Day four on our own in Beijing

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Panda in the Beijing Zoo

Panda in the Beijing Zoo

Took our time today, slowed down and enjoyed some time on our own

We slept in this morning and started our day with an early lunch. We were off the tour circuit and away from our guide and driver today. We went to the concierge in the lobby for directions to the Beijing Zoo. We were out to find and film a Panda bear.

The process was very straight forward and easy. The hotel has a special card where they write in Chinese where you are going for the taxi driver and on the reverse side is the name of our Hotel in Chinese plus a map to guide the taxi back. Worked very smoothly.

We got to the Zoo and since school is not out for the summer for another week it was not very crowded. Admission prices were listed in English (funny, we paid $5 yuan more each than the sign said - imagine that?!?). Inside they had a self guided tour system, in English, for $40 yuan (about $5 USD). It was a good system small and lightweight. You wear it around your neck and it has an earpiece that wraps around your ear.

You don't have to follow any schedule or direction. It provides you an overview, then you walk through the zoo at your own leisure. There are electronic sensors that trigger the device to start talking about wherever you are - pretty cool and ingenious. It worked well.

We saw lot's of animals and, of course, the Pandas. Check out the 20 second video of a Panda munching on bamboo by clicking on the filmstrip icon next to the picture "The Arbuckles" at the beginning of the blog.

We spent the afternoon cruising the zoo and watching the Chinese families enjoy their time at the zoo and with each other. We say again, Chinese babies are extremely cute! One thing that is very different in Chinese culture versus American practice is that they don't use diapers on the toddlers. Their pants are open in the back to aid in quick potty stops and cleanup. So, Chinese toddler bare butts are running around everywhere. Actually, it's quite cute and we didn't have to witness any demonstrations of the process!

We spent about 3 hours at the zoo before hailing a taxi and heading back to the hotel. It has become pretty clear (or hazy for that matter), that no matter what the weather report says - it is going to be hazy. The haze is associated with air pollution. It was announced yesterday that China now has overcome and surpassed the US for CO2 emissions. If you ask the locals when the last time they saw blue sky, most do not remember when. It is not a brown smog but rather a white haze that prevents seeing very far wherever you go in the city.

1,000 new cars a day join in the mix as only 20% of Chinese have their own car with more achieving the milestone every day.

We came back for an afternoon drink in the lounge and made a reservation at Sophia's here in the hotel. We are treating ourselves to a first class Italian (Chinese version) meal with fine wine later this evening.

Tomorrow, Lisa and Mr. Dong pick us up at 8:30am for transport to the airport for our flight to Xian and the Terra Cotta Warriors. So tomorrow is a travel day and the day after is the visit to the tomb.

Hope all is well with everyone.

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Photos

Panda Bear in the Beijing Zoo (1 of 4)
Generally they nap between 10am and 2pm which is when we were at the Zoo; however, one Panda was up and feeding.

A mongoose!
Don't see one of these around everyday in North America.

Giraffe
The Beijing Zoo had a very nice compound for the Giraffes. All the animals here have been breed in captivity and not captured from the wild.

Ginny and a BIG turtle!
Note the device hanging around Ginny's neck. That is the self guided automated tour in English. It worked very well.

A crane
In China, a crane is representative of long life. Nearly every native animal has a meaning in the Chinese culture past and/or present.