10-07 Day 89 (Chengdu – Panda Day)

Its Pandemonium

An amazing day with the panda bears

Mileage

Date10/7/2019
Travel FromChengdu, China
Intermediate LocationPanda Base – Chengdu
Ending LocationChengdu, China
Starting Odometer36,899
Ending Odometer36,899
Miles Driven Today0 Miles
Total Trip Mileage12356 Miles
Countries visited Today 
Countries visited on trip US, Canada, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China

At the end of tomorrow’s ride, I will have the 75% mark, with respect to time. That will leave me only about 30 more days of the tour before I get in a plane, and head home.

A visit with the pandas

Arrival

We departed the hotel at 8:35, and arrived at the Panda Fertility Base at about 9:00. By the time we secured tickets, and entered the park, it was 9:20. For sure, we did not know how long it might take until we saw our first panda, or how much walking we might have to do.

The crowds are very light

Monday, today, is the last day of the 70th celebration of the Chinese People’s Republic. So, given our experience at the site of the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, we were hopeful that we wouldn’t see the type of crowds that we saw in Xian. But, to our surprise, the crowds were very light, and the paths were open, and we could walk freely as we searched for our first Giant Panda.

Our first panda

We did not need to wait long at all. Within about 3 minutes of looking, we came upon our first panda. He/She was a big fluffy bear, who seemed to be enjoying a healthy breakfast of bamboo. Lots of bamboo. I mean, piles of bamboo.

We watched the Giant Panda for about 10 minutes, taking video, and enjoying the moment, and then we walked a bit further.

Charge of the light brigade

Pandas to the left of me, pandas to the right of me. OMG, there are Pandas everywhere.

Within 2 minutes, we came on our next Giant Panda. Once again, we watched, as he began to eat a whole lot of bamboo. Over the next 75 minutes, we came upon one Giant Panda after the next. Some were laying down eating, while others rested on the ground, and many slept in trees, all of them were within 20-30 feet from where we stood.

I’ve compiled a video that shows many of these Pandas, as they enjoyed their breakfast, or took a well-deserved nap after breakfast.

Baby Pandas

Of course, as exciting as it is to see a Giant adult panda, it’s wonderful to see a baby panda. After a while, we came to an overlook platform that had a good amount of people gathered around it. And so, we quickly discovered this is where the baby pandas were located. So, I took some video of these cute little guys. Notice the different ages of the bears.

Red Pandas

Wow, after walking around, seeing so many of the beautiful Giant Panda, we continued our walk, this time entering the habitat of the Red Panda. The red panda isn’t simply a Giant Panda, wearing red clothes. The Red panda looks more like a big racoon, or more like a racoon and a fox mated, and had a bear baby. Yeh, kinda like that…

Wow, what a day

Today worked out just about as we had hoped. In fact, this was probably one of the best of all of the days on the tour so far.

Panda Report

What will tomorrow bring

Well, it was great to get a day off, taking the time to do a little sightseeing, laundry, bike maintenance, and blog publication. So, it wasn’t really a day off, but it felt great to have a little time to ourselves.

The ride for tomorrow will have us continue our S-SW track, traveling about 210 miles, with one significant mountain pass at about 8000 feet, towards the end of the day. So, it should be a great riding day, as long as we don’t get rain.

About the Author

Cliff Musante

Cliff Musante is a technologist, business leader, motorcycle enthusiast, father, grandfather, and more. In June, 2013 his passion for motorcycles was revitalized, and he set out to ride across Patagonia. Since then, he's logged thousands of miles, ridden across the US, and on July 10, 2019, he began a 120 day trip through Europe, and then on to Russia, China, and parts East. This 'Blog is the story of all of his adventures.

Comments

    1. Hi Nance,
      Yes it is, and I liked your comment so much, I changed the subtitle of the post.

Comments are closed