Thursday, October 11, 2007

A sad good-bye in China















We had breakfast in the Potala room at the hotel where there is a small version, a model, of the Potala in Lhasa (the Dalai Lama's winter residence). It was a sad meal for me because I knew I'd be saying good-bye to everyone and would be on my own for the remainder of the day. So after bringing our luggage downstairs and saying preliminary good byes, the time had come for the official send off. I sobbed like a baby as I said good bye to everyone and even after they were all in the van I stood on the steps of the hotel next to the guard and cried as they drove off putting my head right down in my hands and sobbing. They were in a van with tinted windows so I couldn't see them until someone, probably Hoe or Son, stuck their hand out the window and waved. It was the only way I knew they were in that van - - otherwise I was just waving to nothing but tinted windows. I cried for a good while after they left just because it was a letdown to be away from them, to be finished with the trip, to be on my own.

I headed with a guide and driver to the Panda Research Center in Chengdu, a world-famous place where pandas are rehabilitated and bred that I have heard about even in the States. There are about 1,000 known pandas in the world and 85% of those pandas are in the Chengdu area. SW China and Tibet is the main habitat for the pandas. The Center was about 45 minutes from my hotel. Chengdu is the third largest city in China, Beijing is #1, Shanghai #2. It's a nice enough city from what I saw. It appears as though there is a large ex-pat community because there were a lot of housing districts with names like: Vancouver Gardens, Missouri Hills, Berkeley Garden, etc. And lots of American clubs, one named Camp David.

It was a rainy, damp day which only added to my gloom about leaving behind my friends. I was happy to get to the Panda Center so I could re-focus my thoughts to something fun! I paid a lot of money to hold a giant panda - - a 10 month old. I paid $150US to do it but when else would I be able to do such a thing? That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I was glad to make the donation to the Center. And if pandas are really that endangered then all the more a great opportunity! I had the opportunity to pay $60US to have a picture taken with an adult panda; paying more just seemed more of a value. Plus, the workers took a lot of photos for me with my camera to remember it by. What fun! The giant pandas are very "slumpy" and seem to not even have a backbone at all. They just slouch and cuddle; so fun to hold! It's a feeling I can't describe - - like there's a person inside a bear suit; so human-like. The panda I held was very sweet and would kiss my lips or cheek whenever I established eye contact with it or say 'hi' to it. I still had a sticky face when I arrived at the airport! Evidently the panda was once a ferocious animal that ate meat but they have evolved into gentle, bamboo-eating animals - - I'm not sure why and plan to research that a little more to understand the reasons (which I'm sure are environmental). The Center is laid out really nicely with great walking paths and bamboo forests. Very lush and beautiful. Pandas just lie around living their lives here and it's fun to watch them. There were also some red pandas which is a small panda from Australia; I had never seen or heard of that breed before. They look like a cross between a raccoon and a fox and are very rust in color. I held a red panda, too, but only had to pay $15US for that. It was a cute little thing that kept a bamboo shoot in its left hand while holding its right foot with its right hand while it ate. I held on to its foot (and thus its hand) and it didn't flinch; it's obviously used to being handled by humans and is very comfortable with it. A fun day and good diversion to saying good-bye.

I arrived at the Chengdu airport early, too early to check in for my flight so shopped a little and ate at KFC. I couldn't believe I was ordering a two-piece original recipe meal! And I enjoyed it!! My luggage was grossly overweight but I took Terry's advice and sought out a male agent to check my bags. Terry's assumption is that it's always better for a girl to get her way with a man than with another woman. He turned out to be right! I didn't get charged for the extra kilos. In fact, when I put my luggage on the scale I said, "I know this isn't light but it's all I could do." He said, "That's okay. I ignore!" Nice! Same thing happened in San Francisco when I went through customs and had to re-check my bags; I went to the most friendly guy who also told me that he'd ignore it. After all, I had been on a big international trip! Perfect! Also in San Francisco they never opened my bags! They just waved me through to my connecting flights so clearing customs was a breeze. I slept and talked on the phone for the 4 hour layover. Rhonda was going to come and get me but it was a complicated mess getting re-checked in for my domestic flight and leaving would have thrown a wrench in the whole process. I slept on the 3 hour trip back to MSP and arrived home early Wednesday morning at 7:00 to my cold apartment. I did a little work for the hours that I was awake and then crashed until two a.m. when I woke up wide awake. It will take some time for me to adjust to this life, I'm sure. I suppose it's good to be home...but I sure to miss traveling. It's a passion for me.

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