熊猫 Research Base

Yesterday we woke up early and made our way to the Panda research base which is about 20km North of our hotel. This research center is quite large and is home to many pandas of all ages. Jackie Chan even adopted two here for 1 million yuan. They seem to treat the pandas well and we liked how close you could get to them.

These two guys were trying to get to the other side for bamboo. One took the short way through the bars and the other climbed over the top in acrobatic fashion. We have a video of that somewhere.

Amy had been looking forward to meeting a panda for a long time. Fortunately this is one of the only places in the world where this is possible. She paid a pretty penny but had two minutes with a young panda on her lap. They took lots of photos and videos and Amy left with a smile on her face. I'll try and post those later.

The Panda center also is home to a large population of red pandas, which are basically red raccoons. After half a day with the 熊猫 (bear cats) we headed into town for some ramen lunch.

Today we got a late start since we aren't feeling too well. We asked at front desk for a nice Sichuan restaurant nearby and it did not disappoint. This was the fanciest place we have been to in China - the service was great. They started off by giving us two fruit plates, some edamamme, and a spicy pork dish.

We ordered Kungpao Chicken (we've had this a lot but it's an authentic Sichuan dish so we had to try it here), Dandan Mian (a pasta like noodle dish with pork), spicy wontons, and a mushroom clay pot. The mushroom dish was rated two peppers spicy - potentially out of our comfort zone.

When it came, it was a noodle soup with mushroom slices. I thought it was fantastic - but most definitely spicy. Amy liked it too but found it a little too hot so I finished most of it.

At the end we were so impressed with the service we tried to tip but they refused. Ahhh China. Here is the web site: http://www.yinxing.com - Chengdu Gingko Restaurant.

It was 3:30 already so we wandered over to an ancient street that was very impressive. It was full of bars, tea houses, restaurants and shops. The weirdest thing was the street side ear cleaning. It takes about 5-10 minutes and costs 20 yuan ($3). While you sit in a chair a guy with a headlamp cleans your ears with a bunch of tools. I'll post pictures of this later since it will be easier to understand. Amy and I both did it and our ears are now spic and span.

We had dinner in the area and after running 3km we made it to the Sichuan opera show on time (but exhausted). If only we had found a taxi. The show was more like a variety show with all kinds of Sichuan acts - music, comedy, tricks and most impressively the famous changing of faces and clothes. We stared in awe as performers masks and clothes changed before we could blink. I have no idea how they do it but we left the show fascinated. This is a must do while in Chengdu.

Tomorrow is the start of National Day in China (this is a weeklong holiday for most of China. We plan to watch the fireworks display from the rooftop of our hotel. Should be exciting!

Happy National Day!