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Published: March 12th 2010
Hope you enjoyed the last blog! Thanks for the comments - its really great to hear from you all! Please keep them coming!!
So... here is what ive been up to since last Sunday!
Sunday 7th March contd. :
After lunch (rice, chicken pieces, pork pieces and veg), i met a new volunteer Vicky, 21, from Scotland and showed her around the area and how to get hot water for the shower etc.
Monday 8th March:
It was very cold and wet all day. Due to the rain, sweeping up the leaves and left-over bamboo in the outside panda enclosure was quite tricky as they all just stuck to the floor!
Later on, i met another new volunteer, Teddy, 29, from Australia however he used to live in Indonesia and his parents are chinese so he's very mulit-cultural and he speaks quite good chinese which is very helpful!
Working with the pandas was the same routine as usual - Morning cleaning out of inside and outside enclosures and 3 feeds of panda cake, apples, carrots and bamboo with breaks in between and the afternoon is 3 more feeds and either some weighing on the pandas, training or anything else that needs done!
Tuesday 9th March: 😱
Tuesday was such an amazing day!! The morning was like any normal morning - cold, dark and wet!! It was snowing/sleeting/hailing and raining and as far as i knew it was a totally normal day!
After noodles for breakfast, i walked to work. It was pouring and i got very muddy, wet and cold and to be honest i was feeling a bit down. During my morning break i went to the office to read/send some emails and on my way back a nice old guy from the office i always say ''hi'' to offered me a lift back up the hill to work in one of th golf-buggy things!
However, when we got to where i work (new leopard mountain) he got out and said something to the keepers in chinese and ushered me back into the buggy. We drove down the other side of leopard mountain and i had no idea what was going on and there were LOADS of balloons, banners, posters, blow-up arches, red carpets, flowers, journalists and photographers!!
I was shuffled inside and a lady came up to me and explained that the panda ''Taishan'', who had been in quarentine for a month after coming over from Washington DC, was ready to be released and this was all a huge press conference/celebration event!
I met an american lady who had worked with Taishan in Washington and had come over specially to see his release! She kept saying how proud she was of him!!
The rules are that it a panda is born to two ''chinese parents'' that after a loan period it must come back to China. Taishan is now 4.5 years old and his time was up!!
We were given red shirts which said ''welcome Taishan'' in chinese on and also a panda cuddly toy, and a ''panda bag'' just for turing up!! I was lucky as i was the only volunteer from my group to go... not sure if it was just luck that the guy from the office happened to drive past at the right time or what but either way im not complaining!!
Later on, a group of us planted some bamboo in honour of Taishan and to welcome him etc and all the time there were photographers and press asking questions/interviewing me and taking pics! I was wearing my wooly panda hat as it was so cold and they all seemed bery impressed by it!
After this, back on the red carpet, there where lots of speeches made by important people such as the mayor of Ya'an (nearest city - about 1/2 hours away). Myself and 3 others recieved certificates thanking us for volunteering, helping and being a part of the day and we had to shake the important peoples hands when recieving the framed certificates!! I wasn't sure whether to bow/curtsy or not!
We were then ushered to the new enclosure for Taishan and asked to write messages of love and good luck/welcome on panda-shaped cards attached to the edges of his enclosure.... yet more press pics and interviews followed!!
A little while later, Taishan arrived in a smallish cage and was carried up the red carpet by 4 keepers. Loads of people pushed and crowded around him desperately trying to get film footage/pics/ a glimpse of him! He was then released into his indoors enclosure and after about 5mins of photos etc he was allowed into his outside enclosure. He jsut walked around sniffing everything and then sat down and started to eat bamboo like nothing had happened! He was very calm and relaxed the whole time even though it was very noisy and bustle-y!!
Soon after, everyone started to leave in lots of golf carts and were taken up to the dining room/restaurant (where i eat everyday) for a huge celebratory meal! There were about 10-15 dishes on each table and hundreds of people eating away and talking very loudly (which the chinese seem to do a lot!)!! Some of the food included a whole fish (which didnt appeal to me!), ''chinese bacon'' (100%!F(MISSING)at!!) and Duck (Yum Yum...much better choice!)
After lunch we walked to the main front entrance and waited in a warm office for a while to be told what to do next. Then we were driven down to the office with the computers in and were then told that the press/someone important wanted a picture of the volunteers with a little baby panda from the kindergarden! Normally a picture with this young a panda is 300pounds and i got it FOR FREE!! YAY!!
There were about 8 of us in the pic and only one lady got to hold it. Apparently she comes every year to volunteer so i can understand why she got to hold it... anyway, i was kneeling just infront/slightly to the side of the baby panda and got lots of sneaky little strokes in . As it was so cold i still had my panda hat on and the baby was scrabling to try and play with the bobbly ears on it and they were all laughing saying he kept leaning forward to kiss me and meet another panda!! He was ADORABLE!...but kind of smelly actually!
What also made everything so great was that it was all a complete surprise and i had no idea when i got up that any of that was going to happen!! I was extremely lucky to be involved with everything!!
After all of this i met up with Sophia again (who brought me here last week) and met the 3 new volunteers... Mel, Helen and Helen! They are all lovely and we have been having a good laugh!
Wednesday 10th March:
When i woke up i was surprised at how light it was as usually the sun only rises during breakfast! I opened my curtains and everything was covered in SNOW!! There was a bright blue sky and everything looked beautiful - the mountains were as clear as id ever seen them and looked totally stunning.
As it had been so wet the last few days the inside enclosures needed to be washed as the pandas tend to make them very muddy! We just used a hosepipe and wire-y brush to wash the floors and walls - hard work, but fun! Not that they stay clean for very long....!
Once the snow from the morning melted, it was a beautiful HOT(ish!) day! As it was so nice, after work in the afternoon, Mel, Helen, the other Helen and I decided to go exploring around the area. We ended up going on a wooded walk/trail to ''Green Lake'' which was just just a large lake full of algae! We also saw waterfalls, huge gorges, a tower and huge house on the side of the mountain opposite which looked fairy-tale like! I really enjoyed have lots of new volunteers around as it means theres always someone to talk to and something to do!
After dinner, we played cards in my room and i learnt how to play poker - and i WON!! Though my ''poker face'' needs some practice as it's just a big grin!! We were betting with kirby grips, hairbands and foxes glacier mints!!
Thursday 11th March:
The day started off cold as usual but ended up being a lovely bright day like Wednesday! Work was the same as usual though there are always different things to see/do and different keepers to work with so its not at all boring.
However, what is getting boring is the rice....!! On Wednesday and Thursday we had rice with every meal... slightly tedious to say the least!
In the afternoon, i showed the two Helens around ''leopard mountain'' (where i work) and then we went back to the kindergarden to watch the baby pandas being fed... totally adorable!! When they know the milk is being prepared they start to climb the railings and squeak/squeal and get generally very excited!! After their dinner, the all have to be wiped down with a cloth becuase they get covered in milk!! They dont particularly like this and always try to bite and cling onto the cloth...or the keepers legs!!
Later on, Helen and i went on another ''exploration walk''... the site is so big im not sure you could ever go on all the trails/see everything but what we have seen so far is beautiful scenery! One of the trails was very overgrown and more like a bamboo forest which we pushed ourselves through! Another path just suddenly dissappeared in front of us with evidence that it had been there before 1/2 way down the mountain side!!
Before dinner, as it was such a sunny afternoon/evening we all sat in the sun outside our rooms and read/did puzzles which is such a nice change from when i arrive when i t was ALWAYS cold, cloudy and usually wet and you wouldnt want to spend any more time outside than you had to!
Friday 12th March:
So far today we have had work as usual - Mel and I both work on leopard mountain which is really fun 😊 ! Before and after lunch we all sat outside washing our clothes/hanging them out to dry and generally relaxing in the sunshine!
We have decided that tomorrow we are going to go to Leshan (2hour drive away) where there is a giant buddha carved into the rock which is quite famous and in all the guide books(about 200metres high i think!) and Sunday we are all hoping to go to Ya'an (nearest city) to have a massage!! Teddy had a massage on Thursday night becuase he hurt his leg and said a 2hour full body massage only cost him 8pounds - BARGAIN!! Im very much looking forward to the weekend!!
Hope this is as interesting as the last one and not too repetitive!! Would be great to hear what you think about it all!! x
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aunty morry
non-member comment
great blog!
hi sweet Carly! keep up with the daily reports! sounds great - apart from the toilets!! I could live without THEM! Hope it gets warmer soon - although it is no different here! Loads of snow again. take care, enjoy life and keep in touch! lots of love aunty morry! xxx