Sept 30 2013

Arriving in Chengdu!

Our train would arrive before 6 AM so the lights are brightly and violently turned on about 4 in the morning, I suppose it was. I was a bit grumpy after the bad sleep so I didn’t talk too much as I changed my shirt and found a way to brush my teeth that morning. Soon enough we were packed and leaving the train station. This was probably the cleanest one, Chengdu North Train Station, the inside was almost like a nice airport. There, we freshened up a bit more and headed out to catch a taxi to the Panda Reserve!

The taxi driver was nice, very chill with all of us there. He had a panda sticker on his car, and kept pointing out all the panda signs and stuff, it was kind of funny. Anyways, we got there with the sun up and climbed out for a few pictures. Right away we started seeing a lot more white people!

By the time we had arrived, the park was just opening. Surprisingly, no crowds yet! We were the first to buy tickets and step inside. It was gorgeous from the very start! Lots of greenery and such, very enjoyable. We took some pictures as we wandered around and finally found the pandas!

Katie was super excited. I don’t know if she’d ever seen them in person before. But she definitely started out loving them! Super chill, just eating bamboo in their tiny habitats. They looked so cute and it was pleasant watching them tear apart the bamboo shell to get to the fresh stuff inside. We wandered around a ton of those cages, before taking a few trails around.

I made sure we headed over to the red pandas, my favorite! They’re so cute and fluffy! We were comparing them to all the animals they look more like than pandas. Raccoons, foxes, ferrets and such. They were so adorable climbing the trees and such!

We loved the signs as well. Learning about the pandas [red pandas were found before normal pandas, properly names pandas but the name was turned over to black and white pandas once they were found. Red pandas have also been called fire foxes, hint hint], and everywhere there were interesting quotes placed around in the corners. Interesting translations. One of my favorites talked about how nice nature was, until the butcher comes. Something like that, I swear! It was really funny.

After that we found the bigger habitats for the pandas. Most of them just lying on their backs surrounded with bamboo, eating. All I could do was imagine beer bottles in their hands, and it was the funniest thing! They are very lazy, all they seem to do is eat as they get older. It’s so funny! Definitely a lot of fun checking this out.

We also found two baby panda stations- some were born the day we arrived in China! Well, the day most of us arrived, not Katie though, haha… they were so tiny and cute! In a big crib, wrapped in some blankets, just sleeping. Very tiny and adorable! Katie talked up some cute German boys in one of them, and in the other one we watched more about birthing. Weird. Very weird.

Rounding up, near the entrance was a little movie theater to watch all about the reserve and about pandas growing up there. More info about mama pandas usually not carrying for their young, playing, fighting, mating, the whole works! Very information, ehm.

It was also the most tourist we’ve seen anything of China so far. Not even that touristy- there’s Disney stuff on every corner in Disneyland, right? We saw maybe three shops inside the whole Panda Reserve of panda stuff. Which was pretty silly and awesome, though. We didn’t end up buying anything there because we knew it would be extra pricey.

Oh, there was also a museum we checked out. Most things were translated into English since this is so touristy, you know? It was mostly just computer quizzes and pictures and such, not really anything on display. But it was fascinating all the same, and we spent a decent amount of time there.

Soon we were finished, having seen everything there, and it was nearly noon. We headed out, considered a bus but we were a bit tired so we decided on a taxi instead to get to our hostel.  We would be spending the first three nights at the Mao House, and Abby even had a map to help out the driver.

It took us a while, however, because internet maps are very rarely correct. The driver climbed out once or twice to ask for directions.  Eventually we found the street, but weren’t too sure on exactly WHERE it was. So we climbed out and thanked the driver. We had two numbers for the house so we started going walking along the street, trying to sort it out.

Turns out, the Mao house is down one of the alleys just past the bus stop. There’s a vendor next to a restaurant, then a parking garage. You go inside the parking garage, and almost down all the way to number 2, where you find stairs. You climb to the next level, and knock on the door to your left. The Mao house! I know, confusing.

But it’s definitely cool. A colorful hostel with very friendly hosts. There’s even a tiny white cat who lives there, but she’s not always friendly so you have to be careful. Boys sleep downstairs and girls at the top. Katie and I claimed top bunks with Abby below. The bunk beds don’t look sturdy but they are! Thin sleeping mats with which you can still feel the boards on your back with comfy comforters and decent pillows. We had the bathroom next to us, one western with two squatters downstairs. Terrible lighting, and we had to have our own tissues but overall it was pretty fun.

After we got a bit settled, we went down stairs and finally ate our noodle bowls. The girls laughed a little that worked there, saying those aren’t very good especially when there’s good street food to be found everywhere! Which is true, Chengdu had such a variety of street food, it was awesome!

Soon we were done chilling out, and finally went to check out the shopping scene! One of the girls suggested a place, so we headed in that direction. The busses in Chengdu cost 2 RMB instead of one, which I had a hard time with because I hardly ever had 1 RMBs while in Chengdu, it was ridiculous. Anyways, we passed a lot of good shopping opportunities and finally got off the bus around where the girl had said. Right next to it was a big shopping center like the one back in Beijing.

It was awesome! We were only planning on maybe an hour…  yeah no, we spent the next few hours there. Lots of shopping! It was awesome. Better prices than Guiyang as well. We definitely did some bargaining if there weren’t set prices, though. We got baseball tees of nice material- Katie’s has Paris on it and mine has a black outline of Charlie Chaplin- for 39 each. However, it was the first shop we went to and we should have waited. We saw the shirts a few more times for 49 or even 29, so it’s good to scope out before you do anything.

Also, if you look too long, more than like 5 seconds, they will try to convince you to buy it. They will do just about anything and talk about prices. It’s one of the things we struggle with here- well, I do. I like taking my time and thinking about it, whereas they are pushy. So if you don’t want it, offer a very, very, very low price that’s about impossible and refuse to move. If it really is too low, they’ll shoo you off! However, that didn’t happen too much here. We had too much fun and some money to spend! We also got sweatshirts and Katie got another sweater since Guiyang is getting all chilly. Katie found some more jewelry, we got some more tops, and had way too much fun.

Like I said, they close early. There was some kind of alarm going on and there were some panicking to close that probably don’t properly own some of the stalls, so they were kind of freaking out and trying to close up. It was really interesting to watch, but all the same we did head out.

After all that shopping we were hungry! So we stepped out to think about food. No one else would come up with an opinion so I suggested American, since I haven’t really had anything American to eat since being here. Soon we crossed the street to McDonald’s.

Which, being in the states, I usually won’t go to. In China, it adds up to being about the same price, if not even a little more. I ended up getting a Spicy Chicken burger for 15 RMB, I think it was. Abby and Greg weren’t crazy about their food, but Katie and I liked our chicken burgers. It was a lot of meat with fresh bun, and I’ve never had juicier chicken. I have never loved McDonalds like that before, to be honest. It was awesome! I also got fries, which they don’t really salt too much here. Very little is salted in China, which is very different for me to get used to it, but it’s kind of nice overall. Before leaving, we got Mcflurry’s which are about the same price but definitely smaller which is a bit of a bummer but it was still yummy!

We stepped outside to wander the streets a little more, and nearby was a real shopping center which we checked out. About then I wasn’t feeling too well and Greg was tired of shopping, but Katie and Abby wanted to stay out longer. So Greg and I went and took a bus back to the hostel. The stops were different but he recognized our street so we got off. We ended up stopping down the street at a bigger grocery for drinks, and then headed into our hostel. It was about nine, so I got ready for bed and laid down, finally feeling better.

Katie and Abby got back around ten, having missed the stop before. They both bought another top, and we were all super pleased with our shopping ventures! It was late, so we climbed into bed and called it a night. I slept pretty well, though I know the married couple didn’t do so good- they have such a hard time sleeping here in China.