Fuck. Today was supposed to be a happy day. Pandas and relaxing in the afternoon. Instead tonight will see the last night of our trio, thanks to National Day-Week. My onwards travel to Kunming was intended for the 6th, but only standing tickets were avilable. On the 7th, there was seating tickets, but for a ~24hr journey; either option sounded hellish. A hard sleeper was open for tomorrow, so I had to take it. 250RMB, departing at 08.24 to 06.29. Yay.
Morning had started out so well too. met with 3 Germans and an American/French-Canadian couple to share taxis to the Panda Research base. Hair-raising drive, but discover two are from Mainz! Buddesheim (?). They teach me some Chinese single hand counting.
Nice and early (07.45) at the Panda Home. Wander for a bit, before following the noise of the crowd to see the yearlings breakfasting. More at rough tumble play in another enclosure.
Wonderful to see such gentle giants up close, munching only a few feet away, in a moment shared with a select few dedicated souls. The more playful pandas are entertain to watch, and their ambling run is almost comical. There are a few babies sleeping in a cot in the nursery, a cuteness overload. The red pandas are also on show, and we stop to watch them for a little while.
We wander around the parkland, relishing the fact that we're out of the city, shooting the breeze about television programmes past and present.
Decide we want a quiet afternoon at the hotel, just need to book the trains for Thursday. There is a ticket office across the road, which is where we realise our difficulties. Dom & Kelly want to get to Chongqing, a 2 hour train journey. The agent offers seats for an eleven hour one. After some hours of panic and internet research, a return trip to the office yields standing tickets for the 2hr train. Two hours is nothing after our 15hr epic.
Meet the German lads (Jens, Frank - brothers from Mainz - and Nick) for dinner. They have similar problems to D&K, and a return trip to the office also nets them seating tickets for a train with "no tickets".
Dinner of a hotpot, washed down with several beers. Rabbit kidney is the adventure of the meal - quite tasty!
We go back to the hotel to get a deck of cards and a recommendation for a bar. There we are surprised by Emerald, who is no longer able to meet us in the morning, and so has come to wish goodbye. We had bought her a small panda teddy earlier, but she showered us with gifts. For me and Dom, tshirts, for Kelly a green scarf. For each a bookmark and postcards, and a dangly thing for a phone.
We all have some vodka, and make Emerald's a large one, before taking her out for some dirnks. We were hoping she'd take us to a cheap student dive where we could have some banter, but instead we ended up a a club. We sat outside, and were served warm, expensive Heineken (30RMB). Myself and Dom took a look inside, where the bouncer was wearing a stab-proof vest, and the door had a metal detector! We drank up quickly.
Nearly forgot - Kelly taught a drunken Emerald to say "fuck off Brian!". This was her greeting at the club, and as we saw her home (Dom feeling guilty about that vodka), she said it was a 'beautiful sentence'.
Quick beer in the hotel, then bed.
Morning had started out so well too. met with 3 Germans and an American/French-Canadian couple to share taxis to the Panda Research base. Hair-raising drive, but discover two are from Mainz! Buddesheim (?). They teach me some Chinese single hand counting.
Nice and early (07.45) at the Panda Home. Wander for a bit, before following the noise of the crowd to see the yearlings breakfasting. More at rough tumble play in another enclosure.
Wonderful to see such gentle giants up close, munching only a few feet away, in a moment shared with a select few dedicated souls. The more playful pandas are entertain to watch, and their ambling run is almost comical. There are a few babies sleeping in a cot in the nursery, a cuteness overload. The red pandas are also on show, and we stop to watch them for a little while.
We wander around the parkland, relishing the fact that we're out of the city, shooting the breeze about television programmes past and present.
***
Decide we want a quiet afternoon at the hotel, just need to book the trains for Thursday. There is a ticket office across the road, which is where we realise our difficulties. Dom & Kelly want to get to Chongqing, a 2 hour train journey. The agent offers seats for an eleven hour one. After some hours of panic and internet research, a return trip to the office yields standing tickets for the 2hr train. Two hours is nothing after our 15hr epic.
Meet the German lads (Jens, Frank - brothers from Mainz - and Nick) for dinner. They have similar problems to D&K, and a return trip to the office also nets them seating tickets for a train with "no tickets".
Dinner of a hotpot, washed down with several beers. Rabbit kidney is the adventure of the meal - quite tasty!
We go back to the hotel to get a deck of cards and a recommendation for a bar. There we are surprised by Emerald, who is no longer able to meet us in the morning, and so has come to wish goodbye. We had bought her a small panda teddy earlier, but she showered us with gifts. For me and Dom, tshirts, for Kelly a green scarf. For each a bookmark and postcards, and a dangly thing for a phone.
We all have some vodka, and make Emerald's a large one, before taking her out for some dirnks. We were hoping she'd take us to a cheap student dive where we could have some banter, but instead we ended up a a club. We sat outside, and were served warm, expensive Heineken (30RMB). Myself and Dom took a look inside, where the bouncer was wearing a stab-proof vest, and the door had a metal detector! We drank up quickly.
Nearly forgot - Kelly taught a drunken Emerald to say "fuck off Brian!". This was her greeting at the club, and as we saw her home (Dom feeling guilty about that vodka), she said it was a 'beautiful sentence'.
Quick beer in the hotel, then bed.
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