September 24, 2015 Chengdu Panda Day

Today I got to cuddle a baby panda! Okay - I got to sit beside a baby panda and pet him.

We traveled to the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda near Chengdu.  It took about 1 ½ hour by car to reach the research center.

Our first stop was at the enclosure for two 1 year old pandas.  At first they didn’t want to come out and had to be bribed by the attendant.

But soon they started thinking about playing.

“What you want to do Bro?”

“Think I’ll go climb a tree.”

“Just one more step.”

“Whoa, it’s a long way down.”

“Help, I’m stuck”

“Whew, got outta that mess.  Think I’ll rest here for a minute.”

“Hey. Hey! What are you doing?  This is my tree.”

“Look Bro – move outta my way.  I’m comin’ through.”

“Wait, wait.  Give me a second.”

“Bro - I told you, I’m comin’ through!”

“Aww, com’on.  Get your butt outta my face!”

As interesting as it was, I couldn’t stay to see the conclusion of this drama, as we needed to return to the front office to prepare for my panda cuddle.

After some preliminary cautions about not touching the panda’s ears, tummy, or taking it’s food, we put on a smocks and gloves – somewhat too small for Mike.

The caretakers tried to tease Bryan (our nickname for the Panda since he didn’t have one yet) out of his den. 

Bryan was a bit reluctant, so finally he was carried to the bench.

About twenty people paid 1,800 RNB ($300 USD) each for the privilege of “cuddling” a baby panda.  This family brought their little boy.  I think he was more interested in the panda’s carrot.

Finally, it was my turn.  I slipped into position beside the panda.  While other people had spent 5-10 seconds with the little critter, I decided to stay as long as possible. 

Marilyn took photos, while Mike took a video.

I thought he was going to tell me a secret, but all he said was he likes carrots.

Bryan, however, decided enough was enough and left me sitting alone after about 30 seconds.  Dissed by a panda!

It was a memorable 30 seconds, and the money paid for it will further the research on these amazing, gentle and adorable animals.

After that once-in-a-lifetime incredible experience, we visited a few more enclosures.  The pandas at this center were either rescued because of trauma received in the wild, or returned from other countries (China only loans the pandas to zoos around the world.  If a mating pair succeeds, the offspring is also returned to China when it is old enough).

Pandas eat about 40 pounds of bamboo in a day.  Here they receive supplemental nutrition in the form of panda cakes – a mix of bamboo and milk.

Tai Shan was born in Washington DC in 2005.

We returned to our hotel around midday, still excited by being so close to an animal who, without the help of the research centers around Chengdu, may not exist in the near future.  There are only about 1,600 giant pandas in the whole world.

Dave and I strolled across the street from the hotel to take a picture of the famous Anshun Bridge.  Although no one knows when the first bridge was built, in 1746 a wooden structure was built at this present location.  However, in 2002 a flood destroyed the wooden one.  Today this stone bridge stands in it’s place and was renamed the Anshun Gallery Bridge. 

We had lunch inside.  Dave ordered by pointing to the pictures of what we wanted.  The waitress was worried about one of the dishes we ordered and found a waiter who spoke good English.  He informed us that the noodle dish we ordered was very spicy, too much for Americans.  Yikes!  He helped us order another noodle dish.  That one turned out to have a kick as well.  I can’t imagine what we would have happened if we tried to eat the first dish. 

The waiter continued to be very attentive to our needs, at one point offering a fork we he saw our difficulties trying to eat noodles with chop sticks.  We left him a nice tip.  But as we walked towards the front door, he came running after us, explaining that the wait staff is not allowed to take tips. 


That night we went to the Sichuan's face changing opera.  It was quite touristy, but still a memorable experience.  There were English subtitles, and very loud, clanging Chinese music.