I wish I would have booked one more day in Chengdu because this was probably one of the most fun and favorite cities I have been too.
I have been dreaming of traveling to China, specifically for the reason of hugging and cuddling a baby Panda.
Unfortunately due to COVID-19, they banned this $300 activity 🥲.
Even the flight to Chengdu was Panda themed!
Even the flight to Chengdu was Panda themed!
The flight from Beijing to Chengdu got in at 1 AM, and the hotel was a 40-minute drive from the airport.
The whole deplaning process and getting a taxi to the hotel took less than 20 minutes, and before I knew it, we were at the hotel and checked in by 1:45 AM.
The price was actually $40 a night, but divide by 2, since I was traveling with a friend.
I barely got any sleep since I wanted to wake up extremely early, so the Panda Research Center was not as crowded.
Originally, I wanted to go to the Dujiangyan Panda Base, since it is not notorious for being less crowded, but it's a 2-hour commute from the city center, and we were only in Chengdu for a quick transit.
Mark my words though, I will be back in Chengdu, and I will go to Dujiangyan for the Panda Base, Zhongshuge library, and climbing Mount Qingcheng.
For my limited time in Chengdu, my goals were:
- See Pandas
- Buy Panda Merchandise
- Specifically Panda Backpack like iShowSpeed's:
As close to this as possible!
- Specifically Panda Backpack like iShowSpeed's:
- Eat the Hot pot
Here are some photos outside the hotel:
Even when we left early, it was still super- crowded. Pandemonium! (All puns intended!)
I have multiple videos that I will post on YouTube because there's no way of embedding them here, but I will share the panda photos and selfies!
This is like a metaphor for social-media, so connected, but yet so disconnected!
My question is how did they get up there? 🤔 I guess they used all their energy climbing, and rightfully deserve a nap 😴.
I never contemplated breaking into a zoo enclosure so much in my life until this day. What would have happened if I just jumped in Harambe style?
They just had red pandas just running without any real barrier. If I did not know any better, I could have just walked into their enclosure.
Took a pit stop for some bingqilin:
If you're curious about a panda's daily schedule, here it is:
Any ways, back to the real pandas:
They also had macaques too, but they were facing the other way!
Oh, I forgot to mention the ticket price, the research center was $8 USD. I could not even get food or water at San Diego Zoo for that price.
By 12:30 PM, all the pandas collectively agreed it was nap time, so we decided to head out too.
We decided to head out to the New Century Global Center, which is the world's largest building by floor area, 1.7 million square meters (18.3 million square feet).
I never got the idea and hype about hanging out at Valley Fair all-time. You just buy the clothes you are going to wear at Valley Fair next time, and so on and so forth.
Any ways, here's lunch!
There was an ice-rink on the 4th floor! So we had to go skating!
On the other side of the yellow barrier, a little kid was getting a private ice hockey lesson. I tried to offer some pointers to his parents using a translator, but they were so disappointed, I did not speak Chinese, and pretty much told me to piss off.
Ice-skating in China was not on my life bingo card, but neither was playing hockey in Japan, so I will check off both nonetheless. Crazy to think how far the game has taken me, I owe it all to hockey for everything! #thankful
After skating, we needed a recover drink, and Mixue was there to the rescue!
After the mall, we headed back to the hotel because we needed to do laundry. The hotel had guest laundry, but someone was already occupying it, so walked around Chunxi Road Pedestrian Street for about an hour until we found one 😂.
Like Shenzhen, Chengdu is a town of bikes, where the sidewalks and bike lanes mean the same thing.
After dropping off laundry, we decided to grab hot pot for dinner (terrible idea).
The hot pot had a numbing effect I had never experienced before, I could not feel my body for good 40-minutes, which was good because I could not feel how much my legs hurt from all that walking, and how bad my stomach was hurting from the spices. From dinner, we pushed to see Anshun Bridge lit up, but by the time we got there, it was too late.
The bridge is supposed to look like this when lit up:
We got unlucky with the bridge, but it was a beautiful walk, and we got a great desert.
By the bridge, there's a huge bar and nightclub scene, I thought I was back in Hong Kong at Lan Kwai Fong, only to find out this was Chengdu's Lan Kwai Fong street.
I could not go out and enjoy the nightlife because I had to register for courses at 1 AM 😔. I significantly lacked sleep on this trip, but not memories or experiences!
On the way back, I did get my panda backpack! 😆
I was able to get the courses I needed despite the Great Fire Wall and UCSD switching to a new student portal system 🤦♂️. My Chengdu goals was completed on Day 1!