Spicy Panda

It wasn’t just the food that will draw us back to Chengdu and the Sichuan countryside. The city boasts some amazing sights and activities all within a short drive from the city. Sadly we didn’t have enough time to explore the more rural (and apparently beautiful) towns around the capital.

Chengdu is a very liveable city and is growing quickly. New apartment buildings are being advertised on billboards, and an extensive subway network is in the midst of being built. It also had a number of recently renovated areas dubbed ‘Cultural Streets’ where locals and visitors are asked to be on their best behavior. A sign outside one of them states the rules: “Don’t spit. Don’t spit the chewing gum. No littering. No smoking. Keep silent. Don’t Jump the Queue. Don’t chase or beat animal. Do not be out for small advantages. Don’t force foreign tourists to take photos”. Strangely, each Chinese city we had visited created these areas to attract tourist business. Chengdu, however, seemed to be creating lasting communities aimed at enriching the city and it’s populace rather than just trapping a lot of unknowing travelers.

It is also surprising to see the masses of people dancing on the street during all hours of the day. If you pass through one of their beautiful parks, or cultural streets, or simply a large pavement area, there will likely be a gang of middle aged women learning and practicing to dance to modern upbeat music. At night time, young and old couples alike dance in China Lane (just a stone’s throw from our guest house). It was rather refreshing to see the laid back and friendly Chengdu-ians after visiting the far busier and bustling cities of Beijing and Xi’an.

But nothing could compare to the Chengdu Panda Base (Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding). This is the place to come if you love pandas, and Jen LOVES pandas. I was originally less sympathetic to these animals as they just didn’t seem to be helping themselves. They rarely mate in the wild, their babies are born at a weight of a mere 4 oz (and regularly get crushed by the mothers), and they eat a food that is so low on nutrients that they need to sleep the remainder of the day to conserve energy. But when an animal has lived for so long with these particularities, you gotta give it to them. We had seen a couple at Ocean Park in Hong Kong a couple of years ago, but that didn’t compare to this amazing centre.

Due in most part to humans cutting down bamboo forests, Giant Pandas are finding it rather difficult to survive in their natural habitat. The Panda Breeding centre is one of the only ones in the world that has successfully bred pandas and they are doing a very good job of it. The enclosures are HUGE and they are increasing the size of the compound to allow for more space and enclosures for each panda. There are also museums and science labs to educate the visitor in a number of languages. It is a modern and professional centre that is truly looking out for the Giant Panda. It’s nothing like the depressing zoos that you hear about in other developing nations.

They had over 60 Giant Pandas and maybe more Red Pandas at the Base. Most impressive and captivating for us were the 11 six month old cubs that were playing throughout the whole day. As the handler was feeding them, a small gang of the cubs tried to climb her and she had to waddle away with pandas attached to her limbs. Those were some bloodthirsty baby pandas.

Our guest house tried to sell us a tour to the sanctuary that would have saved us a few dollars, and given us 3 hours at the site (2 hours is the recommended allowance for a visit). I knew this wasn’t going to be enough time though. We arrived at 8 in the morning as the gates opened (when it’s feeding time for the little monsters) and didn’t leave until just before closing time at 5pm.

Best of all, Jen got to hold a little squawking cub while it sucked on a bamboo stick coated in honey. It was pretty cute to watch the beast try to wriggle around to confront it’s new handler. It was also pretty awesome to watch the huge smile plastered across Jen’s face for the next few days after the encounter.

Lucky for me and my taste buds, I don’t think it’s going to be hard to convince Jen to return here in the future! Chengdu was a great way to end our our Chinese leg. It also set high culinary expectations for our future destinations.