Swan lake

 The Panda station encompasses a huge area. To one end is this huge lake where Koi fish and swans live harmoniously.

The Chinese kids were enthralled with feeding both fish and swans.

More pandas

 They eat only bamboo which doesn't give much nutrition. So pandas are mostly slow moving animals except during feeding time.

Male pandas are not very horny so breeding is mostly done by artificial insemination. Here at the panda station they have been very successful in increasing the world's panda population.

The red pandas

They are in fact raccoons.

The Panda station, Chengdu

 No trip to Chengdu is complete without a trip to the Panda station. Our hostel was the Traffic inn hostel and just outside the gates is the local bus that takes you to the Panda station. Just tell the driver where you want to go and they'll stop for you but there's still a 15 minute walk to the entrance. One can take a pedi-cab to get there and on the way back just ask where to wait for the return bus to take back to the hostel. It was so cheap taking local buses.

For such a huge park we didn't see too many pandas which was quite disappointing. Maybe the females are gestating. Here they try to increase the world's panda population. The male pandas are not too horny and artificial insemination does the job.

The Qiang towers

We were dropped off on the main road and we had to walk to the hanging bridge to get to the towers. These were towers built by the Qiang people to ward off enemy attacks. A few are still left and preserved. It was hot and once we got to the bridge we decided to turn back and return to the village. Lonely Planet said it was a 30 minute walk but it was not. It took more than an hour without any cars passing by. We wanted to get a taxi but found none. We saw the asphalt melting under the hot sun. It was a struggle to get back to the village. My companions still hasn't forgiven me for putting them through this. I still get a lot of flack from them. Finally when we were almost near the village, a taxi came by. We hopped into it and rode back in it the rest of the way.

Danba 3

The four towers represent something. I forgot what it was. The guide spoke Mandarin and Zac translated but I was too busy taking pictures to pay attention. But it is a very beautiful village in a very buccolic setting.

Dressing up

 She wants to play dress up.....