J & A Abroad: Things We Liked About China, Part Five

Pandas!

The reason most travelers go to Chengdu is to see giant pandas at the Chengdu Research Base. Our reason for going to Chengdu wasn't much different. For us, going to China and not seeing the Giant Panda, would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Now, it can be argued that if it weren't for the breeding efforts pandas would be extinct already. Even when it comes to eating (their most important daily task) pandas are super lazy. Pandas only eat one thing: Bamboo. They eat a lot of it, but still have to move slow and deliberate-like to conserve energy. They eat for a few hours in the morning, then sleep the rest of the day. Its like a whole species with the motivation and energy levels of teenage male humans. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Everything in-between is done at sloth-like speeds. We wondered, "If pandas weren't super de-duper cute, would they be extinct already?" They move at super slow speeds for everything they do. We saw two pandas wrestling, and even that was looked like slow-mo.

Seeing pandas is one thing. Getting to hold and interact with them is another thing all together. A gentleman who shared a tour with us to the research and breeding base paid around $150 (US) to hold a baby panda. We're glad we didn't find the area where holding pandas was an option until after we left, because we would have had a difficult decision to make: To hold and pay, or not to hold and not pay (that is like 15 meals for us in China!)? On the one hand, When are we going to have another chance to hold a panda, right? On the other, geez that is a lotta dolla-dolla bills. But since we never knew we had the option to trade a hundred-plus dollars for a few photos of one of us holding a panda, we never had to make that tough call.

Speaking of tough calls, the debate about whether China's stewardship of the giant panda has been beneficial or detrimental is an even more heated and complicated one than the question of holding and paying. But, in the midst of all of these hard decisions, putting Chengdu in our China itinerary was an easy one. Three words: Pandas, pandas, pandas! We loved our few hours of bouncing from enclosure to enclosure, snapping photos of pandas, and learning about the "sensual" details of panda breeding all the while. Pandas, even if they aren't sneezing, are really amazing to see in person. We felt grateful to have the opportunity to get as close as we did to the amazing animals, and came away from the experience feeling as though we had just experienced something special!

We can write all we want, but the best way to tell you about the pandas is through photos. So, special, just for you, an orgy of panda photos. Enjoy!