The two day stay in Chengdu was the front half of a mini Sichuan vacation over the five-day Shanghai May Day holiday (especially long to honor Expo opening for which i wanted to get out of town).
I arrived on a warm Thu evening. We were recommended the Jin Jiang Hotel by one of my local colleagues as "English friendly" and nice. It was indeed both, and also the first five-star hotel in southern China with a host of dignataries who have stayed there. Not bad for 822rmb per night (~$120 USD). The hotel is near Sichuan University which was an interesting walk around the campus, as well as some high end shopping and some good food along the river.
We got up super early on our first day and took a 50rmb cab out to the Panda Reserve. They open at 8am and highly recommend that you aim to arrive by then. The tours start arriving about an hour later and I think the pandas decide to avoid the annoying voices by sleeping around then (well, whatever their motivations, they are less active later in the morning). It's a 58rmb fee at the gate.
Pandas might be the cutest animals ever, and I just wanted to take one of the cubs home with me. They do have a pretty mundane lifestyle of eating, eating, sleeping, and eating (about 20 kg of bamboo per day) but they look so good doing it. There is a museum and also an... interesting... film about the research center's work around panda reproduction... it's in English and you'll learn a lot, worth the 10 minutes.
There are several zones where the Giant Pandas live, divided by age. The adult and sub-adult pandas basically sit and eat. There was one active "sub-adult" at 8:15am but I don't think we saw one that wasn't eating or sleeping for the rest of the time.
Panda Cubs playing in the nursery
The nursery was SOOOO cute. The babies are much more playful and active, nipping and roughhousing each other and falling off of things. This one baby would climb to the top of his ladder, then slowly and tenuously make his way down, head first, hanging by one or two limbs for dear life. We also saw the aggressor of a play fight with his brother backfire as he went rolling down into a ditch (he was fine).Panda Cub Feeding Time
The keepers came out to feed them around 9, 9:30am. They are really like human toddlers, vying for attention and affection. Some eat out of bowls and one baby lay on his back with a bottle.
The Lesser Panda is just that... They look kind of like overgrown reddish hued raccoons and not as interesting as their greater rotund cousin. But they're there, stop by for a look.
After the Panda Reserve, we came back to town and had our first Sichuan meal at Chen's Ma Po Tofu. Sooo yummy.
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/chens-ma-po-tofu.html
We decided to walk off lunch (also because it is impossible to get a cab in Chengdu) and head over to Wenfungshen, an shopping street recreated to look like old Chengdu. Not so much shopping, but we stopped in one of the tea shops for a lazy hour over 12rmb tea with the locals who were hanging out and playing mahjong. Very nice.
After a few beers at Sim's, we walked over to ChongQing QinMa Hotpot for a taste of the fiery Sichuan hot pot. Absolutely delicious. Video and details over on food blog
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/chongqing-qinma-hotpot.html
After a chill morning (and some work), we walked along the river to look for Long Chao-shou 龙抄手, recommended to via Facebook post.
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-chao-shou.html
We walked to Tianfu Square, which has the requisite Mao statue in front of the Science and Technology Museum, then to People's Park. It was May Day, a national holiday, so many families out for the day. Made for fun people watching.
The highlight of the day was definitely the cooking class we had signed up for at Sim's. I put the details under the food blog, but definitely check it out. Videos for how to make Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁, Fish Flavored Eggplant 魚香茄子, and Ma Po Tofu 麻婆豆腐
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/sims-cozy-garden-hostel.html
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