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Published: October 22nd 2005
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Bamboo, there's a nice change....
A GIANT panda in Chengdu Panda Sanctuary. After an uneventful time in Xian we were looking forward to moving on to Chengdu and we were not disappointed. We arrived at night and began our journey on foot to our hostel. We got pretty lost but 4 different locals along our way approached us to offer help and were very friendly, instantly we knew this was a great place.
Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province located in southwest China, and bordering Tibet. There are two main attractions that the tourists flock to: the Giant Panda Breeding Centre and the Biggest Buddha in the World. So off we went to visit both of them.
Over eighty per cent of the world's pandas live in Sichuan province with only an estimated 1000 remaining in the entire world.
The current goal at the Giant panda Breeding Centre is to increase the captive population of giant pandas and then ultimately to reintroduce them to the wild.
We had to get up relatively early to get to the centre as later in the day the Panda's are fairly lazy. It was amazing to see the pandas interacting with one another in such a natural environment, they really are amazing
Chengdu Panda Sanctuary
the entrance in Sichuan. animals. We were lucky enough to see a new born panda and it's mum feeding.
They have quite a job breeding panda's at the base as most males show no interest in females in heat, or they are overly aggressive to them, in fact they often have to artificially inseminate the females.
We loved seeing the panda's and it was great to see them being looked after so well in a very natural environment, also there is research going on all the time at the centre to find better ways of breeding the Panda's so there is hope that the population will increase.
Next stop the Giant Buddha of Leshan. We arranged a day trip to see this wonder and it certainly was a day to remember. We were on a tour with three Israeli's and a Japanese man and were driven by a mad Chinese man who could not speak a word of English and did not seem to know how to drive or where to go, fun! We did get there eventually and made our way towards the Buddha, hampered by the mass crowds of Chinese tourists who have no idea of the queuing principle
Where did I put my car keys?
not in that pocket. A man in a Panda suit in Chengdu. and try their best to squeeze and push down some fairly steep stairs. This you could say was 'my worst nightmare’!! Andrew did a good job of pushing them out of the way in return and it was all worth it though in order to see the Buddha.
The Buddha measures 71 meters in height. His shoulders are 28 meters across. The head is 14.7 metes long and 10 meters broad with total 1021 buns of hair on it. The instep, which is 8.5 meters wide, can accommodate 100 people. The toe is large enough to accommodate a dinner table. Taller by 17 meters than the standing Buddha in Afghanistan, Leshan Giant Buddha is therefore the tallest Buddha in the world and in 1996, it was added to the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List.
It was said there was a river monster that lived at the spot of the Giant Buddha and he often caused floods that caused many deaths. The Buddha was therefore constructed in order to pacify the monster and so protect the boatmen who traveled along the river.
It was a mammoth project and finally after 90 years the Buddha was finally completed
Shhhh! - Don't tell him I'm here
This Panda is useless at hide and seek. in 803.
And that brings our Chengdu experience to an end, next stop Kunming.
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Jackie
non-member comment
Pandas Yesssss
Thank you sooooo much for sharing the panda pictures. I have been in love with these bear cats since 1988 and I have always wanted to go to china and visit them there. I am so glad i ran across your blog and was able to see your pictures... Thank you for sharing!! If you can smuggle one of them home that would be cool LOL J/K i have a whole room dedicated to Pandas with pictures I have taken and stuff people have given me. I love em! ok I will shut up now Have a great journey and thank you again for sharing Jackie