panda panda

wahhh i am 累死了！tired to death. but i need to write or else i will not do it tomorrow. this morning i got up at 7 am to catch the first bus to the CHENGDU GIANT PANDA RESEARCH CENTER... probably chengdu's most famous attraction. they have approximately 200 pandas and have successfully bred 190 captivity since they opened. actually, there's a hilarious 15 minute video that you can watch before you explore the panda enclosures, awkwardly narrating all the dirty details about how difficult it is to get pandas to mate. favorite scenes include "SUCCESSFUL COPULATION" with video of pandas getting down, versus "UNSUCCESSFUL" with video of a female panda screaming and beating a male into the corner of a containment cage. oy vey.


i spent a good 2.5 hours wandering around the panda center. thanks to tripadvisor and LP, i arrived at feeding time and got to see lots of pandas eating lots of bamboo and making those SUPER CUTE LITTLE NOISES that they maaaake (pathetic panda? youtube it. me incarnated as an animal). also saw red pandas, 小熊猫, "little bear cats." giant pandas are "big bear cats." i love the red pandas because they actually are a lot like cats. i have super cute pictures of them hanging asleep in trees. to be added when the stupid internet works.

after pandas, i took the bus back into the city. i was aided by a japanese tourist in getting off at wenshu monastery (lots of independent japanese travelers in chengdu! crazay). i was going to leave wenshu out because i know lhasa will be chock full of monasteries, but i am so glad i didn't. it was a huge complex with gorgeous gardens and very active worship centers. i saw all kinds of rituals being performed, monks just hanging around, faithful people paying respects, etc. afterward i had mala liang mian 麻辣凉面 and a snickers. life is good.


got a little lost looking for the bus, but resorted to my usual method. just walk... only problem was that i was maddd dehydrated when i got home! but i had an hour to shower, drink tons of water, and receive my permit to tibet before i went to estella's family's home for dinner :)

this was probably the highlight of my day. there is nothing like being a guest in a chinese home. estella was one of the chinese roommates at fudan. she became one of our best friends, so when she heard i was going to chengdu, of course she fixed me up to meet her aunt, uncle, and grandparents. k yesterday i promised not to take another motorcycle cab... but i couldn't resist. it's dirt cheap, really fun, and the taxis here are impossible! 20 kuai for a 20 minute ride, a great tour of the city, and a charismatic driver that was trash-talking mao the whole time (to my extreme surprise, definitely my first such experience).

estella's aunt is hilarious, so cute and so friendly. her grandparents are adorable; we communicated in signs and laughs because they only speak sichuan dialect. they put on a heavenly, home-made sichuanese feast... candied apricots and peanuts, hong jiang dao (think green beans, but black), mouth numbing hot kelp, spicy marinated chicken, lotus root, eggplant hot peppers and pork, mapo tofu, and winter melon soup.

after dinner, estella's uncle showed me pictures from all his travels around sichuan, the tibetan plateau, and xinjiang. he is an amateur photographer and his photos are stunning. we must have looked for over an hour. now i have a long list of places to visit, too! the 平 family also showered me with little presents... an autographed photography book of tibet, chinese medicinal tea for dehydration, altitude sickness remedy, and a mini watermelon!!! i feel lucky to come into contact with such wonderful people. they even drove me home (in their sienna. shout out, mama)

okay speaking of people, some profiles are in order:

roommate 1: a middle aged japanese man traveling in china on his own. he is interested in tibetan buddhism. probably the best roommate EVER. we communicate in chinese because my japanese and his english are both subpar. he is so cute and clean and quiet and considerate. i want to stay in hostels with only japanese travelers from now on. oh and he loved my panda pics. extra points for him.

roommate 2: a older professional photographer from greece. quite friendly, english is good, we talked in french a little too. hate to generalize about europeans but unfortunately, he smells just soooo bad. it's really fun to watch him and the japanese roomie try to communicate in english.

roommate 3: everyone was sleeping when i got in tonight, but i'm pretty sure she is the random blond brit i saw walking down the street today and recommended this hostel too. such is life!

tenpa travel "agent:" i mentioned i got my tibet permit today. yes, today i finally met the man that has been arranging all my tibet travels, when he delivered it to my hotel and took my cash. i don't know if i can adequately describe my relief. he is a younger, tibetan man that goes between lhasa and chengdu arranging trips. his english is fluent, and he reassured me of all the terms of our agreement. basically, my discomfort stemmed from the fact that our business up to now had been extremely casual. my entire trip to tibet was arranged via text message, broken conversation, and unanswered emails. alas, this is china. no credit card invoices, no travel agency websites to check, no informative emails or friendly phone calls. it can really throw an american for a loop (especially a control freak like me). actually, when tenpa left he even invited me to come to the tibetan quarter of chengdu for dinner tomorrow night, so i could get a little preview of my trip to come :)

WHEW. i wrote too much. tomorrow i will go to the dufu cottage (tang dynasty poet's famous home) and wuhou temple. i will also eat lots more. till then!