6.00 am. The alarm rang with the most annoying sound ever - the wake-up signal. Why on earth would you start your day so early? The reason was simple, around 60 cute giant pandas. Who can resist the Chinese national treasure? So we got ourselves out of bed early to be amongst the first to enter the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding at 7:30 am.
The lovely animals are more active in the morning hence the feeding time is between 8 am to 10 am. After the breakfast, the pandas will take a 4 to 6 hours nap. You won't see much more activity in the park.
We spent hours watching pandas crunching bamboo, playing, climbing trees or just lolling together. We didn't get to see the newborn pandas when there are still pink but we saw several babies and cuddly toddlers indulging in their favourite pastime: sleeping!
Even if the giant pandas are the main event, the facility also displays red pandas.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is inside a bamboos forest kept clean and sign-posted in English. We spent as much time wandering the park than we contemplated those adorable creatures laying in the weirdest position on their bamboo platforms.
As the crowd invaded the alleys, we left the park to collect our next train tickets and buy a bus ticket to Songpan, our next destination. The train tickets were easy to pick up. The bus tickets were another story. After spending hours commuting between line 2 and 3, we found a bus station with buses leaving for Songpan. To relax, we paced along the lively Jinli Ancient Street (锦里古街) in the old part of Chengdu. We pass by the Wuhouci Temple (武侯祠) and settled for a famous dinner: the Chengdu hot spot.
The dish was a mandatory part of our culinary tour of the Sichuan cuisine. We were just so scared to try it that we settled for the 'newcomer' version - a half spicy and a half clear broth. Dining moves fast in China and within minutes the huge pot arrived sizzling at our table. Next came the raw meats and vegetables that we boiled ourselves until ready to eat. The waiter taught us how to prepare the dipping sauce made of sesame oil of garlic, coriander and chive.
Plenty of Sichuan peppers, chillies and a lot of red chilli oil are the base ingredients of the hot and spicy soup. The sweet and sour gave our mouth a break. Cold beers also helped to calm the spiciness, so we drank a lot. It was one of the most exciting meals we have had so far in China.
