Pandas and Red Pandas!

I had to get up at 8 am this morning because we had a field trip to the Panda Research Institute, which supposedly has about 60 or 70 pandas. My roommates and I arrived at the bus a little after 9 (we were supposed to be there at or before 9) and we drove for about 40 minutes to the research institute. Once we arrived, we walked straight to where some adult pandas were still sleeping. After taking about 1000 pictures, we sat in on a little educational video about pandas. It discussed how pandas breed and give birth (which is really odd). Pandas only mate about once a year because it takes too much energy for them to do so. Usually, the first time a panda gives birth, she doesn't know that the cub is hers. Since the cub yells and the mother doesn't know what it is, she smacksit around with her paw. In some cases, the cub becomes injured or even dies from this. When pandas are first born, they're pretty ugly in my opinion. They look kind of like rats. But once they're a few months old, they are much cuter. Once the video was finished, we saw more adult pandas who were busily eating bamboo. Again everyone took anout a million pictures, but Gloria and I got a little tired of them and went to go find some other ones. We did find two other ones sitting around and eating as well. Afterwards, the two of us met up with the group again and all of us went to see the four or five month old cubs, which are incredibly cute. They were in large wooden cages playing with each other and climbing on the bars. However, there was one panda cub who was isolated from all the others. Wentao asked the guard what was wrong with him and his response was that the cub was being naughty. After spending at least 20 minutes admiring the cubs, our group walked over to the red panda enclosures. The red pandas are also incredibly cute (and much smarter and agile than giant pandas). Gloria and I watched the red pandas for a while and even lost sight of our group because we were so amazed byt the red pandas. We realized that our group had left us and tried to find them but couldn't. Gloria called Emma and asked where they were and they were already walking back to the bus. So Gloria and I walked back to the entrance, passing a lake on the way that had beautiful black swans and ducks in it. We passed the gift shop, but I decided to wait until we go to the parking lot to buy cheaper souvenirs in the shops around there. I bought a fan with pandas on it.

By the time we got back to our apartments, everyone was starving so Gloria, Christie, Kevin, Bjoernar, Kevin and I went to eat in a nearby restaurant and ordered about 6 dishes of tofu, rice, beef, etc. When I returned home, I worked on my blog for a little while and then Gloria, Marit, Kevin and I went to dinner in a fast food type place.

The Restaurant
Gloria and Kevin
Marit and I
The Food! :)



The restaurant is in a very pretty place where there are shops, people and trees but only pedestrians can walk. No cars are allowed. I've found it very interesting that people in China exercise, play badminton, and even dance out in public, generally in the middle of the sidewalk. For instance, after we were done with dinner, we walked out to this plaza type thing that I just described and people were dancing as if they were preparing for a show.

The Dancers in the Sidewalk



For dessert, the four of us went to Ice King to eat some shaven ice with syrup, fruit and strawberry sorbet. It was really delicious!

We returned to Gloria's apartment to play some cards and then went to Laura's apartment where they were having a party. About 10 or 15 of us were there and we were just hanging out and talking. Some of us were playing beer pong, but the rest of us (myself included) played American Farmer, a Norwegian card game that Marit taught us how to play. I came in second place!