Chengdu, Yingxiu

Pandas. Does anyone NOT think they're adorable? Today's visit to the newly enlarged breeding center was a total overload on cuteness.

We saw them eating bamboo

sleeping in trees

and represented as souvenirs of all kinds.

 






We saw babies in their cribs, and displays showing us what they look like at birth:

The breeding center is a lovely large garden with multiple enclosures for giant pandas of various ages, as well as red (or lesser) pandas, which I actually thought were even more exotic.

We were driven around in panda themed golf carts

and we saw the large piles of bamboo they cart around to the enclosures.

There was also a lake with black swans, koi and ducks.

We ate lunch in the Bamboo restaurant at the center, thankfully more vegetarian dishes than usual, with lower spice levels.


We were driven after lunch to Yingxiu,  a town in the area of the great 2008 earthquake. The government has turned the site of the collapsed middle and high schools into a memorial, surrounded by a museum and interpretive center.

It's eerie and moving to see the destroyed buildings still standing, left for the memorial to the destruction in the region. There were many schools throughout the region that collapsed, due to "tofu construction", attributed to official corruption and builder's malfeasance. The number of children who died in the earthquake is still a matter of controversy, and significant political conflict. This site chooses, however, to honor the massive official and volunteer rescue and rebuilding effort.


There are brand new housing units, earthquake resistant and low rise, recently build in the town, and an effort has been made to afford the ethnic minorities of the region (Tibetan and Qiang) an opportunity to sell their handcrafts in shops there.

The mountains are spectacular, especially when shrouded in fog as the area was today, and as it often in in winter.

We returned to Chengdu and had Szechuan hot pot for dinner. The restaurant had tables with built in heated reservoirs for both mild and spicy broths. The spicy one had a layer of bright red chili oil floating on top, with a raft of dried chiles and Szechuan pepper corns. (These little seeds are not actually spicey, but they do make your mouth tingle and burn, enhancing the heat of the chiles. Did I tell you this already? It's a truly weird sensation.) Raw meat, vegetables and noodles were dumped into the boiling broth and then fished out and eaten, after being dipped in a bowl of sesame oil and crushed garlic. I had a moment when my mouth was tingling, my eyes tearing and my ears ringing a bit from all the heat, but boy was it terrific! I wish I'd taken pictures. Instead here's another photo of pandas!

Also, I want to mention my favorite ubiquitous Chinese vehicle: the three-wheeled electric scooter-truck. The bed can be fitted out to do anything, from hauling of loads (see bamboo pile above) to seats for transport of passengers. I saw ones snugly fitted with deep upholstered seats and whole families out driving through Chengdu, like very stripped down station wagons. Here are a couple of photos I shot of them: