Last Day in Chengdu – Panda Research Base

Well, today is our last day in Chengdu and we have to say in many ways we are sad to leave. We have really enjoyed our time here, getting to know Jack’s birthplace. This is a great city, full of the old and new and rich in history. The people have been both curious and friendly and the food has been tremendous. It will be sad in some ways to leave Jack’s roots behind, but he is feeling more comfortable with us and it is a good time to move on…

This morning we got up early and Sandy took us to the Panda Research Base. The Sichuan province is very well known for Pandas as their natural habitat is primarily contained in the province. The Panda Research Base here in Chengdu houses 50 pandas and is beginning to release them back into the wild. They have made tremendous strides in breeding and have raised many baby pandas here. We were able to get very close to both the Giant Pandas and the Red Pandas. The habitat that these pandas live in is really amazing and very natural with lots of space. Bonus for me – Jack let Chris carry him for most of our visit!

After another wild cab ride, Sandy brought us Chinese fast food to our room and we paid about $1.50 for the whole thing and it was yummy! We got two orders of spicy dumplings, two orders of spicy noodles and a huge order of Jack’s favorite, chicken dumplings. Jack is eating non-stop and we are seriously wondering where this kid is putting it all – he will rival Carter!

This afternoon we spent trying to cram all of our treasures into our luggage, strategically placing things so as to not be overweight on any of our bags – a true art form! This evening, Sandy took us to a tourist area for our last great Sichuan meal and a nice walk.

Jack has officially pounded the spinner toy into submission and it no longer works except as a hammer. He is smiling a lot now and will walk with us no problem. He is going to sleep in the crib with only a short protest and is just a sweet little guy! He played on the bed today for a long time putting all his toys in and out of his lunchbox and pounding them all with the spinner. He is signing “more” consistently and knows the sign “no” (he responds with a resounding frown). He can definitely hear and responds to his Chinese nickname “Guo Guo” (which sounds like go-go) if there is not too much background noise.

Next post: Guangzhou!