What an amazing day today. After nearly killing myself trying to get down from my top bunk bed, along with waking up the whole dorm in the process and almost breaking the ladder up to the bunk I met my friends at 7.30 am to go to the Panda Breeding Centre. We had to leave early as after 10.30 ish the Pandas tend to fall asleep and are quite sluggish where as they get fed first thing in the morning which would no doubt make better tourist viewing. The Pandas were soooooo cute and wonderful. I was completely captured by them. They were smaller than I thought but just as cuddly and cute as I had expected. I will no doubt bore you with my endless pictures (I hope only to put a few up for you after I finish this). What I didnt know was that female Pandas give birth in seconds. We saw a cinema clip of one giving birth and the cub literally spurted out so quickly that it shocked the mother panda who fleeted to the other end of the room (Oh why cant human female child birth be like that I hear you mothers out there saying!). Apparently if you pay something like 120 pounds you can hold baby pandas usually but unfortunately they were ill and so we went past their nursery where they were being fed. One was in an incubator (?) and 4 were lined up in bed in a row sleeping - all so amazing - a real wonder which I was priveledged to see.
We then moved on and had the opportunity to have a photo taken with an adult panda. Something in me was telling me that it wasnt right to have a snap taken - after all the panda is not a circus animal there to entertain us. On the other hand when am I ever going to get this chance again and the panda looked so relaxed like it had done it a 100 times - or so I convinced myself. As I stood behind the Panda I crouched down and my chin was touching its cute little hear. I also stroked it and was just in awe. I am a very lucky girl and so very very honoured.
After we saw some red Pandas which I first saw in Sydney a few years ago. Racoon like and red, I think they are equally as cute as the Giant Panda depsite the Chinese information signs referring to them as the "lesser" Panda - I am thinking they meant "smaller" and something got lost in translation
We had to head off just before lunch as we had a long drive to Leshan to see Dafo - a 17 metre high sculpture of a budda in a cliff side. A friend who has visited China before suggested I could give it a miss. Glad I didnt. It again was just a wonder. You can only comprehend its enormity really from the bottom. Its feet could stand around 6-8 humans horizontally in a row I reckon. It was just gigantic. A Monk initiated the carving some time ago and after work was suspended for a while he blinded himself so that the Govt would proceed with the project! Its ears were probably about 7ft in length themselves - just WOW. The area surrounding Dafo is also very pleasant (a few waterfalls, ponds, bamboo trees and wonderful gardens and you could easily spend a good 4 hours in there. I returned to the hostel feeling very content and happy.
Thankfully I also managed to change room and get a lower bunk.
Lesson learnt today: always get a lower bunk! (I know you told me so YT)
The only bad news of the day is that Camera seems to have completely diet on my. Cannot get the thing to work at all so it looks like I am going to be without a camera until H/Kong when I hope to buy another so I will very much be relying on others taking pictures for me.
