31st October: Chengdu, China

We got up super early today for another one of those ‘must do’ sights. It was still dark when we hopped in a taxi to head to the northern outskirts and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

We’d pre-booked on the WeChat mini app, just used our passports as tickets and avoided the extra queue most foreigners must join. As soon as the gates opened at 7:30, people started running to get to their favourite pandas first. It was like the start of a horse race as people from each gate ungainly tried to outdo each other in various panda paraphernalia bought in the queue. Everyone further back was just laughing, but all equally as excited. We joined the crowds, eventually being stopped in a queue by staff who were only letting 20 or 30 people through at a time. This was a little irritating, until we realised the reason! We were let through and again stopped in our tracks, this time by the sight of our first panda, laying in the dense foliage to our right. The guy next to me broke down in tears of happiness at having seen a majestic creature that clearly meant so much to him.

Once we were through the bottleneck, we were free to explore. The reason for getting here so early is that giant pandas sleep lots (my spirit animals) and are most active when they’re fed in the morning. The first couple we encountered hadn’t been fed yet but soon enough we saw a big group of people (look for people not pandas!) up ahead. Not just one, but four pandas were munching on bamboo! We waited for people to come out of the scrum and inched our way forwards, careful of any stray boomer elbows. It was a glorious scene as these adolescents took pieces of bamboo from a hanging bucket and rolled back to lean against a useful nearby object to chew through them! Occasionally, they’d roll right over. Going from sitting to standing was just a smooth continuation of the roll! I particularly enjoyed two eating next to each other, who occasionally gently doofed one another when they weren’t sure who’s bamboo was who’s!

I do feel conflicted about visiting what is ostensibly a zoo in most regards. Yes, the stated purpose is breeding and ensuring the survival of this creature whose habitat has been decimated. However, in the past 30 years the centre has apparently taken more giant pandas from the wild than it has released. I don’t know too many of the details, so will leave it there, but it is always uncomfortable to see any animals in enclosures.

Giant pandas aren’t the only attraction here. We moved into a damp woodland area where 5 metal food bowls full of carrots had attracted red pandas down from the trees. These creatures have a larger zone where they can roam and move from enclosure to enclosure. We spotted one way up above in the canopy. Those eating in front of us had had enough carrots and scuttled around in a manner not dissimilar to foxes. Kaja thinks they have cute faces, but I’m not convinced!

The next 3 hours were spent slowly wandering around the 60 or so giant pandas enclosures. Most of the animals were already pretty sleepy and flat out behind bushes, occasionally tempted to munch on the plentiful bamboo thrown into in their enclosures. It’s comfortable weather for them here today, being 21C and cloudy. This is exactly what we’d hoped for by coming at this time of year and we feel lucky to have seen the activity we have. Two more young pandas had found their spots in the crown of trees and were draped there like big balls of fluff. You can see why these cute animals are so popular.

I was exhausted again by now and stumbling a bit, so we got ourselves another £3 taxi back to the city. We got dropped at a food spot about a 10-minute walk from our place that we were keen to try. I was very hungry, feeling like I had some catching up to do! They had some homemade vegan burgers, so I took one of those with mustard and avocado (£2.50). It was amazing and I wolfed it down! I followed this with the same as Kaja was eating – a big bowl of delicious mushrooms and noodles (£1.50).

It’s lovely to be able to eat outside comfortably in a t-shirt on the last day of October! This is exactly the eternal spring/autumn weather I envision when trying to plot out a route for this trip. Of course, it won’t always work out, but it’s lovely to avoid the cold and wet of the UK (for now!).

The food from lunch was so good in fact, that we finally figured out the food ordering mini apps and had 2 more burgers delivered for dinner!