Crapping on a yak.....overland to the other side of the world and the rest: Day 127

Video: Panda Feeding at Chengdu Panda Centre

I go to the Chengdu Panda Research and Breeding Centre with Laurie, Belgian Sam and ginger Caz, catching a bus to get there in time for the official panda feeding time at 9:30. The one hour bus ride is only two Yuan, but there is an annoying automated repeating announcement on the bus warning us (in English as well as Mandarin) that it is illegal to be carrying explosives on the bus....hmmm.

When we get to the panda centre it is clear that pandas spend all day eating, and their supplies are continually replenished by the keepers. The pandas are fun to watch, although they are also very lazy of course. There also red pandas here, and some monkeys, and we spend a few hours walking around. You can pay to handle a young panda and have your photo taken, but I am not sure if I like the idea as it might be stressful for them, although I suppose the pandas don’t think they are any different to humans having been around them all their life. I do some Christmas shopping for presents for my nieces and nephew before leaving to catch the bus back into the city.

The red panda

See the photo album link: Panda Photos

At lunch, Caz and I lead Laurie to a special restaurant as a nice surprise. It’s an Irish bar, and I have a pint of Guinness that costs 60 Yuan (£6). Laurie is not impressed and refuses to break her local food only policy, so doesn’t order any food, but I have a steak sandwich.

Chengdu has a bit of a Brit ex-pat community and, although they number only in the single thousands in a population of ten to fifteen million in Chengdu, there is a bit of a Brit / Western influence, with a row of bars that Laurie and I visit in the evening being themed on Hollywood or rock music or even soft porn. We do also go into a club like bar where it’s more cocktails and glitter, a bit like the club in Beijing I visited on Meg and Dave’s leaving party night. Laurie is wearing her customary tracksuit, and I don’t like these places anyway, so we don’t stay. After a failed attempt at finding a karaoke bar, I content myself with very large JD’s at 25 Yuan a go at the Hollywood themed bar.

Last night in the hotel room, Laurie received a call on the hotel phone from a woman who hung up when Laurie said hello. I took a guess at that this call was about. When the phone rings tonight, I pick it up and, in my best pervy English gent accent, say ‘well, hull-loooooooe’, and the woman just giggles and hangs up.