Pandas!
Trip Start
May 29, 2008
1
68
102
Trip End
Dec 19, 2008
Ya'an, Sichuan, China
Monday, October 6, 2008
The next day was filled with anticipation as we made the trek up the mountains to Bifengxia Panda Reserve which is the only place in the world to play with pandas! Now you must understand the importance of this place to Rachel. Take the noodle soup, duck meals, Great Wall, and other fantastic things China has to offer and they could all be written off the itinerary as long as Rachel could play with pandas. Bifengxia had tons of pandas especially since the only other panda reserve had been critically damaged due to the Chengdu earthquake in May. Due to this earthquake, all pandas had been moved to Bifengxia so there was a plethora in this area. We also learned that you could be a "volunteer" at the reserve for a fee - paying to volunteer kind of defeats the purpose of being a volunteer don't you think. Kind of like a mandatory donation. I love Asian logic. At any rate, we first arrived at one of the panda stations and didn't see the panda in his pen. We turned the corner and there he was just sitting there sitting on his butt, munching on some deliciously ripe bamboo. It really shocked me because they don't seem to you like an animal they seem very human-like. In looking at this panda it really felt like it was a some guy in a panda suit practicing how to look like a real panda for a Halloween party or something. After seeing this panda we went to see a baby panda of maybe a couple of weeks that could have fit into the palm of your hand. Rachel fell in love with the little fella. After waiting what seemed forever, we were finally transported to the staging area to play with one-year old panda pups. The whole area didn't seem very tourist friendly as it was the real deal - an authentic panda reserve that a select few venture to in order to play with these guys. It's a real rare opportunity and not especially cheap. Even at 1 these pups were pretty big and could rip off a limb if you weren't careful. As the trainers prepared their food that we would later feed them, all of the baby pandas clamored at the gate, squealing to get to the food - they were excited. We finally go to enter the panda's play center where they were already enjoying milk sponges and just chewing on them while lounging on their backs. They looked so humanlike. We approached them carefully as the trainers let us not only pet them but play with them. They surrounded us and let us touch their ears and neck while we fed them bamboo. A few times they caught onto Rachel's clothes while reaching for food. They were adorable and extremely friendly. Thankfully these pandas didn't try any kung fu moves on us - we'll leave that to Jack Black.
Comments
Bifengxia
I am going there in June. Thank you for relating your experiences. If you would like to adopt the panda cub, do it through Pandas International www.pandasinternational.org and let them know you've been there.