Our travels brought us to Chengdu, five hours further west than otherwise necessary, for one reason alone - to visit the worlds largest Giant Panda breeding research facility. And the journey was more than worth it.

The first day of Spring had arrived, sun shining and warm temperatures making a surprise appearance. We headed for the site and promptly became lost within the expansive grounds. We knew feeding time was early and that shortly after the pandas would do what they do best - sleep.

As has become expected, our arm waving and motions of Phill eating an imaginary length of bamboo paid zero dividends, as the staff sent us in the wrong direction. Stumbling across flag carrying guides, we eventually got lucky, arriving at the right enclosure at the right time. The wonderfully gentle, playful creatures are very much endangered. Only surviving in pockets of habitat within China, they number no more than 1500 in the wild. Happily, this research centre, along with others in China and elsewhere, are providing some hope of increasing their numbers again, albeit in captivity. Take a look at the photo album and keep an eye out on the message board for a video clip link which will appear in due course.

We are currently in Xi’an (pron. she-ann), some 800 miles to the north. This our penultimate stop in China, to see the Terracotta Warriors. Just moments ago we returned from a market, the proud owners of two knee high warriors (or waist high, dependant upon which allseven team member is used for comparison). The question now is, how are we going to carry these fellows for the next five weeks?   

PaSx