Kramer-style Panda Express
June 26 – Pandas!
This morning we were sad to leave our amazing breakfast and our wonderful friends in Dujiangyan. However, we were excited to see our Chengdu friends and the famous Chinese pandas.
Through a variety of coincidences, Sue and Tyler had gone to Chengdu in April as part of a school visit that Sue had organized for 40 people from Ohlone Elementary School. During that visit they had done a home stay (of the 15 families who went, only 2 did home stays). There they met June, Lee, and their kids Jerry (11), Wendy (7) and their huge cute dog Wanwan (2). Tyler and Jerry had hit it off and Tyler was especially excited to see him again.
The family drove the 75 km from their apartment in Chengdu ( the capital of the Sichuan province) to or hotel to pick us up and take us to the Wolong Panda center another 50 km west of Dujiangyan. They met us at 10am in a rented Buick minivan and we were off. Unfortunately the highway was closed for emergency crews who were using it to move large earth moving vehicles for the tragic landslide in the village of Xinmo which had happened 2 days earlier. As a result, the 30 minute drive became and 75 minutes.
Dujiangyan sits at the foothills of the Tibetian plateau, and within 15 minutes we were winding our way up into the mountains. Like many visitors to Sichuan, we were impressed by the natural beauty of the place and by 11:30 we had arrived at the newly reconstructed panda center. The previous one had been destroyed in 2008 when a 7.9 earthquake stuck 40 km away.
The new center is beautiful done in a eco-friendly style and were among only a handful of visitors. Pandas are most active in the early morning and we were disappointed to discover that the first few enclosures were empty. We were happy when we saw one young adult out who was pacing around. After enjoying his cuteness for 15 minutes, we continued our walk to the “kindergarten” area where 5-7 juveniles were lounging about. So cute!! We especially liked one that had draped himself over the top of a tree and was fast asleep.
Around 1pm, we headed back to the car and on the recommendation of a park worker, set off for lunch at a nearby restaurant connected to a farm. The food was fresh and delicious and after feeding ourselves, we returned to the panda center to watch the pandas feeding at 3pm.
We were glad we did as the sight of young pandas chomping on long bamboo stalks followed by post-meal tree climbing, seesaw riding, and naps was adorable. Tom took a few thousand photos of the whole experience and managed to get a few good ones. Around 4 it began to rain lightly and as satisfied as a well fed panda, we returned to the car for the long drive to Chengdu.
The kids sat in the back row of the van and watched Kung Fu Panda on the iPad until we made it down from the mountains and past Dujiangyan. They nearly finished Kung Fu Panda 2 in the traffic of Chengdu before we arrived at their apartment. By now it was after 7pm and after a few minutes of playtime in the central playground, walked around the corner for a nice noodle dinner. Exhausted, Sue took the kids up to bed at 9pm while Tom explored the neighborhood on foot. This section of town has a suburban feel despite being populated with dozens of 12 story apartment complexes.
Tomorrow we will explore central Chengdu which is another 5km from the 2nd ring road, our current location.