12-30-12

Me: Today we visited the pandas at the Chengdu Panda Preserve.

This was THEE day that Ro and Ree could not contain their excitement for.
And the pandas did not disappoint.

The smile on Ree's face when she first saw the pandas was priceless!

The rest of us were giddy too. It was so fun to watch these entertaining bears!

Pandas LOVE their bamboo!

They like to climb...

play...

and mostly lounge.

The highlight of the day was when Ro & Ree got to get a photo sitting right next to a big real live panda. I'll have to borrow a pic from M to post of that later. Soooo cute!

The Chengdu Panda Preserve is 1 of 31 preserves in the country. There are only 1,000 pandas in the world and are at high risk for extinction. Their specific bamboo supply keeps dwindling. Thankfully China has a great program to keep the pandas happy and thriving. I hope the pandas survive...they are soooo cool.

Note: Bob and I bought my panda sweatshirt and Ro & Ree's panda vests at the walking mall last night. The vests were a big hit and super cute on the girls!

After the pandas we were off to a local bamboo park & tea house. On the way we saw endless groups of highrise apartment buildings. The China city skylines are continuous clumps of these too numerous to count.

Bamboo Park Tea House

We enjoyed some hot tea and a table side neck massage.

Many of the locals were playing games, dancing and singing.

This man has a talent for sugar art. It's edible (& good).

Chinese graffiti. :-)

12-29-12

Me: Flew into Chengdu late last night and today we went exploring to get a taste of the local life here.

These little scooter taxis are everywhere.

We never get tired of seeing the worn and interesting bicycles.

Found the local Ace Hardware...

Joanne Fabrics...

and a Petco! :-)

The local bakery had yummy pastries!

Adorable little one!

Then it was off to famous Jinli Street.

Quaint area with tons of shops.

We wanted to try some local food.

Bob wasn't afraid to eat the squid tentacles...

but he passed on the little chickens with their heads still on,

and said no to the rats! :-/

Later our family joined us. Cute twins on shoulders bring a lot of attention. :-)

The girls hung 2 new year's Chinese wish pouches on the tree for all of us; asking for health and love!

Topped off the day by getting a taste of the night life. Bob and I ventured to the outdoor walking mall. It was huge with tons of young people and hip shops. It was the Chinese version of Times Square with colorful lights and activity everywhere. Fun to experience!

12-28-12

 Me: This morning we went to visit the Xi'an Ancient Wall. It's old...like 600 years.

Here are the cute kiddos from our travel group standing in front of the south entrance draw bridge. The wall is 9 miles, circles the ancient city of Xi'an and has a moat around it.

 On top of the wall. Worn and uneven bricks provide a wide path and the entire outside is lined with pretty red lanterns.

 Several of us rented one of these bikes to go for a cruise. 

We've never biked anywhere like this before.

 It was really neat looking with the fog...

 until a smoke stack reminded us it was smog. :-/

 Shayna and her dad on the tandem were having a great time...

and so did we!

The afternoon was spent at the Terra Cotta Warriors! This is pit 1 (of 3); a HUGE football stadium sized building filled with many warriors fully pieced together, others in the process and many still to be excavated.

About 2000 of the 8000 warriors burried have been excavated.

A farmer first discovered the warriors when he was digging a water well in 1974. It's astounding to us that they were lost in the first place! and were discovered by chance just 40 years ago. This 8th wonder of the world quite possibly could still be buried today. By the way, we met the farmer who discovered the warriors. He's now around 75 years old and signs books at the museum.

The warriors and horses were made for the emperor and buried in trenches around his future tomb to protect him in his afterlife.

We were told 728,000 prisioners worked on these warriors and the burial site for 34 years in and around 240 to 210 B.C. The detail to each ranking officer is impressive as they were each a unique face and body.

 Here are some archeologists working on piecing the warriors together.

 Each warrior and horse were originally painted brilliant colors but the statues lost their color due to oxidation. They are still trying to figure out how to preserve the color on those not yet excavated.

 This is pit 3, the smallest sites. That is one complicated giant jigsaw puzzle.

Bob and I couldn't resist sneaking down to pit 1 when the security guards weren't looking to snap a photo with the warriors and dig up a few new ones. 

If you ever get the chance...visit the Terra Cotta Warriors. Wow!