We had another picture perfect weather day ! All our suitcases had clothes for cold weather (average this time of year is high of 65 F and lows in 50's with lots of rain. ) We've had none of that! Sunshine and 70 degrees!
I think the expressions on our faces in the photos will say it all! There were 14 baby pandas born last fall. Panda moms only care for one baby. Their arms cannot hold two, so in the wild, they only nurture the strongest one. But at the Panda Preservation Center, if two babies are born, one is taken out and put in a baby incubator for 6 hours and then switched out with his sibling so the mom gets used to caring for just one at a time. They weigh about 4oz at birth and look like pink mice, but they are pretty darn cute by about 3 months. They stay with their moms for about a year before they are removed. Pandas are social when young, but as they mature, they become very solitary. Females are in heat only 3 days out of a year... They love to eat Bamboo shoots best! They also love apples and honey. While the Panda is sitting on our laps he is eating small bamboo shoots dipped in honey. They eat up to 80 pounds a day if it is bamboo shoots, and up to 40 pounds a day if regular bamboo. There are 60 different species of bamboo they can eat. As they grow, they spend about 17 hours a day eating and the other 7 sleeping.. They do not come out for viewing in hot weather so we are lucky it's cool. We also saw the much smaller Red Pandas. They look a lot like a large fox, but they are a bear. The Giant Panda is actually not a bear, but is classified as it's own species! There are about 1200 Pandas in the province.
Nothing could compare to our panda experience, but we did enjoy our visit to a museum to see a recent archeological discovery -- a site which has two sacrificial pits with piles of bronze artifacts and masks. The bronze figures are a mystery. There is no written record of who lived in the area, or what the masks and other figures represent. It is a total mystery as to the origin of these relics.
Dinner tonight at the restaurant on the Bridge was an adventure since no one spoke English. Arlene finally walked around the restaurant asking if anyone spoke English and found a very nice gentleman who translated for us so it all worked out ok. Duffy and I are in the hotel lounge while Bill and Arlene have gone to Starbucks! Tomorrow we fly to see the Tera Cota Soldiers in Xian.
We have to wear shoe covers, plastic gloves and gowns before we can hold a baby!
It seems "Gaby Panda" hitched a ride to visit her friends! She is quite the little traveler!
She seems to like to take pictures!
And eat with chopsticks...
A group of university students fell in love with Arlene and kept asking for photos!
Lots of students seem to like our blonde hair and want pictures with us!
Gaby Panda appears to enjoy the very hard to find Coke Zero!
A sleeping Red Panda.
Mom and cub enjoying breakfast of bamboo shoots!
Now how cute is this guy?!!!!
Stuffed Pandas were given as gifts in the bags so Duffy volunteered to "panda sit" while we wandered a bit further down the path!
Arlene with her "posse!"
Yum ??
Can you find our own Gaby Panda who we found partying with a LOT of friends!
They really do look like stuffed animals!
Beautiful yellow roses everywhere !
Panda version of "corn on the cob!"
Look at this amazing "pile" of Koi fish in a pond at the Panda Reserve! They were literally on top of each other going for food people were throwing in!
Good night until Xian!
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