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  Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Saturday, October 1, 2011

The much awaited and mandatory visit to the panda reserve occurred today. Along with 15 others from the hostel we arrived to the park by 9:00AM, supposedly prime feeding time. Per the counter on my memory card I shot some 100 photos of the furry bears feasting on bamboo, lounging, hiding in the trees, eating and lounging again. We walked through the nursery to view the newborns and watched a short, informative film about the facts and statistics of the Giant Panda.

When I booked my return flight to Shanghai I was under the impression that I wouldn't need much time in Chengdu. That was based on other’s opinion, but as the capital of Sichuan province with a population of 14 million, and voted China’s "4^th most-liveable city," ultimately I wish I had had more time here. During my brief stay I indulged in typical hot pot with this local Robin who I met on the Yading trek before purusing Chunxi Street, the upscale shopping area. Post Panda visit I had just enough time to squeeze in a stroll down Jilin Ancient City Street. They refer to it as the symbol of Chengdu but basically it is a newly constructed street designed to represent the old city. As you can imagine the narrow street was packed with crowds of tourist shopping for souvenirs or dressing up in traditional Chinese garb to take photos until finally leading everyone to the food stalls. Luckily most of the delicacies were listed in English but everything was still a little too exotic for my taste and of course extra pricey. I spent the evening back at the hostel for BBQ and a screening of some Kung Fu movie and then off to bed in preparation for my flight to Shanghai.

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Walking Panda	Panda Nursery	Playful Panda	Red Pandas
Jinli Street	Just Like Venice Beach   Comments!	Food Festival	Sichuan Hotpot   Comments!
Tea in China

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