Although our train ride from Xi'an to Chengdu was short (only16 hours) it was restless. We shared our sleeper cabin with two Chinese men, one of whom snored for the entire journey! Needless to say, when we arrived in Chengdu we were exhausted, and looking forward to settling into our guest house. After a brief nap to make up for the lack of sleep on the train, we were out and about exploring the streets of Chengdu. We walked around for about seven hours, taking in the sights of Chengdu (although there weren't too many, unfortunately!). We were lucky enough to stumble upon Pete's Tex-Mex restaurant, a rare treat on this side of the world, and indulged ourselves with some excellent tex-mex cuisine. Upon arrival back to our guest house, we set up some activities for the days to follow.
We were up bright and early the next morning, and ready to go to the Panda Breeding Centre, the main highlight of Chengdu, and our reason for coming to the Sichuan Province. We arrived at the centre around 8 am, just in time to view the Panda feeding (the best time to see the pandas, because it's when they're the most active). After the pandas were done eating, and returned to the usual activity of sleeping, we headed indoors to see the babies. We were in luck, as just two weeks ago twin babies were born! We were also lucky enough to see three babies, about one month old, who were still learning how to crawl. They were adorable! However, the highlight of the day came when Amanda's dream came true. Upon paying a small (ok, not-so small) donation, she was able to hold an adorable panda on her lap for about three minutes and get her picture taken with it. According to her, it was an amazing experience. The panda, who was about a year and a half, weighed the equivalent of a small child (aged 5 r 6), was very soft and just, in her words, “lovely”. This was definitely a dream come true for her!
The fun didn't stop at the Panda Centre though. That night we made our way to downtown Chengdu, where we were able to catch a show of the world famous (so they say!!) Sichuan Opera. Although not necessarily an Opera in the sense that we knew it, this “variety show” of sorts was definitely entertaining. It included everything from comedy routines, to instrumental solos, to acrobats, traditional mask changing (so quick you can't even see the change) and fire spitting performers. It was an interesting glimpse into Chinese cultural entertainment.
The next day (after a hectic experience at the Post Office) we were on a bus and heading out of Chengdu. After only two and a half hours we arrived at our destination, the base camp of Mount Emei Shan. Our main goal was to get ourselves acclimatized to higher elevations, so we opted out of hiking up the entire mountain (3100 meters in total), and drove one hour up to 2450 meters. We spent the night at a small hotel and huddled close together because it was cold up there, and there wasn't any heat! The next morning we put on our hiking shoes and started the trek up the hill and to the top of the mountain. It was short (only about 3 hours) but difficult because the altitude made it hard to breath. When we made it to the top we were thrilled and the view was amazing. We could clearly see all around in every direction, something that wasn't possible the day before (or the day after for that matter). We spent the night up on the top of the mountain, and learned that such high altitudes were not our cup of tea. After only a short time Jon started feeling sick, with breathing difficulties and dizziness. We tried to sleep it off but it didn't help. In the morning we were up early and on our way down the mountain to a more comfortable altitude.
We arrived back in Chengdu in the late afternoon and settled in at our guest house. We than proceeded to cancel our previously booked Tibet trip, as it's not wise to mess with altitude sickness, it can be deadly! We spent an extra day hanging around Chengdu, relaxing and recuperating and getting ready for our next destination!
Although our train ride from Xi'an to Chengdu was short (only16 hours) it was restless. We shared our sleeper cabin with two Chinese men, one of whom snored for the entire journey! Needless to say, when we arrived in Chengdu we were exhausted, and looking forward to settling into our guest house. After a brief nap to make up for the lack of sleep on the train, we were out and about exploring the streets of Chengdu. We walked around for about seven hours, taking in the sights of Chengdu (although there weren't too many, unfortunately!). We were lucky enough to stumble upon Pete's Tex-Mex restaurant, a rare treat on this side of the world, and indulged ourselves with some excellent tex-mex cuisine. Upon arrival back to our guest house, we set up some activities for the days to follow.
We were up bright and early the next morning, and ready to go to the Panda Breeding Centre, the main highlight of Chengdu, and our reason for coming to the Sichuan Province. We arrived at the centre around 8 am, just in time to view the Panda feeding (the best time to see the pandas, because it's when they're the most active). After the pandas were done eating, and returned to the usual activity of sleeping, we headed indoors to see the babies. We were in luck, as just two weeks ago twin babies were born! We were also lucky enough to see three babies, about one month old, who were still learning how to crawl. They were adorable! However, the highlight of the day came when Amanda's dream came true. Upon paying a small (ok, not-so small) donation, she was able to hold an adorable panda on her lap for about three minutes and get her picture taken with it. According to her, it was an amazing experience. The panda, who was about a year and a half, weighed the equivalent of a small child (aged 5 r 6), was very soft and just, in her words, “lovely”. This was definitely a dream come true for her!
The fun didn't stop at the Panda Centre though. That night we made our way to downtown Chengdu, where we were able to catch a show of the world famous (so they say!!) Sichuan Opera. Although not necessarily an Opera in the sense that we knew it, this “variety show” of sorts was definitely entertaining. It included everything from comedy routines, to instrumental solos, to acrobats, traditional mask changing (so quick you can't even see the change) and fire spitting performers. It was an interesting glimpse into Chinese cultural entertainment.
The next day (after a hectic experience at the Post Office) we were on a bus and heading out of Chengdu. After only two and a half hours we arrived at our destination, the base camp of Mount Emei Shan. Our main goal was to get ourselves acclimatized to higher elevations, so we opted out of hiking up the entire mountain (3100 meters in total), and drove one hour up to 2450 meters. We spent the night at a small hotel and huddled close together because it was cold up there, and there wasn't any heat! The next morning we put on our hiking shoes and started the trek up the hill and to the top of the mountain. It was short (only about 3 hours) but difficult because the altitude made it hard to breath. When we made it to the top we were thrilled and the view was amazing. We could clearly see all around in every direction, something that wasn't possible the day before (or the day after for that matter). We spent the night up on the top of the mountain, and learned that such high altitudes were not our cup of tea. After only a short time Jon started feeling sick, with breathing difficulties and dizziness. We tried to sleep it off but it didn't help. In the morning we were up early and on our way down the mountain to a more comfortable altitude.
We arrived back in Chengdu in the late afternoon and settled in at our guest house. We than proceeded to cancel our previously booked Tibet trip, as it's not wise to mess with altitude sickness, it can be deadly! We spent an extra day hanging around Chengdu, relaxing and recuperating and getting ready for our next destination!
1 comment:
oh my goodnessssss--holding a panda! that is the neatest thing!!
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