Day 9 (17 Sep 2018) – Chengdu, Adventures by Disney Enchanted China Adults Only Tour

It was panda day. We had been joking ever since we arrived into Chengdu about panda sightings everywhere already – stuffed animals, signage, and other cute pictures everywhere.

We went to breakfast at the restaurant that was right by the lobby on the 25^th floor at around 7 am.  The choices were amazing again.

We met in the lobby at 8 am and departed for the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding about half an hour away. It was a nice cool morning. We learned on the coach that pandas consume 50 pounds of bamboo daily, poop about 10 times a day and, depending on the time of year, eat different kinds and parts of the bamboo plant.

The crowds weren’t too bad and Daisy commented on how relatively empty the research base was. The center is basically a huge bamboo park with some pandas – gorgeously landscaped and maintained. We stopped for a photo op in front of the golden pandas and then were taken to a 5 star bathroom which actually had similar electric toilets – just no warmed seats.

 We then met our local expert, Melody, who knew where the pandas were active and she led us to various areas of the park to view them. Pandas are just so cute and fun to watch. These are very pampered pandas who live up to 30 years – longer than they do in the wild. Some of the viewing areas were very crowded and it was tough to get up to the front and actually easier just to watch others take video of the pandas.

Wade and others bought some cute panda headbands and we took a selfie with Daisy.

By the time we were finishing up, it was getting pretty warm outside. 

We went to see the Red Pandas and then were given the opportunity to use the bathroom and do some shopping. The gift shop was small and very warm – we picked up a couple of magnets for 30 RMB then left the research center and got back onto our motor coach where we received our pin of the day from Daisy’s cousin (Ralph dressed up in panda-wear).

Jenny had asked us when had arrived if we knew what color the tail of a panda was and promised us lollipops if we got the right answer. The joke was that it was hard to know what color it was as pandas were always sitting down. As it turns out, pandas do have tails and they’re supposed to be white but are typically brown colored from sitting so much.

We were taken to a mall for lunch which was family style again with a lazy susan. The food was, of course, amazing, and this particular restaurant had the best hot tea of any of the others.

After we finished with lunch, we took the motor coach back to the hotel and had a bit of free time in the afternoon so Seth and I walked out to the nearby shopping district to find him a t-shirt but those were tough to find. I did find a very nice cardigan sweater for 185 RMB (about $27). As typical with Chinese clothing sizes, I had to laugh at the tag which said “5XL”.

We met up with everyone in the lobby again at 5:45 pm after showering and cleaning up. Ralph had invited us to dress up for tonight – totally optional but I did decide to put on a skirt for the evening. We were taken to a hot pot restaurant – they had given us a choice of 3 kinds of broth: szechuan spicy, a mix of spicy/mild, mushroom, and tomato. Seth opted for the spicy broth and I got the mix. We were taken upstairs into 2 rooms with the largest lazy susans I’ve ever seen. Each seat had a small round convection cooktop with a pot on it. The lazy susan was packed full of things to be cooked in our pots: thinly sliced meats, shrimp rolls, won tons, dumplings, vegetables, lotus root, wood ear (tree fungus), potatoes, fish balls, mushrooms, meat balls, and noodles. There were a few already-cooked items like green onion pancakes. We were given instructions several times on how long to cook each type of item and reminded to “sterilize” our chopsticks in the broth after handling raw food. We were given 3 types of dipping sauces, a larger bowl of soy sauce, and a bowl of rice.

"Mix" of szechuan spicy and mild broth

Szechuan spicy broth

Mushroom broth

The burners were turned on and when our broth was at a rolling boil, it was time to put in our various hot pot items. This is ultimate in “playing with your food”. Just a word of caution about the broth choices – I’m a big fan of Szechuan and spicy foods but the spicy broth was too much even for me. There’s something about those Szechuan peppercorns that are particularly potent. Charlie had taken a bite of his food from the spicy broth and had a terrible choking and coughing spell, turning red in the process. Otherwise, the dinner was very fun and good introduction to “Chinese fondue”.

Our next stop was the Opera House where we would be watching Szechuan Chinese Opera and the infamous face changing opera. We were seated near the front in the “VIP” section and were given complimentary tea as well as sunflower seeds. We could also opt for massages and ear cleaning for 50 RMB again during the show. Wade also bought us a bottle of Great Wall cabernet which we shared – it was actually quite good.

The opera was interesting but hard to follow. The costumes were beautiful and I enjoyed watching the live musicians playing traditional instruments (well, except for the cello). Some of the interim entertainment was great – especially the woman doing to hand shadows. We were instructed to wait after the show was over letting the “common people” leave first before getting up as a group and going out to the motor coach.

We returned back to our hotel after the show and had to do some quick packing to get our suitcases out by our door by 11 pm.

Next post:  Day 10 (18 Sep 2018) - Chendu to Shanghai, Adventures by Disney Enchanted China Adults Only Tour