Day 156

Most active adult Panda we saw.... needs bog roll i reckon
see all photos »

woke up at around 0630- Caz hadn't had a very good nights sleep aparently One of the many people in our dorm snores - i heard nothing but It kept Caz awake...Caz blames Ronan!

We got up showered and were waiting for our pick up at 07.15 , due for 0730 35 minutes later and it finally shows up...or we think it does!  A very small blue mini van turns up and sits waiting patiently outside...and a couple of minutes later the 2nd one shows up and we all pile in.  Now for me it's no problem, i'm 5foot 4 so i've got tonnes of room...for Luke and the other guys coming along ...well let's just say it was a squeeze.

why did the panda try and kill himself?

He loved that rocking horse
see all photos »

Finally arriving at the panda's at 08.30, half an hour late, our non-English speaking driving tries to tell us to be picked up 10.30 half an hour earlier than we were told at the hostel, so after a few forceful words it was put back to 11.00.  So the first enclosure we get to see is the giant panda's...there's one snoozing but that's about it and after a few photo's opps we are gently ushered on by our drivers...so, so far it has not been worth the money and i did not pay for a tour guide!!!  We're all thinking that there was money in the price for the drivers to get us a to ur guide when we get to the park but they decided to keep it for themselves and give it a go!  After one lady got fed up and said she would meet the drivers back at the entrance at 11.00 she headed off on her own and we were dragged onwards, by a very excited guide, to the next enclosure where this time we got to see a panda's bum...this wasn't quite turning out to be the day we had expected.

I seriously do wonder what panda tastes like... ill ask the guy at the bottom
see all photos »

5 minutes later however, we get to the giant panda nursery and see a good 10 cubs playing around looking very cute and adorable.  After a good hour looking at the cubs trying to play on the see-saws, climb trees and encounter the joys of space hoppers we had almost filled the memory cards with films of them in the trees, falling out of the trees, fighting with each other and generally living the life of luxury!  Whilst watching the cubs playing we listened in on someone elses tour group (they had an english speaking guide, lucky buggers!) turns out these cubs were only 9 months old...they were HUGE for 9 months old!  This was shortly followed by one of the cubs falling out of a tree, much to everyones amusement as it got up and carried on rolling around enjoying itself we all giggled...apart from the Americans behind us who were appualed that anyone was laughing becuase the panda fell out of the tree, it could have hit it's head and died...when i say tree i mean a very small tree and the panda didn't actually fall out, it just fell down a few branches, got itself together again and gently lowered itself the rest of the way down!  While the rest of us are enjoying the cute, cuddly little cubs the son from the same family asked his father...why did the panda try and kill himself?  It was at this point we decided it was time to leave and made our way over to our enthusiastic bus drivers who pointed us in the direction of the red panda's.  Luke and Ronan stopped for a cigarette ...please note, there is no smoking in the park, at all, so the drivers found them a quiet back alley!!  I on the other hand decided to miss that opportunity and headed for the red panda enclosure, on the way i passed through the cubs indoor play area and incubators for when they are literally just born!  Didn't know they did that for panda's!!

Two of the 4 month olds playing with the space hopper from monkey dust..
see all photos »

So it's on to the red panda's...which look more like racoon's than panda's and every single one of them is asleep by now but they still looked very, very cute and after a few laps i headed down to the cinema where i met up with luke and ronan.  A brief look around the, very over priced, tat shop and it was time to watch the film on mating...aka, panda porn!  10 minutes later, we've seen them, date, mate, get married and give birth!  ...I have to say i don't think i ever thought i would be watching a film of panda's at it in my life time...i don't even think i can say it's one to tick off the list!!

The elusive Red Panda- looke more like a Raccoon though...
see all photos »

At 10.50 we headed down to the entrance and chilled for a bit waiting for everyone else and at 11.00 it was time to get back to the hostel and after all of the questions we asked about the drivers in the beginning i think it's fair to say their hearts were in the right place, they were just trying to get us to where the panda's were as fast as possible, they know the area cuz they've done it before.  However, i'm not so sure about their driving our 30 minute trip back took a mere 20...i'm still in one piece so can't complain but blime!  Decided it was time for breakfast/lunch.  Feeling like we had done a hell of a lot in the morning (i need some sort of excuse for this anyway) we spent the afternoon doing not very much!  A bit of Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas and some Shit Head and before you know it it's dinner time and back downstairs to the restaurant for a v.nice burger before bed...