Since I came to China in 2008 (and visited Beijing, X’ian, Shanghai and Hangzhou) I only planned to stop in to see the Panda Bears in Chengdu and my friends Mark and Sheryl who were now living in Shanghai. So this was really a quick stop with specific cities.
BUT…My Journey from Hanoi to Chengdu wasn’t easy…and I have added the details (or really the not so fun journey to my snafu page (see #5). My patient was tested many times…
Chendgu Pandas – The Panda Breeding Center
I wanted to come to Chengdu, China to see the Panda Bears. I heard and read this was the largest breeding center in the world and the best place to see the Pandas. I also heard you could pay (aka make a donation) to have an up close and personal experience and hold a panda (well for a minute) but that seemed something sorta special.
So I figured when I came to China to see Mark and Sheryl in Shanghai, I would stop in Chengdu first for some Panda loving. When I was talking about this Panda stop, Mark said he would come meet me as he was interested too and no one that had to come visit him in China had every showed interest in going there so he was in. What I didn’t realize until I started researching the breeding center is the Panda park was huge. I’m talking Disneyland size park and they said it could take 3-4 hours to walk around and see it all. There were ever tram busses to take people around the park as it was so large.
So like most of my adventures, getting to the park was half the adventure. Our taxi ride in the morning was a crazy ride to start off. It should have taken us 20-30 minutes from the hotel, but our taxi driver got lost. We even had the hotel write out the address in Chinese for us, but the driver made an honest mistake and missed the exit. What that meant was he had to keep driving and then came to a toll booth and tried to avoid the toll booth and had to talk to “toll police people” then then tried to turn around. When he turned around, it was a different freeway. So in the end…we were on many freeways, were way out of the way and it took us almost an hour and a half to reach the breeding center. The driver felt bad, and we knew we were well out of the way as the meter was more than 2.5 times the expected fare and he finally turned it off as he knew he screwed up. So we got there very late in the morning and there were huge crowds at the ticket office. But Mark and I split the lines and I shimmed my way up front and got us tickets somewhat quickly. The lines kept merging and moving so I kept moving with them and it worked to my advantage.
If You Want to Hold a Panda
We knew when we left the hotel that we were not going to get to hold the Panda’s as you had to be there at 7:30am with a reservation, yet Mark and I both tried to find this out in advance and couldn’t find out how. Mark even tried to work his connections with the hotel executive desk to help, but they didn’t come through. When we left the hotel, one of the bell boys tried to call his buddy at the breeding center to try to get us a last minute slot, but it was too late. Oh well…we realized we missed out, but it was ok. Once I realized you had to wear head to toe blue plastic sanitary wrap to protect the young Panda bears and you only get to hold the Panda for 20 seconds, I wasn’t really interested in paying $325 for that experience. So these things sometimes work themselves out for the best!
** If you want to do this, you have to be there right at the opening (but we learned there is another holding time around 2:00pm but we had a flight that afternoon and couldn’t stay). This photo experience currently costs 2,000 RMB ($325 US) and you get 20-30 seconds holding the panda and a nice keepsake photo plus the knowledge you are helping to improve the Panda population. Not sure how to get a reservation as we tried and tried and there is no way we could find to do this (and I spent A LOT of time online trying to find out). I’m not sure it’s really worth it and I was interested. In the end, I’m glad it didn’t work out as I don’t think it’s worth it personally.
Viewing the Pandas
Once we entered the park, we started to walk around and there about 13 different Panda enclosures and long bamboo walkways (which were overcrowded with tourists). Mark and I were shocked how busy it was, but we thought maybe it was the end of summer and kids hadn’t gone back to school yet. It was crazy busy and very hot! I expected to see the Panda’s out in the open as that is what I saw in all the photos and on the website. What I didn’t account for is we visited in August and it was hot and the Panda’s can’t take the heat. So the Panda’s are outside early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The rest of the time, they are indoors in the Air Con for viewing. Makes sense, we all like the A/C too.
So we were able to see all the Panda’s inside. It was a little sad as all the viewing windows were fogged up and many of the locals were banging on the glass and I just wanted to tell them to stop, but it would have been worthless effort. The Panda’s were very cute. One large Panda saw a little girl put a baby toy Panda up to the glass and then big Panda started to climb the glass towards the toy Panda – maybe thinking it was its baby. Who knows…
This Panda may think this toy Panda is her baby
Baby – I mean New Born Panda’s!
There was one section of the breeding center where we saw the newborns Pandas. I don’t know how many days old they are (as I can’t read the Chinese birth announcements) but they may have been a couple days old. They were so tiny and they were in incubators. There were only two newborns (twins?), and when I was inside viewing, one of the medical staff came in to do some tests. They were so cute and such different fur.
Newborn Pandas
Newborn Baby Pandas in Incubators
In the next window down, there was another baby that was a few weeks older, but still really young.
Baby Panda’s in a separate Panda crib
Mark – How The Local Kids Loved Him!
When I came out of the baby Panda area, I saw Mark surrounded by some of the local Chinese kids and they were having a great time. They all wanted to take photos near him. Mark told me he is used to this and has started to just ask them if they wanted to take a photo with him and he will smile and pose. So once he offered to take one photo with one kid, this turned to another kid, and then turned to a sibling wanting to be in the photo and then another kid wanting to do a kung fu kick at him. It was a little silly and I just kept taking photos of it. Mark said being a tall black man wasn’t as common in China so many times people wanted to take photos with or near him.
Mark posing with local kids
More Panda’s
After Mark had fun posing with the kids, we wandered around the park some more to see more of the Panda areas. We came across a few more enclosures and some Giant Panda’s resting in the larger areas. I didn’t realize they sleep much of the day away and here are some of the fun photos of a few of them.
One of the indoor Panda enclosures – both Panda’s were out for the count!
Close up of one tired Panda in the Air Con enclosure
Such a hard life for this Panda!
A little lunch time delivery for some hungry hungry Panda’s
Another cute Panda enjoying the Air Con
All in all, seeing the Panda’s was a great experience. Knowing what I know how, I wish I would have thought about the weather factor as I would have loved to see them outdoors as they had large outdoor play areas and it would have been fun to see them playing in the outdoor enclosures. But nonetheless…I love the giant Panda’s so it’s all good and worth the horrible travel day to get there.
It’s like the Mickey Mouse at Disneyland…just the Pandas at the Breeding Center
Now it’s time to head to Shanghai to see Sheryl and see where she and Mark live.
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Logistics:
Sheraton Chengdu Lido Hotel – Mark was able to get a great deal at the hotel and since he is a platinum member, we got all the perks and upgrades which was amazing!
This was about 30-45 minutes away from downtown Chengdu. If you want to have the experience holding a panda for a minute and have your picture taken , you need to get a reservation made (in advance) and be there right when it opens. This also costs about 2,000 RMB ($325 US). No idea how to get a reservation as we tried to get our hotel concierge to help in advance but were not successful. We learned at the park there is an afternoon opportunity as well (like 2:00pm or something). Expensive experience, but all the money is used to help save the pandas so good donation.