Pandas in the Mist in Chengdu
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Published: April 7th 2007
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Giant Panda
Busy doing one of his three favourite pastimes... Chongqing to Chengdu
Matt and Ed Matt:
After four days of singing, dancing and drinking our way down the Yangtze, we were woken for the final time by the chimes of our cabin tannoy followed by a couple of lines of Chinese and (apparently) an English translation. Ed (who has become an expert in Chinglish), explained that the message had announced our arrival in the city of Chongqing and told us that we were being booted off the MV Emperor. I groaned, and through a half opened eye, peered out of our porthole only to be depressed by what lay beyond.
Chongqing definitely would not win any beauty contests! Its 32 million residents cling precariously to the sides of several rocky mountains that drop steeply into the brown polluted waters of the Yangtze. Apart from its huge population and an expertise at manufacturing chemicals, the city is known for its fog… That’s about all folks!
The enormous skyscrapers that stared down at our boat provided a pretty scary manmade contrast to the amazing natural landscape that had towered over us during the previous days.
After checking out, we met our driver for the four hour drive north west to Chengdu. Our journey
Rude awakening
Some inconsiderate German tourist just paid A$150 to wake him up! took us from the pea soup metropolis of Chongqing, through rice patties and over rolling hills into the neighbouring province of Sichuan (of food fame). Two bathroom breaks, and a couple of hours of sleep later, we arrived at our destination (without any help from my mum’s medicine cabinet).
Thankfully, Chengdu has a little more to offer than the city that preceded it. Apart from a modest population of only(!) four million, the city is home to an array of temples, teahouses and tiny restaurants. Chengdu also has one other significant drawcard: it is home to the largest collection of captive Pandas in the world at the poetically named Giant Panda Breeding Research Base of Chengdu.
Upon arriving in town, we were met our guide Carrie and taken to one of the local eateries to taste the local cuisine.
Ed and I love having Sichuan in Sydney, so were pretty excited about having Sichuan in Sichuan. After the bland flavours of the Emperor, the spiciness gave our tastebuds a well needed kick up the Chongqing. It was exactly what we needed before heading over to Chengdu’s other major attraction.
Move over
">Fainting Goats, I have a new
Hanging out in the hood
(One of the panda cubs) favourite animal and thy name is Giant Panda (or as I now prefer to call them, ‘Black and White Cuddle Teddies’). I don’t know what the record is for the use of the word ‘adorable’ in a blog is, but I think I might be about to break it…
For a start, Pandas are ADORABLE and I ADORE them (you get the picture)! The Base is home to around 90 Giant Pandas, including nine cubs that were born in August last year. The residents live pretty happily in enclosures that mimic their typical living environments and are provided with a constant supply of the rare type of bamboo that they crave.
The Base also provides the black and white beasts with plenty of space to roam, even though they are not really the roaming type. In fact, the life of the Giant Panda seems pretty sweet; a typical day is filled with eating up to 38kgs of bamboo, sleeping and pooping. Once every blue moon, your typical giant panda at the breeding centre might work up enough energy to actually do some breeding, but they don’t really have much of a sex drive (apparently its all just too
Panda cub
(They play football too) much effort). This has meant researchers at Base have had to take the Cuddle Teddies by the horns and force them into an IVF programme.
Apparently giant panda IVF programmes don’t come cheap and so the Base has had to invent innovative ways of raising funds. For around A$150, visitors to the centre can nurse a giant panda cub. For around A$100, visitors can pose with a full grown giant panda. Or for the more frugal visitors, A$10 will buy you around 10 minutes with a baby red panda, around 50 of which also call the Base home. No prizes for guessing which one Ed and I chose!
After leaving the Base and checking into our awesome hotel, we went to one of Chengdu’s 2,000 teahouses so that we could sip tea and talk pandas with the locals. Unfortunately, the chosen teahouse had run out of tea (I’m serious) and so we were forced to find another place to drink with the locals. After doing a couple of laps of a city block in search of another without success, we ended up settling on lattes at Starbucks.
That night we headed to a local variety show which
Panda cub
Don't they look like the Ewoks in Star Wars? included performances by local puppeteers, jugglers and singers. I watched. Ed slept.
After the show, Carrie took us to a local restaurant to enjoy Chengdu’s local specialty: hotpot, something that is definitely not for the faint hearted or weak stomached. The huge fired pot at the centre of the table was filled with a bubbling broth of chillies, Sichuan peppers and as many other hot spices the chef could muster. We then emptied the typical contents of a high school biology class into the molten mixture: beef, eel, ox intestine, tripe, sheep brains, and one fully grown green frog (complete with head, eyes and skin) - no animal was safe! The resulting steaming mess was like a gastronomic wheel of fortune. Thankfully after a couple of Sichuan peppers, our tastebuds gave up completely, which allowed us to munch away in blissful ignorance.
We had fun during our short break in Chengdu. Although still touristy with the pandas, the boiled frogs and sheep's brains made the city feel more ‘Chinese’ than most of the places we have been so far.
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N/G
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Tasty
Pandas sound great, but would have to pass on the stew. Do hope you both stagger back to Sydney fit and well. Looking forward to your return. LoveN/G