The Panda tour was an early start and this proved to be the case not only for us but for the pandas too! The first panda enclosure we went to had 2 adult pandas both of which were still asleep on their raised bamboo bed – hmmm hope this isn’t going to be a theme?! Moving on we went to another two enclosures where thankfully the Panda’s were awake and happily sat eating bamboo leaves! OMG they are so cute.

250 pictures later we moved on to see the red panda’s (look more like raccoons than pandas, however they were still kind of cute) and the baby pandas – the youngest only 8 weeks old (born on Day 1 of our trip!). When the pandas are born they are taken by the keepers and looked after by them until they are ready to go into the enclosures. Apparently there are only 1,000 wild pandas in the world, so at the place we went to, they artificially inseminate the pandas; a) to encourage numbers but also, b) to make sure they don’t degenerate by interbreeding within the same family. You could get your picture sat next to a Panda, which in hindsight I wish I had done, I just thought 40 quid was a little much especially as it was the equivalent to our 3 nights hostel in Chengdu!

After the Panda’s we decided to hire some bikes from the hostel and went for a ride around town – what fun.  It took me a few minutes (Dan says hours!) to remember how to ride a bike however after a few blocks of zigzagging, I got into the swing of things and nearly(!) blended in as a local. We generally get looked at walking around (we are foreigners after all) but foreigners on bikes, buzzing around town – now that was a sight! One guy drove past, looking, as if to say ‘what is this’, I just laughed, he didn’t know what to do so he kind of smiled / laughed back! There isn’t much order to Chinese way of life, its’ all for one and one for all, so Dan and me were ringing our bells and shouting at people to get out of the way, if you can’t beat them, join them – it was great.

That evening on recommendation by Nicole and Matt, we went for a Sichuan Hot Pot. Sichuan food is known for being spicy, this is an understatement. With help from the waitress (who spoke good English) we chose the level of spicy-ness for the hotpot (clearly the lowest level), some beef, lamb, and vegetables. A few minutes later our hot pot of simply liquid chilli’s arrived and placed in the middle of our table. Now I don’t mind mild spicy food, Dan can cope with fairly spicy food, however this was on a different level. By the end of the meal Dan was sweating from head to foot. It was an experience and enjoyable nevertheless, although I did see a Chinese guy hack on the restaurant floor – nice.

Yesterday we went for a day trip to see the world’s largest Buddha (we must have seen the “worlds’ largest Buddha” three times now) with Matt and Nicole who we met on the Panda tour. Realising we had come a long way to possibly only see Pandas we thought we should really do something else whilst in Chengdu; so decided we would follow the Lonely Planet book and visit the Leshan Grand Buddha by public transport and do it ourselves. The day can only be best described as a challenge. We were dropped off outside an entrance gate, where the fee was 120 Yuan (each) to get in, now the book hadn’t mentioned anything about entrance fees, so we were a little suspect. Our suspicion grew as more and more Chinese people swarmed around us trying to pull us in. After a little interlude of Dan having to head back into town (see “Lost and Found” post), we stuck to our guns and walked around to find another entrance, where we  did have to pay but not as much. 

After seeing the Grand Buddha, which was certainly grand (and worth the challenging day trip), we went back to where we got dropped off to get the bus back to Chengdu. When we bought our tickets we asked if they were return, to which the lady behind the counter promptly replied ‘yes’ – great, bargain! Clearly she had no idea what ‘return’ meant, as such we ended up arguing with the guy on the bus back as we thought we had return tickets which in the end turned out to be singles. Regardless we got back safe and sound with all belongings in tow. Although the Chinese are fairly rude and ruthless, generally the majority are doing the right thing – the language barrier just means words get lost in translation.

Whilst waiting in the airport at Shanghai we were conversing with the hostel in Xi’an. They clearly said (I have the emails!) that the airport -> city bus does not run later than 18:00 and we would therefore need to take a taxi or use their service. I replied asking for the collection. Once in Xi’an there was, of course, no one to collect us. I spoke to them on the phone and they had not understood my email so we were on our own. Fortunately Karen was in a determined mood and to our joy we found the bus was still running and after an hour journey we arrived in town! A short walk later we found a joyous hostel!

The hostel was well thought out – it had both a cafe that served food & beer and a basement bar, which unsurprisingly, sold beer! Each night you got two vouchers per person for a free beer and a coffee in the morning – champion! We settled in!

The next day we planned to walk around the city atop the city wall. Now this wall was not quite the Great Wall and had been totally restored but it was and enjoyable stroll – though we decended half way around to visit the train station – that was a sight – people, bikes & taxi’s everywhere, not to mention the buses – but we survied, but plenty of people did the chinese thing: staired at us, particurally Kaz. We decided against the DIY trip to the terracota warriors and opted for the hostel tour – a great decision.

That night we ventrued into the Muslim district of Xi’an to find dinner – another good decision. We wandered amongst the market stalls, sampling some food before opting for a resturant recommendation. We ate like kings and payed a poorpers fee – brilliant!

For our tour money we got: transport there & back, an English speaking guide (her first trip!) and new friends! The army was truely spectacular, it has taken them 45 years to restore 8,000 warriors and they still need to discover 79 chariots (only two discovered & restored to date) so this site may be evolving for some decades ahead – but since they have uncovered one pit – some warriors restored and positioned, others laying in pieces, I think they should leave well alone. The building for pit 1 is a shame – looks like an airplane hanger!

On the way back we elicited another beer voucher from the guide and once back at the hostel we began a night of drinking with our new friends (Adam, Cat, Cass & a doggy!) – some we will definitely meet again first in Shanghai, maybe in Laos? Adam played that night in the bar with his guitar – much better than the local chinese performer and we got happily merry!

With much planning done over the last few days (too much to do, too little time): do we go to Guilin/Yangshou? What do we do in Thailand/Laos/Chambodia/Vietnam/etc and little bookings made, we are now bound for Chengdu & panda’s!