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Caught the 1.30pm overnight train to Cheng Du. It was a soft sleeper this time which means that we had a cabin with just 4 bunks in (similar to, but more roomy than the Trans Sib). Everyone chilled out or slept for a while before embarking on games of backgammon and then 'in betweenies'. The latter being a high-brow game of intellect skill and chance, where players receive 2 cards each and then bet an amount as to wether a third card is likely to fall 'inbetween' the first two. Brendan has discovered a particular talent for this and won (us) a massive 100 RMB (approx 6 pounds). We amazingly fitted 10 of us in one cabin to play this.
Fortunately we all get on really well and are happy to be allocated adjoining bunks, but 2 of the group (the Scots) found themselves sharing with an elderly Chinese couple, who were so lovely that Julie and John stated that they wanted to take them home. This opinion was rapidly reversed however when in the middle of the night Julie awoke to find the little old lady covering one nostril and emptying the other directly onto the floor of the
cabin! Here there is a strong culture of spitting/ loudly clearing ones throat and then depositing it on the path/station/wherever. (Apologies if you are reading this over lunch or before your tea!) It is really revolting and the Chinese are working hard to eradicate the practice (with some success) prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008). We have now learnt the Chinese noises for disgust and 'chorus' them whenever anyone thinks that 'its better out than in' in our vicinity.
We retired early (about 11pm) ready for a rude awakening at about 4.30 for a 5,30 am arrival.
1.58 am . Awoke as a co-traveller returned from the loo, believed it to be morning and got dressed and ready prior to belatedly checking the time - doh! Couldn't get back to sleep 'till about 4am.
4.30am rude awakening from woman needing to exchange our plastic tickets for our original paper tickets ones- submitted for exchange the previous evening- bonkers system! At least there were no cockadoodledo alarms.
5.3- arrived at Cheng Du. This tiome b and I were first off determined to avoid a reoccurance of our arrival at X'ian. No need however as the train
terminates here and we simply have to stand around with our packs while the others leave the train at their leisure. Get to hotel and no room sready , so sorry but no showeres yet - go for breakfast and set off to visit the Panda reserve at 7.30 (it's important to visit early in the day as this is when they are eating and at their most active).
The reserve and research station is very well set out and presented with lovely surroundings and lots of signposts explaining things. It's incredibly green and the early morning freshness reminds me of early mornings in Greece.
I'm quite moved by my first unexpected sighting of a Panda- they really are amazing to look at. They live quite a sedentary lifestyle with adults splitting their time between eating and resting. The first one we see is eating bamboo - it's staple diet. Giant Pandas can be traced back to 8000 years BC and were originally carnivors. Their lack of speed and hunting ability eventually resulted in their evolution into the herbivors that they are now. Pandas only eat bamboo and of all the bamboo types they only eat a
small percentage. This limited diet is one of the reasons that they are an endangered species with only about 1,000 remaining in the world. The ever-increasing need for China to provide for its huge population growth has led over time to a greatly reduced natural habitat.
There are 4 research centres in this region where breeding programmes are underway, but sadly the resulting baby Pandas will never/can never be released into the wild.
The first Panda we saw was 'sitting' munching on bamboo. Their paws have 4 digits, a thumb and a second thumb/pad which has evolved over time to enable the bear to effectively hold the bamboo to strip it. Its quite bizarre standing very close to these animals while they nonchantly select, peel and munch the bamboo. Periodically they will lie back amd rest. Others were in trees, slumped. We took tons of photos. These will be uploaded as soon as we can find an Internet place with the facility to do this. The Chinese internet cafes seem determined not to have computers with CD drives, although there are many Kodak shops in which to burn them from the camera memory cards - daft.
We
also saw red pandas which look like a cross between a fox and a racoon. Final stop at the sanctury was the cinema which showed a film depicting the breeding patterns of the Pandas. The cubs are born underdeveloped and weiging the same as an apple. The mother carries the cub in her paw for a month or so - even whilst eating and sleeping. The cubs are very, very sweet.
We were dropped of at one of the oldest Buddists temples in the area, which also had lovely gardens (where I managed to persuade some locals to let me take their photo). I have realised, but not put into practice that the best approach is to take someone's photo, show them the picture, and then catch their reaction with a second camera. Their response is usually a huge grin. Also in the temple gardens was a well known vegetarian restaurant where Brendan, Gavin, Felicity and I stuffed oursleves stupid on vegetarian sausage and duck.
We headed back to the hotel by way of a Carrefour supermarket for some snacks and alcohol for an upcoming boat trip. Its wierd seeing a continental supermarket in China . it's a
vast place. They had some unexpected things for sale including garden furniture (just like Asda/Tesco) and travel eyemasks and earplugs. Certainly a sign of the times. I bought several t-shirts for a pound each and some socks (50p for 3 pairs) and some imported Gordon's Gin for 5 pounds. It felt wrong but the local alternative was rice wine. The t-shirts have really random English sayings on them, but more of that later.
Brendan had no luck in finding trousers as he is 50% bigger than most of the Chinese. His trip was made worse, he came back looking all offended from looking for hair gel as a shop assistant quite forcibly suggested he buy a facial wash :-).
In the evening we decide to treat ourselves to a Chinese health massage and agree that we will do this before we update the travel log. We take a taxi across the city (50p) to a street where we know that there are 2 massage parlours side by side. One of these is run by 'John', a graduate of the local school of Chinese medicine where he studied for 4 years. Its a wierd set up, with 4
beds separated by curtains, but with the front open to the street. We were invited to lie down on adjacent beds (fully clothed) and John began on B and I got his female colleage. It was the best massage ever for only 15 yuan (1 pound) for an hour! After about 20mins we were asked if we wanted a special lotion for muscle pain - only 5 yuan (30p) - okay, then after 45 mins, they pointed to 'scraping' on the price list - only 10 yuan. This turned out to be literally scraped by a bone item that looked like a comb without teeth. B tried it first and said it was quite nice. Finally after abut 50 mins they pointed to 'cupping' on the card which was 5 yuan. I was quite intrigued as I'd heard about it, B wasn't so sure so they demonstrated on him. I nearly fell off the table! I couldn't believe I hadn't brought my camera . John had a tea cup size glass dome placed on B's upper back which he lifted to insert momentarily a burning rag held by a pair of forceps. He then quickly lowered the cup which created
an instant vacuum, causing the skin to pucker up into the dome. I've never seen anything like it in my life. This was followed by 5 more- 1 with a flame and the others with a sort of suction gun. My 'lady' had started mine by this time and there was a sort of smarting/stinging snsation but this quickily subsided and it felt really nice. We reluctantly left the massage parlour after about an hour and a quarter, feeling very relaxed. When we got back to the hotel we saw with horrow the great red welts on our backs - we looked as though we had some form of giant pox.
The next morning we discovered that Flick and Gavin had enjoed the same treatment as us at the same time, just next door. They had similar marks, which fortunately reduced over the next day or so, but we still have bruises! It'a meant to be very good for you and apparently all the rage in Hollywood, so it's good enough for us even if we did look like a pair of dice!
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Alec
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Brilliant timing
When you first set off I briefed my students on your planned trip, and we looked at the intended route on wall-maps and on a globe but on the day we first managed to get through to your travelblog we were also going to view the second instalment of the video (film) "The Great Panda Adventure". Couldn't believe the luck of seeing the travelblog screen filled with pandas and you two! The images are superb and, with the info about the eating and reproduction habits, made for unusually well-customised teaching/learning material! (Have to admit that I'd never heard of red pandas.)