Panda-monium in Chengdu, China!
Chengdu was not a planned stop on our original 30-day itinerary around the Himalayas.
But when the entry permits for Tibet fell through last week, we had to make some last-minute adjustments to the schedule.
Changing our flights to skip Lhasa, Tibet and go directly from Beijing to Kathmandu, Nepal meant adding an overnight layover in Chengdu.
As a couple of experienced travelers accustomed to rolling with the punches, we decide to embrace our new stopover and make the best of it. I find a lovely new hotel to check out (the Sheraton Chengdu Lido) and Shannon dives into research on what to see and do in Chengdu.
We don’t have much time here, just half a day, but thorough research reveals that there is one adorable attraction not to be missed – the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Just a 30-minute drive outside the city, the Panda research base is a 250-acre refuge for giant pandas and red pandas. The panda’s natural habitat in remote bamboo forests in the high mountains is gradually being destroyed.
It houses the first giant panda museum in the world, a panda hospital, several panda nurseries and a panda kitchen (fear not, no actual pandas are cooked or participate in the cooking).
But most importantly, it houses dozens of adorable giant pandas and red pandas lounging around and doing adorably-panda-like things like crunching on bamboo rods and awkwardly-lumbering up trees.
We arrive in Chengdu a little after noon, check into the Sheraton, and quickly beat a path to the research base.
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We’ve read that the morning hours are the best time to visit since the pandas are most active then. But with our late arrival, we’ll have to settle for an afternoon visit.
Unfortunately, due to the afternoon heat, all of the giant pandas have been moved into the air-conditioned comfort of their indoor enclosures by the time we arrive.
Lucky pandas.
We wander from enclosure to enclosure (sweating, I might add) watching them laze around in the A/C, snack on bamboo, swat each other playfully in the head and gingerly climb up the occasional sturdily-constructed indoor pseudo-tree.
We even see one panda playing with a giant disc-shaped ice cube that he seems to particularly enjoy. Pandas are just cute, there’s no getting around it. And these pandas are definitely living large.
Then we hit upon a bit of luck.
Unlike the giant pandas, the red pandas (perhaps considered the red-headed stepchildren of the panda world?) are still outside!
I have no idea why the black-and-white giant pandas are treated to climate control. Meanwhile, the red pandas swelter in the heat, theatrically collapsed on tree branches with their tongues hanging out. Slurping from their water bowls as if they’ve just crossed the Sahara on camel back.
But I’ve no doubt the vets at the panda research base know what they’re doing. I’m just not entirely sure the red pandas are on board.
Regardless, it makes for some terrific photo ops! Conveniently, red pandas are also super cute.
After a couple of hours of panda viewing, we head back to the hotel for dinner and call it a night. Chengdu actually looks like a fun city, I wish we had more time to explore it.
But again, it’s time to move on.
This time, we’re heading out of China and on to Nepal…next stop, Kathmandu!