Ni Hao

Thankfully our air conditioning last night had a heater mode and meant we only came within a whisker of catching pneumonia!!!

The alarm sounded this morning while it was still dark outside and we jumped out onto the concrete floor and quickly dressed before bits started dropping off us.

It was a short 10km drive to the research and conservation centre in Chengdu to see the pandas, we arrived a little before 8.30am and had the place to ourselves for at least 30 minutes before the masses started arriving. While all alone in the park we watched 2 sub adults (3 year old) eating their breakfast which consisted of bamboo till the keeper needed to move them then they got some apple!!!!!

As we moved around the park our next panda was fully grown and we watched her drinking and eating while laying around and taking it easy.The pandas were really active as it is very cold and they like it that way although Mel and I don't!!!!!

Pandas used to be carnivores and have evolved over the last 8 million years to exist solely on bamboo although they have to eat so much as the nutrition value of bamboo is pretty minimal.

We turned the corner and had a treat as four young juveniles were out feeding, two sets of twins were just sat eating bamboo, they eat so noisily and are really funny to watch, by now more people had arrived but they didn't seem to be bothered by the crowds.

The highlight was still to come and this was the babies that had only been born last August and were so playful but still fairly robust as one proved when it fell while trying to scale the enclosure and hit the ground with a thud, he just got up shook himself down and carried on playing!!!

You did have the opportunity to interact one on one with the baby pandas but at 1000 Yuan/65 quid it was a bit steep so we passed on the chance.

Our last stop at the park was the red pandas (see pictures) which are so lovely but fairly territorial and a few had ears or tails missing due to fighting.

The whole park is home to many types of water bird as well which means as you walk around there is plenty to look at as well as the pandas.

Our whole time there was magical and it was good to see what important work they carry out here to save a species that is endangered with less than a thousand left.

We had a walk around Chengdu city for the rest of the afternoon and visited Tanfu Square and the big Chairman Mao statue downtown before heading back to the hostel for the evening.

Lots of Love

M & M

xx