Chengdu and the Panda Sanctuary

We took an afternoon flight for the 500 mile trip from Xi’An to Chengdu, a city of 5.2 million people, the capital of Sichuan Province. We were met at the airport by our local guide and bus driver. That was one thing that was really great on the whole trip; we had a local or city guide and a bus and bus driver in addition to our national guide, Mike. After settling into our hotel, we enjoyed an excellent but spicy Sichuan dinner at a local restaurant.

From the restaurant we traveled to a theater to observe a “Changing Faces Opera”. Face changing is an ancient Chinese dramatic art that is part of the traditional Sichuan-style of opera. The above photo is a link to a short video of the Changing Faces. Double click on it to view the video. When you are finished, click the Back button on your browser to return to this blog.
The performers wore brightly colored costumes and vivid masks. What was amazing was their ability to change the masks and even the costumes in just seconds. The “changing faces” was only one of several dramatic performances. Other acts included music, dance and comedy which were all very entertaining. Shortly before the performance began, we were treated to another ancient tradition, Chinese massage. We each experienced a 30-minute neck, shoulder and back massage while remaining seated in the theater. It was relaxing and enjoyable, but Tom had some back soreness for a couple of days after the massage.


The next day we boarded our bus to visit the Giant Panda Sanctuary, located just outside of Chengdu. Sichuan Province is the native habitat of the giant panda, and the sanctuary is a simulated habitat, with acres of space for the pandas to roam and thrive as nature intended.
More pandas can be seen here than at any other location in the world.

China has embarked on an ambitious conservation program to preserve existing wild habitat, expand existing reserves and create new reserves in an effort to stave off the extinction of pandas. Only about 1,000 animals are still living in the wild in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces. The giant panda is under siege due to habitat eradication, but also from poachers who can sell a giant panda hide for as much as $10,000 in Hong Kong or Japan.

We took an extensive guided tour of the sanctuary and observed adult pandas sleeping, eating and playing. We also saw a number of juvenile pandas and visited the panda nursery where the little ones are kept and cared for.

For a fee, visitors are able to touch an adult panda, and for a larger fee, they can hold a baby panda. Mary Ann came to China with the intent to touch or hold a panda, and she was able to satisfy that wish. We also had the opportunity to observe the other panda at the Sanctuary, the Red Panda, which looks sort of like a large, reddish-brown raccoon.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we had the afternoon free. Mike, our guide, offered to take us to a local park and teahouse, if we’d like. Most of us chose to go, and it was a fun afternoon. Since this was a “Mike Tour”, we paid our own expenses, including taxis and refreshments.
The park has a lovely lake with boats to rent, an extensive bonsai garden, and a large old teahouse under the trees. A number of types of tea are available as well as other snacks. It’s a very popular place for locals as well as tourists to spend some free time. Vendors roam around through the teahouse, including “ear cleaners” who, for just a few Yuan, will clean your ears with picks and cotton balls on long sticks. After leaving the park, we returned to our hotel for dinner on our own.

The next morning we took our bus to the airport, only to find that our scheduled flight to Lhasa, Tibet, had been canceled and we had been rebooked onto an earlier flight. We just barely made it through check-in and security in time to board the plane. We’ll tell you all about our adventures in Tibet in the next posting.