Saturday, October 12, 2024
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This morning we went to the Lhasa Gonggar Airport,
which had a KFC |
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| The menu at KFC is a bit different than in the US |
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After a one-hour 40-minute flight, we arrived in Chengdu,
home of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding |
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Having had lunch on the plane, we went straight to the
research center, which has become almost like
DisneyWorld since we visited on 7/21/2011 |
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| New buildings and sculptures |
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There is now a shuttle bus system; here a station rooftop
is swept clean with a long-handled broom |
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It is still like a cloud forest; very humid,
and although we were surrounded by bamboo,
it was not the type the pandas eat |
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We first visited the "Sunshine Delivery House"
and managed to see a few young pandas through
the overgrown greenery |
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| This one is just hanging out |
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| This is how we viewed the pandas, in a crowd! (KSS) |
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This panda is eating bamboo that is grown in their native
habitat and transported to the center; pandas are carnivores
but apparently have adapted to a bamboo-only diet
because that was all that was available where they lived |
Pandas are fed only three types of bamboo, and it is reported that they eat a different part of each species:
Phyllostachys bissetii, of which they only consume the culm (white part of stem);
Bashania fargesii, of which they only consume the leaves; and
Qiongzhuea opienensis, of which they only consume the shoots.
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| Research center sign (KSS) |
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| A strange little sculpture group |
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| Now we are in the "Moon Delivery House" |
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| A climbing panda |
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| Well, this sculpture is still here! |
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| Loropetalum chinense 'Black Pearl'/Chinese Fringe Flower |
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| Photo op for Lanette and Norman |
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| Souvenirs galore |
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| You know what?! We did not get to see the red pandas! |
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| Bobblehead pandas |
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| Figs for sale |
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| The snack lady was blocking the exit |
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| Grilled sweet potatoes and corn, watermelon and bananas |
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| A panda sculpture of Legos? |
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We stayed one night at the
Chengdu Panda Garden Hotel |
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| Panda Garden Hotel room |
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| Panda Garden Hotel bathroom with a bathtub |
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| Telephone in the lavatory |
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| And a rain shower |
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| View from the hotel room |
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| Dinner at the hotel |
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The children's area of the hotel
had these arcade claw machines
to hopefully grab a plush panda |
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| Pickleball! |
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