On our last day in Chengdu we took the panda tour. This time we had a competent guide and the weather was good. The Panda Research Station is a nicely laid-out place with plenty of climbing platforms and other things for Pandas to play on. They are really the loveliest creatures I have ever seen, both lazier and funnier than Koalas and just as beautiful. Playful and gentle, they are a treasure we should never allow to die out. I watched incredulously as they lay sprawled on their backs reaching up the occasional lazy arm to grab another stalk of bamboo to crunch. This time we made no mistake with the camera. It would have been possible to cuddle one but the four hundred yuan ‘donation’ required seemed excessive to one dependent on a Chinese salary.
The site also has Red Pandas. I had never even heard of them but they are creatures which look like a red raccoon and lend credibility to the racoon side of the debate about whether pandas are related to bears or racoons. I wondered if Red Pandas are related to Giant Pandas. Their gentle natures and eating habits are similar but Red Pandas only require a donation of fifty yuan before they allow someone to cuddle them. SG cuddled a gorgeous little creature but had to wear plastic gloves as it sat munching a piece of apple in her lap. We were told that the reason for the gloves is that some people are allergic to the fur. I would have thought they were to keep human germs from infecting the Pandas but when one English woman said, “I don’t mind, I’m not allergic” she was allowed to handle it without the gloves.
Our American friend was in the party again and I also chatted with a lovely American lady who was in China for the second time, studying Chinese. She had taught previously. It was such a contrast to see her taking care not to block people’s view and being conscious of the effect of her presence on the convenience of others. Such un-Chinese behaviour.
We had the driver let us off near my bank on the way back and then we window shopped again and got lost as usual before getting a taxi to Grandma’s Kitchen. The food was good when we actually found something that was both on the menu and in the kitchen. That was about it for Chengdu. Being a fast reader I managed to read The Da Vinci Code, much to the chagrin of my daughter, who was still reading one of the author’s other books after several days.