Chengdu and the Pandas

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Chengdu, the place where people come to visit the Panda Breeding Sanctuary. Of course this was on our route around China! The Pandas were really cute, cuddly looking creatures. We walked through bamboo lined pathways from Panda zone to panda zone. Arriving early in the morning enabled us to see the Pandas feeding, the most active time of their day before they slept again. They seemed to go to sleep really quickly in strange uncomfortable looking postitions!

Here go the facts:
Pandas are an endangered species, they live in the NW region of Sichuan province in China, in the mountains. Sights are rare. Scientists say that Pandas have existed for 60,000 years. They consume 95% of their diet being bamboo. However they only eat 20 out of 300 species of bamboo.
They usually give birth to 1 cub, weighing the same as an apple. The Chinese Law forbids hunting, felling trees or charcoal making in Panda regions. Life sentences are given to poachers.

Chengdu, was the place where we had to renew our visas, we'd been in China 30 days already! This took 4 days, so we were stuck in this city for a while! We did some shopping, I bought a more cheerful looking pink fleece and we just enjoyed slowing down the travelling pace for a bit. Having wanted to visit Tibet, obtaining a travelling permit was on our mind. We couldn't do this without our passports though. By the time we received these, Tibet had put on restrictions to visitors, meaning we'd have to wait another 7 days here. We decided to hit the road again and continue our travels.

Next stop was Emei Shan and Leshan.

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Photos

Smile!
A bit blurry, they just wouldn't keep still!

Stuffed full of bamboo!
Time for a sleep!