CHENGDU

17TH - 18TH JULY

Woke up feeling like I’d slept well, the train was due to arrive at 6.30 so we were up at 6! But a feeling of home soon crept over us as we realised that the train was running late and was now due to arrive at 7.15, now why we wondered did the guard come round waking everyone up at 6 if she knew the train was running late?!!! I guess that’s another little funny Chinese quirk, never mind about reality just follow your rules regardless or maybe she just didn’t know it was running late - who knows!

Our guide met us at the station and we were able to leave our luggage in the van which meant we could go straight to the Panda breeding centre as the panda’s were more likely to be more active in the morning than afternoon as they didn’t like the heat and generally slept for most of the afternoon! We were all very excited about seeing them and Greg and our guide were
telling us about how generally lazy this creatures were, they usually play for about an hour and eat and sleep for the rest of the time oh and pose for a few photos! It took just under an hour to get to the centre and the heat and humidity hit us once again, it was very sticky weather and the first time in ages that we were too hot, but apparently it was perfect weather for the panda’s! The first panda we saw was laid flat out in a trench in its enclosure, it was full stretch, fast asleep and very cuddly looking! The centre is really nice and the panda’s have loads of room to lazy around in so they have a pretty cushy life. As we walked around we saw more and more of them, there were a couple who were so funny, the both of them were just sat there munching on their bamboo watching all the tourists taking pictures of them, they just looked like they were slobbing out in front of the telly! Others were crashed out full stretch and one did look mildly playful but they did seem to have a chilled vibe