“Have I ever seen a panda bear?”
I think the answer would be no. No, I’ve never seen a panda bear in person before, I believe. But feel like I know them really well, like my pet dog. Must be because of their worldwide fame. Panda bears are one of the cutest animals, no doubt. Babies are cute, no matter what: kittens, puppies, piglets, chicks… but fully-grown pandas are still pretty adorable as much as the baby ones.
Panda bear, literally meaning the big bear cat 大熊猫 in Chinese, is such an interesting creature. The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. But sadly, you can guess why when you are watching their behavior. They don’t care about reproduce; people have to force them to mate, and they don’t have much energy to do anything. All day long, pretty much all they do is eating bamboo. Pandas need to eat 16 hours a day since bamboo has such a low calories. So they sleep in-between meal times, and they eat some more.
After spending most of the time in small villages in China, Chengdu is too big city for me to handle. Though, I got through it because of one reason: to see panda bears.
Finally, I met the panda bears in person. At Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. How did I feel when I first saw them? It was almost surreal. After watching them moving, I’ve realized that the animated movie Kungpu Panda described panda bear really well. And you know what? Even the panda bears’ back is cute. They move their paw like a cat, they sleep a lot and eat a lot. They were the most active around dinner time: after 6pm. The park officially closes at 6pm but I just couldn’t leave. The panda bears were getting more and more active around the time. I saw some great panda bear movements right before I left. Anyhow, everything about them is just too darn adorable. So forgive to took so many photos and attach so many photos in the post. But I’m sure you’ll like all of those!
If you go: Tourist bus 902 (2 CNY) runs to Panda Breeding Center. And most of the guesthouses/hostels run their own tour programs including transportation. It’s more expensive but you can get to the base earlier and easier. If you can’t find any transportation, taxi can be another option. (40 CNY)
Entrance Fee: 58 CNY
