With that card, we went to panda watch for free at the Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu, just 8km away from the city. We took the first city tour bus, Y1 if I'm not wrong, right outside Chengdu Traffic Inn. You can check with the really horrible woman (a matter of fair comment) at the Traffic Inn at your own risk for that. Pictures below.
After finishing the Panda Base, we waited a mighty long time before the city bus came along. It took 1 hour, and we were so frustrated. In the end, we decided to hop on another bus, and get off at a stop nearer to the city, then get on another bus at that stop. We lunched after we dropped off at the first bus stop. Getting to the city was a breeze because route maps of buses were available at the bus stop.
We went to a supermarket to get supplies, as we were flying off to Lijiang that night. After collecting our lugguage from the hostel (OH! They charged for keeping lugguage- RMB20 per piece, I think. Horrible people, these Chengdu Traffic Inn people).
We left to take the airport bus nearby at 5pm. On reaching the site of the airport bus, however, taxi drivers were touting for fares. They charge the same as the airport bus price, so we took the taxi because the airport bus had just left. The taxi driver say they charge low because they want to get business at the airport. So, it makes going to the airport more convenient, but one flaw is they will wait till the whole cab is full before driving off, to make sure they earn the whole amount from everyone.
So it was goodbye Sichuan, hello Yunnan that night.
P.S, the Traffic Inn edited my review on the website www.hostelbookers.com. My whole review was gone, except for the first line "The staff at the hostel tried to be helpful." Great, now no one will know about that horrible woman. Anyway, pictures of pandas should soothe me.
Morning, on the bus!
All set to see the pandas!
Yay, panda!
This is huge.
Lazy. Looks like my dad. Hehe.
They call this a panda too. Red panda, but it looks so much like a racoon.
They know they're the national treasure.
How cute is this!? A few months old/ one year old baby panda playing with its bowl. Didn't its mummy teach it table manners? Hmm..
It's only 7 days old! How amazingly small.
Having fun while eating their shoots. These pandas turned away after a lot of people gathered. They were very shy.
We watched an educational video. Well, judging from the video, it was educational all right.
Introducing Ah Bish, the newest member to join us in travelling.
Cathy seems to think she's the mother of Ah Bish...
... but she's a terrible mother because she's abusing her kid by using it as a sandbag.
We picked up another panda along the way. The Felicia-panda.
Cathy, the mother who SMOTHERS Ah Bish with love and... a plastic bag.
Ah Bish's long lost brother, Chee Chee the panda with too-big head and too-small ears.
Ah Bish and Minnie Mouse who mistakenly thinks she's a panda.
End of Part 5
Nice post - pictures of pandas ..Keep Posting
ReplyDeleteRon
pictures of pandas