China Trip Journal - 7

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China Trip Journal - 7 ***

Thursday, October 16, 2008
6:40 PM


T and I decided to go on our routine workout at 5:00am, unfortunately I was feeling too lazy today. We decided that he will just get his breakfast and go to work. I decided to just get ready and hang out in my room until the third U.S. presidential debate was over then go to my usual spot at the lounge and watch any people that comes and go.

Surprise!!! I received a phone call from the front desk about a Panda tour and they're waiting for me downstairs. Yikes! I thought they got the wrong person. I called T and found out that their assistant had decided to take me to the tour they've been finalizing since last week. I didn't think it's going to happen, since I didn't hear from T or her at all.

So, my day was AWESOME!!! Who was in the trip? Well, Jennie (General Manager's assistant), Louis (Tour guide), Driver (Driver…), and me. My tour guide needed a tour guide…funny. Jennie was very nice and she tried to make the trip as pleasant as possible. She jumps in front of me all the time to pay, but since I don't want anyone to think anything about my husband taking advantage of anything but of course I made a major effort into giving her the money back.

Here's my expense report so far…

Panda tour:
Soda for three people: 15RNB
Panda Souvenirs: 290RNB
Lunch at the Tea house for four people: 190RNB
Wouhou Temple Entrance: 120RNB
Wouhou Picture girls dressed up in Chinese Costume for two: 60RNB
Book: 25RNB
Jinli Street Snack for me: 18RNB
Jinli Street Tea gifts: 360RNB
Tour guide Fee: 200RNB
A grand total of : 1278RNB/$182.5

Actually it's not bad for a personal assistant to enjoy the tour and help me, a driver, an exciting lunch, a personal tour guide, and a personal van to take me around. Definitely a tour like this in the U.S. can easily cost at least a few thousand of dollars if not more. Well, maybe plus 80 dollars for the driver and the fuel re-fill. But honestly, can't beat the personalize package. Since this is a one time deal, I just enjoy the company and the tour.

So, we went to the Panda place first and I had such a wonderful time. Walking around in the park is very relaxing, and peaceful. The Panda are great to visit. They just ate their bamboo ration and put on an unintentional show for all the viewers. They are just sooooo cute and cuddly.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mtml072/PandaBase#


What I've learned is that, the Panda population is almost extinct. There's only a thousand of these living both in the wild and in captivity in China. Definitely, there are some around the world but for sure it's not a large number. It's sad to think and be aware of such wonderful species dying out. They almost look like the most gentle of all bear family. Well, from the way the handlers are working with them, even when they are big enough to maul who ever comes near; it's just as if handling a child.

We also saw the "Red" Panda, and they look like a raccoon to me. They are a smaller family of bears, and their type is not on a large number either.

Then we saw a documentary about how the reservation started, breeding, and birth giving of the Panda. The first Panda that was sent back in the wild; Xiang Xiang is the name I think, im not sure if I remember it correctly. He was unfortunate enough not to survive long after his released in the wild. From what my tour guide said, since he was a male Panda and the population for females are scarce males have difficulties in finding a mate. They are solitary animals, and some that do live amongst other Panda are in small number, and a small group. I was told that he was fighting with other Panda and had a bad heart, then he fell from a cliff of some mountain. He died after one year out in the wild. The next batch released in the wild were pairs of two. Two male and two females, and from what I understand all four still lives.

The Panda number grew over time. The birth rate has been better though out their trial and errors, but the survival rate is still a little low. If I remember it correctly, there's 170 baby Panda born in a year, and only 110 survives. The mating process was difficult, and the success rate is almost zero. One part of the film shows a male Panda trying to get it Jiggy with his mate, and he got harshly rejected. He was standing behind her and forcing her to mate, and she gave him the big abrupt growl with fangs all out. My tour guide said, that since mating is very difficult to achieve in captivity, the caregivers have concocted a trick to make the male and female Panda to practice; and this is with a carrot at the end of the string tied on a stick, dangling in front to give them some sort of motivation and practice at standing up to get ready to mate. Well, it seems like this will not produce any results for a long time, so they've decided to put both the male and female under sudation to extract and to inject. So far this technique has been successful. Just no fun for both of them...

According to the film, the mama Panda doesn't know how to handle it's cubs the first time she gives birth. This usually resulted to the palm size baby Panda comes flying out of it's birth canal like a cannon ball. The worst part, if it lands near the mother and cries then it's trouble for the little guy. The baby gets pummeled buy its mother. Imagine an approximately 250 pound thing pummeling a pound of flesh on the ground…So that's how mama Panda learns about birth giving and caring for its young for the first time. But of course, the caregivers normally rush into the cage and risk their own lives just to save the baby. It's quite amazing to see such dedication and the lack of fear just because you wanted something good to happen for these endangered species. Unfortunately, I was not brave enough to even hold a baby panda (~10pounds) and have my picture taken with the little guy. My thought…It's still a bear! I shopped for a few little souvenirs, and we then left for our next stop.

Lunch time!!! So they have decide to take me to a tea house inside some hotel. It's very busy, and I think the hotel's name is "California Hotel." While we were waiting we decided to go to the restroom at the tea house before lunch…Ahhh!!! I was afraid that squat toilets still exist, and there it was; me staring at it, and "it" staring back at me. Funny, ha ha! I figured, why not! The problem is…I'm not even going to mention any detail on my journal…I never got to that point. I just couldn't, call me spoiled. But, I'd rather wait a little longer until I see a clean toilet where you can sit and toilet paper and some sort of a toilet seat cover!!! So I ran out of the bathroom.

So after that ordeal, we went back to the restaurant not knowing what we're going to have for lunch. So they suggested Hot pot. Hot pot is boiling oil on half, and water on the other half. Everybody dump what ever…like vegetables and meat. Just like Shabu-shabu. Then everybody pick their own stuff out of the pan while they use the same chopsticks to eat with. Unfortunately, I like dipping my own chopsticks on my own bowl and not having other peoples chopsticks double dipping until the food is completely consumed.Call me squeamish, but no! not this time! Call me a chicken, I am not sharing food with double dipper chopsticks...

So they ordered something that I was confused bout…First there were four appetizers; corn with some light in colored sauce and pieces of pigeons. I tasted the corn first, before I was told that the dish contain pigeons. Then, there's a battered fried collie flower type vegetable. Third appetizer, is blackened chicken, with spices and red Sichuan style sauce; it did not taste like chicken at all! It didn't taste bad or anything, just puzzling. The meat is really tender but slightly stringy. I was told it's chicken meat, but I'm still skeptical. Last, but not the least, fungus or mushroom. It's crunchy and black. I've had this before in the Philippines, so that's not new.

Then while I was waiting for the waitress to come and get our orders, they just keep bringing us more and more bowl of all sorts of dishes. I've taken a picture of all of them, so I can sort of explain what they are and describe what they taste like.

See Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mtml072/TeaHouse#

Next stop, Wuhu Temple.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mtml072/WuHouShrine#

The temple shows the visitor the relics they've acquired and maintain through out the history of Chengdu or the Shu dynasty. The Shu dynasty was one of the three kingdoms and Sichuan province is its home. The three Kingdoms were Shu, Wei, Wu (Note: Need to check all the names since I got most of them wrong.) The oversized tablets is the General's list of accomplishments. They do this to show what good they have done to the area of place they govern though out their lifetime . One of them has a giant tortoise under the tablet, representing the weight of its accomplishments. Then its good luck to touch the head of the tortoise; since I sort of believe in luck of course I have to touch its head.

Then we arrive at the Emperor's tomb. The tomb is like a round about with a good amount of trees and other vegetation on top of it. I was told that the province lack wealth to make a more extravagant tomb for the emperor, that's why a garden is all what they have given him. Well, it was the love of the emperor for his people that made his tomb very modest. Also, servants, wives, and favorite concubines are also buried with the emperor, but since he is not the type who would want to make his people suffer just to satisfy his own selfishness he only have the two wives buried on each side and him in the middle. I think both wives lived up to their natural life.

There are a lot of things I've seen during that tour, but just the very touristy thing I've done so far is to dress up like I was in some dynasty and have a picture taken with the girls wearing the same costume. Then we also visited a garden. Well there's not much story to tell about the touristy stuff, since there's no history behind taking a picture with girls in costume.


Check out link for more photos!
http://picasaweb.google.com/mtml072/JinliStreet#

Next stop Jinli Street. Here there's a lot of little nick knacks tourist can buy. There's a sugar artist that for 15RNB they can make an three dimensional sort of replica of an insect, animal, and many other design out of sugar. And, for 3RNB they will ask you to spin the dial and wait for it to stop at any of the design on the board, then they'll make you a sugar candy based on the picture on the spin table. They are very quick and they are very proficient at making this candy art as well. Then, we past a clay artist. It's almost like caricature on clay. But It's also amazingly precise to the picture or actual person they based it on. There is an outdoor opera show, unfortunately we didn't know what time or day they normally would perform. So that one is still on my list of things to do.

Towards the end of the day, when I was looking for an envelop there was a camera crew and a reporter. She approached me and started talking to me in Chinese. Well, I have the same reaction as I've always had since we arrive…So my tour guide explained to me that she's a journalist, that she wanted to show that there are tourist that are enjoying themselves at this touristy spot and she just wanted to show that Chengdu is booming. Well, something to that effect. So Jenny asked me if I can dance, and I am not sure what is about to happen nor a no clue what really is going on. And so I she tried to explain things to me as best as she could, then she turned to me and said "dance!" the reporter started playing a flute like bamboo instrument and I started with my hands on my side looking like a hula dancer of some sort. Then after a minute I just realized that the camera man was actually zooming in on me. Then, I grab Jenny's arm and hid behind her. So that's another funny part of my tour…I was probably on Chengdu TV news that evening.

So the day is over and we decided that I should be back at my hotel. I had a ton of fun and I've seen new things, learn a little of the Chinese culture, and hang out with some locals.

One thing I regret is that, I can't venture out on my own. I totally blend in and get treated like I'm local, which scares me a bit since I really have no clue how they do things here in this part of the world. But, I'll just keep my eyes and mind open to more adventures to come...

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Photos

Jinli Street
Chinese Pancake from what I was told.

Jinli Street
The birds nest is considered medicinal.

Jinli Street
Some type of dried up worm that comes alive when you put in water, and it is also considered medicinal.