Sichuan: Home of the Giant Panda

Chengdu is the home of the very rare, endangered and beautiful giant panda. There is a research and breeding centre on the outskirts of Chengdu where you can go and see these beautiful animals in a reasonably wild and natural habitat.

The park has a number of giant pandas as well as some, unrelated, red pandas, ranging in age from babies to adults. It's best to get there early morning and watch them play around a little before breakfast time. Then at breakfast the park staff feed them bunches and bunches of bamboo which they sit and chomp on endlessly until they get tired and fall asleep. Jut watching them eat is fascinating as they lie half backwards, seemingly posing to the crowd as they rip the outer bark off the bamboo stalks before munching the remains. Great fun and if they hadn't all gone inside to rest after the breakfast I could have sat and watched them all day. They are such beautiful and cuddly looking things.

Left: Panda on the prowl.

Centre: Bath time.

Right: The red panda.

Something interesting for many travellers is the sign language used by people from different cultures to communicate a message when you cannot speak a common language. On my way to the panda centre I found a great example of this. I was at Zhaojue Si station looking for a bus to the panda research centre and was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of motorbike and rickshaw taxis who wanted to take me somewhere, anywhere, just to get a fare. I said I wanted to visit the giant pandas (Daxiongmao in Chinese, I had done my research that morning), but as is often the case, they reverted to sign language and started playing the miming game on me. They obviously guessed where a foreigner in that part of town was heading towards and started their little show. Now, without photos that I don't have, I can't vividly describe the pose, but basically, I learnt that day, that the way to mimic a giant panda when in China, is to hold your arms at your side pointing upwards, close to your body, with your hands close to your ears, let your hands relax at the wrist and fingers curl to point downwards. That and a cheeky grin and I gurantee you they will understand you want to go to see the giant pandas at the panda research centre ;-)
It's hard to describe in words, but it was so funny to see these drivers all together trying to imitate a giant panda with this strange action, in order to try a get a taxi fare. Top class.

Travel Tip: If you want to avoid the expensive transport tours offered by travel agents and hostels, take bus #1 (northwards) to Zhaojue Si station and then bus #107 or #532 both of which stop outside the research centre.