Saturday, May 13, 2006
May 13: Pandas
My first full day in Chengdu. I don't like this place much. It has all the drawbacks of a big city with all the drawbacks of a big Chinese city. Ewww.
The upside is that this morning I went to the Panda Breeding Centre to... look at pandas. The verdict: I want to be a Giant Panda. They're big and cuddly and cute. They seem to spend their mornings eating bamboo, rolling around, and wrestling with teach other. They spend the rest of their time... sleeping.
I also discovered that there are two kinds of pandas. The Giant Panda is what we normally think of: big, cuddly, bear-looking thing (though whether they're actually bears seems to be in dispute). There are also Red Pandas, which look like a cross between a cat and a fox. Much smaller, much less exciting. Still, they're pandas. Who knew?
Tomorrow I hope to catch a bus to Leshan to check out Leshan Dafu, the huge sitting Buddha. From there, I plan to go straight to Emei and do an overnight trip up Emei Shan, the mountain full of monkeys and monasteries. Hopefully I can convince someone here at the hostel to do this trip with me tomorrow. I hear it's very cool.
The upside is that this morning I went to the Panda Breeding Centre to... look at pandas. The verdict: I want to be a Giant Panda. They're big and cuddly and cute. They seem to spend their mornings eating bamboo, rolling around, and wrestling with teach other. They spend the rest of their time... sleeping.
I also discovered that there are two kinds of pandas. The Giant Panda is what we normally think of: big, cuddly, bear-looking thing (though whether they're actually bears seems to be in dispute). There are also Red Pandas, which look like a cross between a cat and a fox. Much smaller, much less exciting. Still, they're pandas. Who knew?
Tomorrow I hope to catch a bus to Leshan to check out Leshan Dafu, the huge sitting Buddha. From there, I plan to go straight to Emei and do an overnight trip up Emei Shan, the mountain full of monkeys and monasteries. Hopefully I can convince someone here at the hostel to do this trip with me tomorrow. I hear it's very cool.
# posted by Alex Perel @ 12:34 AM 
