Christmas in Chengdu

Christmas Eve, we checked out of our hotel and went straight to the train station. Since we had "first class" tickets (soft sleepers), we were admitted to the secretive world of the soft ticket waiting lounge. It was extremely nice to sit away from all of the crowds on soft seats in relatively nicer conditions. When our train was boarding, the girl came and told us, where we were escorted out a back way onto the platform, thus avoiding the pushing and shoving previously experienced. It was a luxury.

We shared a cabin with an older Kiwi guy who now lives in South Korea teaching English. He told Nigel his name is "Ellen" but thinking back now, Kel said "Are you sure it wasn't 'Alan' but sounded like 'Ellen' with his Kiwi accent?" Hmmm...maybe. Anyway, he was nice enough. There was also a Chinese army guy in our cabin, but we think he may not have had a soft sleeper ticket, and only slept in our bunk by showing his red army book. Nige had a 'conversation' with him using our phrasebook. It was fun. At one point, he made a phone call from his mobile and handed it to Nigel. It was his 6 year old daughter on the phone. She spoke pretty good English and the guy seemed to be very proud of her.

The first part of the train journey was in daylight, so we were able to enjoy the views. We travelled through mountains, many tunnels, and along the top of deep valleys. All of the trees were bare, but due to the snow and ice, they were completely white. It was very beautiful.

We woke up Christmas morning around 4:30 a.m. by the train ladies as we got closer to Chengdu. The train stopped around quarter past 5:00, and we weren't sure if it was our stop or not, since the train was due to arrive in Chengdu at 6:00. It was our stop, so we headed out and caught a taxi to the hotel. Unfortunately, it didn't open until 7:00 am, so we spent over an hour waiting outside under a Christmas tree that was in front of the fancy hotel next door (we tried to wait in their lobby, but the bitch lady wouldn't let us).

We checked in, had a quick shower, and boarded a bus to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, just north of Chengdu. Spending Christmas morning with the pandas was fantastic. They have about 20 pandas, kept in large, open 'enclosures' like a wildlife park. We were there for feeding time, which was perfect because they were all active. We saw big ones, about 4 'toddlers' and 2 teeny tiny infants, one curled up with her mommy, the other in a newborn incubator. The 4 toddlers were all together in the same place. They were very energetic as far as pandas go, and acted like any 2 year old human. One of the keepers was in with them, trying to rake up loose bamboo leaves, the remains of their breakfast. One of the pandas kept latching on to her legs, trying to steal her rubber boot and take the rake away from her (he seemed to enjoy chewing on the end of the handle). Standing on its two hind legs, the panda was about 4 feet. She was very patient and continued working with the panda latched on to her, but when she couldn't rake any more, she kept trying to get the panda off of her. Anywhere she walked, the panda chased after her, jumping at her legs and tackling her (she didn't fall once though). She finally gave up, let the panda have the rake and went off to do something else. Like any 2 year old, the panda became uninterested in the rake as soon as he knew she didn't want it any more, and climbed up in the tree for a nap after exerting all that energy. We saw some more munching pandas, some red pandas, and then saw a fabulous movie on the Breeding Station. It is fantastic that they're trying to keep our pandas alive, since there are only about 1000 left in the wild. We could have stayed there all day watching them.

We headed to find some lunch after returning to Chengdu. Since it was Christmas, of course we wanted McDonald's. Not really, but we also didn't want noodles. So, we set out to find a McDonald's, where we could get some iron from the beef (?) hamburgers and some calcium from the cheese and milkshakes (since most Chinese are lactose intolerant, there is very little dairy to be found). After walking for an hour, we still didn't find one, which is probably a good thing. We passed a young boy who had McDonald's earmuffs on, so Nigel asked (in charades form) where is McDonald's by pointing to the earmuffs. She and her husband collaborated and pointed to a location on our map, which was just down the street. Sure enough, it was right where she said. We enjoyed our lunch sitting inside overlooking an extremely busy intersection full of people out for a Saturday afternoon.

We then treated ourselves to an hour long traditional Chinese massage. We were both so stiff from all of our train rides and carrying our packs around that they had a tough time loosening up our shoulders. It was fantastic, and definitely worth the AU$2.50 that they cost (well, $3.00 with the Chinese "medicine" oil they put on us). Being sneaky, they completely relaxed us and tried to upsell our massage by offering various other treatments to tie into what we originally agreed on. This could have potentially tripled the price. We refused the extras but still walked out of there feeling like new people.

A little while later, we took a "tuk tuk" thing (a bicycle with a little canopied seat on the back) to a restaurant we wanted to go to for Christmas dinner. It was a fun way to travel, but also heartstopping as we had several close calls with cars, pedestrians and bikes. We had a great western dinner of chicken schnitzel, steamed veggies, baked macaroni and cheese, apple pie a la mode and hot fudge brownie sundae. It was a cute restaurant with actual decor to speak of (unlike most stark and bland Chinese restaurants). They had a Christmas tree and Christmas music playing. The place was packed, but believe it or not, we were the only westerners in there, save for a few others in the back room. There was a little girl there who appeared to be related to one of the owners, as she pranced around the whole restaurant, chatting with each table and all of the waitresses seemed to know her. She was fascinated with us. She was only 6 but spoke some English. She liked our phrasebook, and my blond hair, which she kept touching.

After a huge meal, we walked back to the hotel. There were tons of people out on the streets walking around. The younger people all had these blow up bats and hammer things that you get at carnivals. They seemed to be hitting random people on the street with them in some sort of strange Chinese Chengdu Christmas festival ritual. We're still not too sure about it but will attempt to find out.

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We certainly enjoyed ours.