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24 August - Chengdu

Another early morning, we headed out for breakfast at a small restaurant we had seen the night before for the original Chinese breakfast of noodles. We returned just in time, there were 6 buses filled with 6 or 7 people each all heading for the panda reserve. The Sim's guest house had really expanded, they had moved to a new complex which was nothing more than a flat building with between 100 to 200 rooms and they really knew how to advertise their tours. The buses all left at the same time, but with our hell driver who had serious road rage we arrived first in spite of the traffic.

We had not been told to bring our passports as most of the other guests and when asked at the ticket office we were stunned, at least I had my bank card handy, the only form of identification. Then I needed to explain that the P in P van Niekerk actually stood for Pieter as she had it on the panda card, luckily she didn't ask for Leanne's ID. We received our tickets and entered the park, filled with 70 of the 1000 remaining panda's in the world.

Our first view of a panda was brilliant, only 5 meters away sitting and eating bamboo while facing us. After a few minutes it became shy and turned its back to us before lying on its back, shoving bamboo in it's mouth. The second group were 3 in total, not as close as the previous one though, one was eating while the other two slept on the wooden building frames. Then came the red panda's, they are closer relatives of the raccoon, with their long tails. They also ate bamboo, which was most probably why they were mistaken for being panda's. One thing we noticed a few times was how they all looked as though they had problems breathing almost looking like dogs panting on hot days.

Then for the last group, altogether about 7 pandas, some playing on the jungle jims or with basket balls, while others slept. The area was quite large filled with swings, climbing frames, trees, ladders, ropes and so on. Most of the panda's appeared young and were visibly more agile and playful. Our last view of the pandas was a baby panda born yesterday, looking more like a pink rat. Two others about 20 to 30 days old were in incubation chambers. From there we were led to a restaurant overlooking Swan lake, there were in fact some black swans on the lake. Here we watched an educational video about the breeding habits of pandas before being led to the museum where we walked through the different displays and history about pandas.

Back in the minivans we headed to the guest house. There we decided to start exploring the city immediately because we didn't have a lot of time there. We walked the streets, stopping to buy Wanton's, not as nice as before. We then stopped at the post office to find out whether they had a box in which we could post the sword, no luck. From there we walked further to the old part of the city where souvenir stalls were abound, here we bought a beautiful panda fan. Further down the road was Wenshu Monastery, it was filled with multitudes of temples, large gardens, many Buddhas and even more people. Many of whom congregated at the tea house to drink tea, play games of cards or just catch up. One of the older monks helped us find our way out - quite a big place.

Our next stop was the Peoples park, just before entering we bought some sweet dumplings, filled with beans, I think the west has a better understanding of sweet. The park was chock a block with people, mostly the elderly. Bands were in one part making music, while others sang to recorded music, others dancing to even slower music and at one part a woman sang while 4 others modeled as though in Milan. It was great fun watching everyone enjoying themselves that much! We walked past an obelisk erected for the people by the people but with no description of the people.

We continued round walking past a section designated for children filled with rides and play themes where children could draw and paint. A little further we found the tea houses set in the beautiful part with ponds, fish and trees. After watching some of the huge coi fish being fed by locals, we settled down at one of the tea houses for a cup of tea. Leanne opted for the stone flower tea while I went for the green tea, she made the better choice. Mine was strong and bitter while hers was sweet and refreshing, filled with flowers and small sugar crystals at the bottom, slowly melting in the hot water.

We walked further after our 2 hour rest at the restaurant, watching a family have their ears cleaned by one of the local ear cleaners and his collection of implements. We came to the man made lake with couples or families in small boats rowing across the lake, others were sitting on the side enjoying the view. We had read of a fun house which was interesting according to the book, we decided to pay the money and have a look, it was interesting to say the least. A lot like the tower of London display although with a few million pounds less, maybe only a few hundred Yuan allocated. Fake puppets in death scenes with erie music and a few poor recordings of women screaming, not very scary.

We took some time finding the bus back, but a group of girls helped us find the bus, hopping from one to the other, in the end we got back to our accommodation although I think it may have been a longer route. We arrived just in time to freshen up and dress, before meeting up with 6 others all going to the same Sishuan opera. We had near front row seats, 3 rows back right in the middle, we had taken a chance paying a little more, but in the end we got the nice seats.

The opera was a mixture of scenes, first starting with an introductory band, which wasn't that brilliant. Next there was an act portraying that of a Chinese love poem. This was followed by a brilliant juggling or acrobatics act by a woman juggling a variety of items, including a table and vase with her feet. Next came another Chinese act which we didn't quite understand, portraying an angry wife making her husband carry a candle on his head and having to do a variety of stunts. Again some music, the instrument sounds much like a violin, but the Chinese version, first he played a Chinese song and thereafter a classic western one, both were superb. The third last act was that of a puppet show, where a woman maneuvered a puppet on sticks above her head and the second a hand show in the dark with lights, both were good. The last act was that of fire breathing and face mask and clothing removal. All in all the show was 1 ½ hours long and we thoroughly enjoyed it! We headed back and got some supper, aubergine, rice and tofu. The rest of the time we chatted with two Israeli's on the restaurant deck before retiring for the evening.