemed to say to me: “Washington D.C. butterstick ain’t got nothing on me!”

It is very easy to spend one or two rolls, or more than 50-100 camera shots on these guys. Pandas were hanging in the trees sleeping, some of them were play fighting, rolling around, eating right in front of you, deciding to sleep right in front of you, etc.---they were not shy at all and did not retreat into the greenery behind them. I took some cute ones, so ask me later!

We also saw some red pandas, which are distant cousins from the raccoon actually. More snap shots. Then we passed by the baby panda site, where a blonde boy’s mother paid 1200 Yuen for a picture with the panda. She kept ranting on about how her possibly 9-year old son’s whole life was dedicated to the study of these animals. Of course, with payment, the boy got a few minutes with the panda (and we got a few minutes observing this), and the whole time, as the boy was putting his arm around the panda (with protective gear on), whenever the panda’s mouth got close to the boy’s head, the trainers would bring a bamboo stick towards the baby’s panda mouth to distract him with food from what otherwise might be a messy “playfight” between the energetic panda baby and the unsuspecting human child.

Finally, after we saw a Panda video (which was played to some Enya music) and toured a panda museum, it was time to complete our half-day at the Chengdu panda center. As we left the center, we entered to what supposedly was an empty lot when we first arrived, but suddenly----more than a dozen “panda” vendors had set up shop right outside the center while we were happily distracted with taking photos of the pandas. Very strategic too, I may add, since all of the shops were set up to face exiting tourists. You couldn’t escape the panda paraphernalia!

That evening, we would eventually meet up with Nancy at the airport to finally complete our travel group of 4 as we head to Lijiang, in the Yunnan province. But I must leave this post with a couple of panda facts from the museum:

* 1869- A French Priest first discovers the Giant Panda in Sichuan, China.
* Theodore Roosevelt once hunted and killed a panda (Oh, the Republican party. I won't say more than that, although I could. Btw thanks to that special someone who corrected this part of my post)
* 1972 – China presents a pair of pandas to President Nixon: XingXing and LingLing.
* Pandas have a false thumb.
* The Chinese have had over 3,000 years of experience with pandas. The US: 100 years.
* Pandas do fall in love. (Readers: awwwwww.. see, I had to end it with something cute!)