Thursday afternoon, 3/8/07 - PANDAS!

Well, we were up early. Matthew had a so-so night. Apparently he had a bad dream or something because he was sleeping but at the same time, crying. He did that about 3 times throughout the night. After that, he slept. We then got up, went to breakfast, and hit downtown Chengdu! (waiting for Marina/Mr. Wong) We actually drew more attention to ourselves today for just walking in the square! Imagine that!! A lady came up to us saying a bunch of stuff in Chinese and I honestly thought she was going to get me for not dressing the kids warm enough. Come to find out, her and Roy started a conversation in CHINESE! Lucky Roy studied those CD's! It's paid off more than once! She was nice. Said lucky babies. (little did she know WE are the lucky ones) Then went off in the square. Meanwhile, more folks came along to see what she was looking at and well? You know the rest!


Ok, I have to tell you about this! As we were heading back to the hotel to meet our guide and the driver, we stopped in front of Ito Yokado (a department store/Walmart/ grocery store). Well, apparently they were having ONE MASSIVE SALE ON SOMETHING because there were about 150 people standing in line waiting for the store to open at 9am. Well, the store opened and even with police around and security guards posted throughout the line, the people MOWED one another over to get into that store! It was like BLACK FRIDAY in the US! Or David's Bridal $99 sale, the first day! OH MY GOSH.....young, old, didn't matter, they were literally walking on one another to get into that store. Roy and I couldn't believe what we were seeing and Roy asked one of the policemen what was it (he couldn't speak english). We figured a sale. But MAN......stay outta their way!


PANDAS....... PANDAS......... and more PANDAS! We saw little baby pandas that were 6 months old (who were the most downright beautiful little creatures God's ever made). At birth, the pandas are about 1/5 a pound.
At 6 months, they are about 50 pounds, so I guess you could say we saw the toddlers! LOL....It was mating season so some of the male pandas were inside their "bedrooms".....for obvious reasons!
The red pandas were just so darn cute, we just had to hold them! They are truly babies! Rebecca weighs more than them!!! Holding them was such an honor! They were enticed by apples! We had to wear gloves as to protect not only ourselves, but mainly for them! Not to get them sick or pass germs to them. It was an awesome experience.
Rebecca had to do what mommy did!

The Chengdu Panda Reserve was an awesome experience and it took about appx. 4 hours to go through the whole thing. Even "Swan Lake". They have BLACK SWANS there. They are the most gorgegous swans! The baby chicks are just as cute! I LOVED seeing them. You don't see too many black swans in the US (or Norway for that matter). The kids got plum tuckered out as the photo shows.


After the Panda reserve, we went back to the hotel to clean up, get a fresh diaper on our mister Matthew, let Rebecca go and off we took our guide out to a nice Sichuan meal at one of the local restaurants. I think she liked that, VERY MUCH! We let her pick some stuff for us and it was WONDERFUL! (didn't like the vegetable plate, but ok.....looked like some kelp or seaweed) We actually closed the place down! Apparently here in China, workers get a "rest period" of one hour after the lunch rush. (to then prepare for the dinner crowds) Now we are back here writing to you.

Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou! HALLELUJAH LORD! We won't be stared at for HOURS on end! More Americans, more American food, more shops that are SOOOOOO cool. I can't wait. Our flight is at 7:30pm and we won't arrive there until about 9:30pm. So no updates until at least Saturday and then we'll have to see if we can get a good connection in the hotel! We are staying at the Victory, don't forget.

OH YEAH, HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY! (Here in China, it's Happy Women's Day today!)

Until we meet again......