Today was a day all the kids (and most of us adults) were really looking forward to - seeing the pandas. We started at 7:30 on the 90 minute drive to the panda research center as the pandas are active only in the morning. We arrived as it opened at 9am and spent a few hours watching the playful pandas eat and "play". Sonia got a chance to sit by and touch a 1.5 year old panda for about 30 seconds :)
After the pandas, we had lunch in a "typical Sichuan" restaurant. Having been to Chengdu for work, I can say that they definitely toned down the heat on the food for the westerners. The most spicy dishes were only moderately spicy for my bland midwestern tongue. Nothing like the taste of the food I had with my Chinese colleagues a couple years back (but very good). Sonia really likes the food here and did great trying almost everything - except today being tired of rice :)
In the afternoon, we went to Jinli street which has many shops and many "snack" places. Chengdu is known for 100 snacks. We tried a couple including sugar made into characters, a panda rice item, and a yogurt drink.
We had dinner back in the hotel and then went to a Sichuan Opera show which was fantastic. Sonia was mesmerized even though it went until 9:30pm. There were acrobats, flame "spitting" characters, puppets, shadow show... and the grand finale with very local specialty of "face changing" (where the actors have layers of masks and clothes that are changed with the flip of a hand... amazing!).
It's now 10pm and Sonia is asleep. Tomorrow we'll fly to Xi'an which is home to the army of terra cotta warriors that I've always wanted to see.
Some pictures from today...
Panda Visit
Jinli Strteet
Sichuan Opera
Wow, that panda is quite big! So many fun snacks. How did you pick? I look forward to hearing more about the opera show. I have been keeping Mr. Rick up to date on your adventures and showing him all the pics.
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