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Published: October 15th 2009
2nd October - continued After updating my blog I went and met Jenny for lunch and we took a walk towards Renimn Park - the peoples park. There was a nice lake and we hired an electric boat for 30 mins to explore a little! Unfortunatly our boat seemed to be the slowest and we constantly bashed into other boats! We also visited a haunted house type attraction and even though it was very rubbish, Jenny and I both screamed lots! We spent the rest of the afternoon in a Tea House, where I discovered I do not like Jasmin tea!
On the walk back to the hotel we bought Moon Cakes. These are eaten on 3rd October to celebrate Mid Autumn Day but as Jenny would be leaving us on the third, we decided to celebrate that night.
Back at the hotel, waiting for Trang to arrive home I caught some of Beijings National Day celebrations! They had activites on throughout the whole day and it ended in a spectacular firework display! If you can catch a clip on youtube it is well worth a look!
Finally at 8pm Trang arrived back home, very
tired after a long day. We had our final group dinner and then polished off our moon cakes! They are very strange - a mix of pastry with a dark soft filling. I am not sure what is inside!
3rd October - Daves Oasis After a lazy start Jenny left us to get her train and we were dropped off at our new hotel. We are sharing a room with 2 aussie girls and our room is nice and clean and cheap! Trang and I decided to get a taxi to Wenshu Monastry but unfortunatly we got very wet and did not stay for long! For dinner we tried the hotel restuarant but nearly got invited into a wedding! Instead we decided to find Daves Oasis! After a walk through the pouring rain ,we arrived bedraggled and in need of some food! Luckily Dave sold a wide selection, with an english menu and Trang and I both decided to treat ourselves to Pizza! This was our most expensive meal so far - about 7 pound which included 2 barcardi breezers! (I feel like a 16yr old!)
We then returned to our room and Jenny phoned us
from the train to say she was feeling a bit lonely and to check we were doing ok! She has been a brilliant guide and we will miss her lots!
4th October - Meet the rest of the volunteers After leaving the traffic hotel at 11.20 we arrive at our new hotel only to find they have no idea about the booking. Having confirmed only 2 days ago with Real Gap that this is the correct place we hand over the phone number of our co-ordinator and ask them to find out what is happening! Sophia, our project leader then tells us that yes, they have changed the hotel and she will come and collect us in an hour and a half! Thanks Real Gap!! Luckily it is sunny so Trang and I sit playing cards on the steps outside the hotel!
We start to gather quite an audience and suddenly a chinese woman starts talking to us in Chinese! I think she thinks Trang will understand but after showing her the chinese characters for 'I dont understand' she laughs and starts helping me with the game! I think it is quite well known in
China and after 2 rounds, we have beaten Trang everytime!
While enjoying the sunshine after our game, a chinese man came up to us and said hello. I thought he wanted a photograph of us, (this is becoming quite normal now!) but instead handed me his phone! I said hello and it was Sophia! She had sent her husband to come and get us as she was still at the airport!
We me the rest of the group at 6pm for dinner and they all seem lovely. The group consists of:
Chloe, 21 - a university graduate on her gap year!
Marie, 28 - Just on a week break from work!
Tony, 18 - The only volunteer not from England! (Israel). She is teaching us all to play poker!
Jo - Has travelled from Russia to China on the Trans siberean
Sue - Is on an adult gap year!
Greg - As much as a chocoholic as me!
Jan and Paula - Come as a pair! Have previoulsy volunteered in Borneo for 2 months. Both lovely!
Both Jan and Paula have daughters about my age.
Unfortunatly the hotel was the worst we had stayed
in so far! The beds were like rocks and we had a collection of flies in our bathroom!
5th October - Chengdu tour We have breakfast at 9am and are then driven to a Taoism Temple. It is lovely to not have to use the buses anymore or worry about where we are going! The temple is very pretty and ornate and uses a lot more colours than the buddhist temples we have seen. We then go on to a local alley which is full of tea houses and shops. I feel a bit like a celeb as have my photo taken at least twice!
After lunch we head back out into town and visit a Bamboo Park by the river. There is an exhibition onsite for a famous Chinese poet (Xue Tao) and there is a stunning painting which has used the most gorgeous colours! It makes me want to draw and paint so I have taken lots of pictures for inspiration back home!
We visit another tea house for more yucky green tea and spend an hour chatting and getting to know each other. One of the girls has just spent a
month at a martial arts academy - my idea of torture! and also has a similar route to me on her travels.
Dinner is disappointing so 5 volunteers and I make a visit to GoodWood Coffee House! It is lovely and cosy and has big comfy chairs to sink into! I have a strawberry smoothie and a slice of cake while the others have various other interesting concoctions!
6th October onwards - Pandas! The Panda base is at Bifengixia and took about 3 hours to get to from Chengdu. It is the 2nd research centre in China while the original base is at Wolong. As we are very high up in the mountains we sadly get the worse weather and everyday so far has been grey, rainy and misty!
Our accomodation is onsite and there are about 15 guest rooms. Trang and I shared a room with Chloe and Marie to start with but we now have the room to ourselves as they only stayed for a week! Everything in the room is damp but luckily we have an electric blanket to keep us warm at night time! Our bathroom consists of a shower
right next to a chinese style toilet so we have to be careful while showering, not to fall in! Also next to our accomodation we have a restaurant where our meals are served and there is a man selling snacks and drinks in a little hut!
It is a 20 minute walk from my bed to the Panda Kindergarten where I work but if we are lucky we can sometimes hitch a ride with the electic cars transporting tourists about!
Our daily routine is as follows:
8.00 Clean out panda enclosures
10.20 Feed Pandas
11.20 Feed Pandas
14.00 Feed Pandas
15.20 Feed Pandas
16.30 Feed Pandas!
As you can guess there is not a lot to do but the pandas cuteness makes up for it!
The group is split up to work in different areas and Tony and I are at the Panda Breeding Station. We have 5 females in our area but as 3 have babies with them, we only work with 2. They are called Xin Yue and Ying Ping (or Impy as we call her!) The others are You You, Gong Zhu and Na Na. Their babies
are not named yet!
On site they have had 16 babies this year and the youngest is only about 10 days old! Unfortunatly at this age they look a little like rats but get much cuter as they grow more fur!
The pandas eat a mixture of bamboo, bamboo cake - made from rice, soya, sweetcorn and im not sure what else! It smells quite nice though! and carrots and apples.
At the weekend we waved off Chloe and Marie in the morning and then a few of us did a spot of shopping for panda memorabilia! After lunch we went back down to the panda base and watched Pandamonium, a dvd on the Pandas at Wolong.
On Sunday, Jan, Paula, Greg, Sam (another volunteer who was already at the panda base) and I squeezed into a car and went to visit Ya'an city. We stocked up on chocolate, bread and ketchup and I also bought some new socks! (Even though we can wash our clothes here, it is so damp they take too long to dry!) We also visited Dico's, the chinese version of KFC and I endulged in some chicken nuggets and chips! Unfortunatly
I also managed to order 3 drinks with my meal!
In the afternoon Jan, Paula, Sam and I took a 2 hour walk through Bifeng Gorge. There were many waterfalls along the way and apparently it is split up into 1026 stages. One of the falls was 120m high. Luckily our journey was mainly down the gorge and we caught the lift back up to the top.
When we went back for dinner we were introduced to Adam - a new volunteer who has also just graduated from university.
I am now nearly finishing my second week here and although I will miss the pandas and our master, Sun who has taught us what to do, I am looking forward to some sunshine and being able to wash all my clothes!
I hope you enjoy the pictures and here are some interesting panda facts for you!
Pandas in captivity weigh between 80 - 125kg with the heaviest recorded as 181.5kg
There are about 1500 wild pandas left
Pandas spend 10 hours sleeping while the rest of the time is spent seeking for food
The average age for a panda in captivity is
between 20 - 30
A pandas diet is 99% bamboo
The gestation period for pandas is 5 months however it can be as short as 83 days and as long as 324!!
Lots of love,
Katie
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Kim
non-member comment
Pandas, pandas, pandas
Hi Katie, glad to see you are having fun! Im not sure it would be for me, but the pandas do look adorable. Did you manage to hold or stroke one at all? China sounds amazing and very different and it is lovely to see pictures of what you have been doing. Have a good flight to Thailand and keep in touch. Love Mum