Chengdu – Pandamania!!!

Day 8

Hello again! I woke up, super excited! We were going to see PANDAS!!! We arrived at the Chengdu Panda Research Centre but I like calling it Panda Palace because everything there was PANDA!!! There were panda carvings, panda sculptures, and a panda gate. Did you know that pandas are the national treasures of China?

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On our way to see the pandas, we saw a huge lake. There were some magnificent, inky black swans on the lake. Black swans are quite rare so we were very lucky to see them.

Next we went to see the red pandas.  They were scurrying about and were very hard to spot. The red pandas are quite small compared to the black and white pandas but they have long, bushy tails – they are a bit like a giant squirrel.

After that, we went to see the yearling enclosures – they are the baby pandas under a year old. They were ginormous for a baby although they only drink milk. They were so lazy! All they do is eat sleep and poo. Their black markings come in two weeks after birth.

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Finally, there we were staring at the GIANT pandas! I was exhilarated. One was lying on the ground and sleeping, one was munching on bamboo from a huge bag and one was washing its bottom in a rock pool! 

We were very lucky because we saw a lot of pandas in the different enclosures. We also watched a film about the research centre and how the Pandas breed.

After an elaborate lunch of Sichuan food we went to a near by Buddha temple . The place was HUGE ! We were allowed to see a temple which was so  large I had to video it!!!

Then we made our way to the Renmin park. Minutes later, we were strolling through the beautiful, bustling  park .We were very lucky to listen to some music in  the  park because it is only on the weekend it comes out. We sat down for some tea at a tea house.

Our final stop of the day was a local street market. There were gigantic bunches of red chillies everywhere. I got an ice cream!!

When we got back to the hotel, Ashley came to meet us. She had helped us with the tour planning. She brought a cuddly panda for me as a gift!! I was thrilled. Thank you, Ashley!!

Day 9

All we did this day was to take the train to Guilin. It took us almost 7 hours. We had pot noodles for lunch and some Oreos! I read Kensuke’s kingdom by Michael Morpurgo on the train. It’s a great book and I would highly recommend it.