Panda Loving

While visiting the Panda Research Base, Matthew and I held a baby panda. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I was for this. My face actually hurt from smiling. I was more enthusiastic than a tween at her first Justin Bieber concert.

But holding a panda isn't cheap. However, I considered this opportunity to be a once in a lifetime event and happily ponied up the 2000 rmb/person ($325) "donation". (Note: Friends of ours only had to donate 1300 rmb in November 2012 for this experience. The price appears to increase rapidly every few months).

The base does a decent job of stretching the panda holding into an experience of sorts. We were first given a lesson on the breeding practices that take place on the base. There isn't much natural procreation going on there, in case you were wondering. We next learned about feeding the pandas and finally, we got our up close and personal experience with the panda.

After washing our hands, we were outfitted with booties and sterile gowns to wear. Totally attractive, right?

Then it was time to snuggle with the panda. The zookeeper handed me a piece of bamboo coated in honey to feed the panda in hopes of keeping him occupied during our little photo session. He must have though I was pretty sweet, because when his honey ran out, he gave my cheek a nice slobbery lick.

Matthew missed out on a panda makeout session during his turn though as the little guy was rather preoccupied with an apple slice.

While we may have left the Panda Research Base with a little (okay, a lot) less cash in our pockets, I would absolutely pay to hold a panda again. Besides, at least our donation went towards the conservation of pandas. Because the world is just a little bit cuter (and slobbery) with these gentle beasts around.

Chengdu Panda Research Base

Our final morning in Chengdu was spent at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The Panda Research Base is a non-profit organization engaged in the research, breeding, and conservation of giant pandas. The facility is now home to around 200 pandas including both the namesake giant panda as well as the lesser known red panda.

The cool temperatures combined with a morning snack led to fairly active pandas who we observed munching on bamboo, taking a bath, hanging out in trees, and playing with each other.

We also got a chance to see the red pandas, which look quite similar to raccoons.

I was particularly entertained by two baby pandas who managed to fall off their jungle gym. Cute as they were, it wasn't hard to see why these adorably clumsy mammals have landed on the endangered species list.

Travel Information

Located just six miles from downtown Chengdu, your best bet is to grab a taxi to the base for around 30 RMB. Otherwise, hop on bus 60 and get off at the Longqing Road/Shulong Road Station.

The base is open year round from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm though I would recommend visiting during the morning feeding (around 9:00 am) for your best chance to see the pandas in action. They sleep the rest of the day.

Admission to the base is 58 RMB/person.

Greatest Day of My Life

I'll post a full recap of my visit to the Chengdu Panda Base in the near future. But for now, all you need to know is that this happened.

Panda Lick (I can't seem to embed the gif so just follow the link for now)

At one point during the day, I looked at Matt and exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life". "Even better than our wedding day?" he asked sweetly. "Totally".

Jinli Street

Located in the old city of Chengdu, Jinli Ancient Street is an area which features old style hotels and stores. Though most of the buildings are actually new (and yes, that is a Starbucks).

 

We ventured to this street not for the architecture but rather to see if Jinli lived up to its other nickname, Snack Street.

We sampled our way through the street, tasting noodles, dumplings, and finished off our meal with walnut cakes. While not as impressive as the street food we sampled previously in Xi'An, Jinli Ancient Street is not a bad place to grab food while traveling through Chengdu.