Day 15 – Chengdu Panda Tour and to Zhongdian (Shangrila)
The last day of our group trip and we finished it off with an easy panda tour. Couldn’t really say we have been to Chengdu without visiting the adorable pandas could we? 🙂
Some parting shots of Sim’s Cozy – the travel desk, reception and bar/restaurant.
J and CY had american breakfast, CC had cereal while I had banana pancake for breakfast.
Like all good tourists, we wore our panda tags faithfully. We would be visiting The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base just 18km north of Chengdu city.
The place is huge and makes for a nice walk.
Slightly camera shy pandas.
Ah, this is better.
The red panda.
Some interesting signage around.
Mama pandas at the breeding center
Cute little babies and their gawking fans.
More pandas
Reach.
Panda sourvenirs are hot sellers!
Haha, I like the pose of this sleeping panda.
Baby pandas.
We watched a short documentary about pandas and the breeding base.
The family of Meimei.
Who has visited the breeding base?
Some familiar faces.
We were back at Sim’s Cozy at around 12pm. We reached the airport at 1pm plus and had lunch at a restaurant there. I gave the set lunches a miss and had a 58RMB bubble tea.
Goodbye my friends. Here were our games tally. 😛
As my flight was not due till 8pm, I spent the time reading The Hotel on the Roof of the World by Alec Le Sueur at a quiet area near the international departure gate. The book is a humourous account of Alec’s stint at Holiday Inn in Lhasa. Commenting on the unrealistic expectations of foreign tourists in TIbet, he said:
How do you expect a Tibetan who has only lived in filth and squalor, surrounded by inefficiency and incompetence, to check if the room is correct for one of Europe’s top bankers?
Oh, in between the readings, I had a fantastic prawn burger from KFC which was one-third the price of the bubble tea I had earlier.
The flight to Zhongdian aka Shangrila was on time. Because the Lonely Planet warned about finding a taxi at Shangrila’s airport, I was a bit worried arriving so late. But my concern was unnecessary. I got a 30RMB ride to the old town easily. There, I called up Cobbler’s Hill Inn and a staff soon arrived to bring me to their place.
Cobbler’s Hill Inn is a 300 year plus building located within a short walk from the main square of the old town.
I visited the cafe at the ground floor for dinner. A charming little place. And the lady boss as well.
Hot chocolate and curry rice. I think my friends would have liked it here.
呵呵,都说去北京不去长城的话就等于没去,来成都不去看熊猫的话就等于没有来过,当然还有吃火锅哈。 所以呢,你看了熊猫也吃了火锅,成都市市长应该给你颁发一枚“成都欢迎福生同学到此一游”的徽章(如果有的话),哈哈哈哈哈哈
哇哈哈哈哈,你照的熊猫好可爱哦,我们上次去的时候那些熊猫都很不给面子哎,都在睡觉,一点都不配合让我们照相,只有一只爬树的熊猫还不错。呵呵。你照的这只小熊猫(red panda)看上去很健壮啊,我上次去看的时候它还没有这么大呢。哎,时光飞逝啊。
哎呀,那只睡觉的熊猫果然超可爱,四肢完全伸展,睡的够舒坦。当熊猫真好啊,可以没心没肺无忧无虑,下辈子我投胎改做一只熊猫好了,呵呵。
我06年去的时候还没有那个游客纪念墙呢,你说的那些熟悉的面孔中有一个是李光耀总理吧,呵呵。
一方水土养一方人,任何有人类生存的地方都是美丽的。
就这么离开成都了,有没有舍不得啊,人家都说成都是一座来了就不想走的城市,那么你认为呢?
香格里拉果然不负人间天堂之说,古朴的小镇很有味道,让人神往。
哇哈哈哈哈,巧克力,也是我的最爱哦。
Not working today?
Haha yes, I should get a certificate for going through the major Chengdu highlights.
That sleeping panda’s posture was too funny.
I feel Chengdu is one of the nicer cities I have visited in China. Cool weather, not too busy, and near many sights. Definitely worth coming back.