Pandas!

  Chengdu, China
Saturday, April 19, 2008

We arrived late after travelling all day and with some more calamity en route but the hostel is great.  It's a very traditional Chinese style building with a courtyard in the middle, open to the elements, and rooms all the way round with stairs up the sides.  The room is clean, bright and airy which is all we need really.

The pandas were very cute, even if they do look like men in funny coloured bear suits.  We saw adults chewing bamboo, "sub-adults" chewing bamboo and cubs chewing...you get the idea.  They lurve the bamboo, about 20kgs a day apparently (that's the weight of my luggage).  We saw red pandas too, although they just look like a cross between a fox and a raccoon.  We also watched some panda porn and a somewhat graphic breeding video, some of which may form the basis of our nightmares tonight.


For the first time in 6 days, we've not had our photo taken by random locals (not counting the ones where they pretend to be taking a picture of something but somehow the lens is pointing right at us) but a shop-keeper did think I looked like Eminem which I suppose is a sort of compliment.  Our final act in the pleasant city of Chengdu, apart from some strolls around some nice parks, was a haircut for me.  Having been scalped in Cambodia, mauled in Vietnam and disappointed in Australia this was a tad risky but we came away very impressed.  I had it washed 3 times in all, my ears wibbled, head and neck massaged, and it carefully clippered and cut in a non-descript place we stumbled across.  All for less than 3 quid.  They were disappointed not to get their hands on Sarah's blonde locks.  The only downside was an inexplicable finger in each ear during one of the drying steps.