I woke up early but didn't get up until 5.15 which is still early as I had a lot to do. I'd decided to skip on the shower but I had to rearrange my clothes as I had to leave the room. I went downstairs and found 2 more hangers and I put 2 t-shirts on each and one of my other t-shirts there was dry so I got to hang up another one which just left my clothes line of underwear. I looked around for somewhere to hang them but there wasn't anywhere in the downstairs drying area but on the 3rd floor there was space on the balcony ledge. I took the lines and clothes up there and hung them on some hooks already there. I looked at them and I seemed to be missing a black sock so I spent a while looking around, checking the room but nothing. I packed up the rest of my things and left the 2 suitcases downstairs next to the luggage room and around 6.30. I headed out to see the pandas as recommended by wikitravel to catch them while they were active and feeding and to avoid the crowds. I went to the metro station and based on the map I could change at the railway station 1 stop north to line 7 to get across to the pink line 3 that goes to the zoo. At chengdu zoo station I got out with the missing sock still bugging me and having looked at an exit map I was on the wrong side of the road as they drive on the left, it was probably still too early in the morning or I was having obe of those days. I crossed and caught the 198a which came and took me to the panda place. I bought my ticket and went inside past the museum and headed for the enclosures. I took my rucksack off to get some food to eat and when I put it back in the right arm strap ripped (for the first time). I turned up at athe giant panda cub enclosure where 4 youngsters were all eating their food. Cool. It was just me, a girl and a guy so I took some pictures for a few minutes and did a bit to repair my bag. I looked around and the others had gone so I headed on as well but couldn't see them, maybe they knew the feeding routine. I went to the nursery and saw a mother with a baby eating and another one in the background in the trees. I stayed a bit and sewed my bag a bit more then headed on. I came to the red oanda enclosure where I frightened the first one off but then a second one came to eat. I didn't stay too long though and geaded on through the red panda nursery where there was a couple but they didn't look so young. Leaving through a door like I had entered I walked towards the last enclosure which was was labelled no.1 panda and it was a bit of a walk with nothing to see. I got there and there was a group of 4 people waiting and some food was laid out. The keeper put some more food out and started the water stream and then a few minutes later 4 pandas came out to feed. They didn't seem that big but these were the adult males and they were surprisingly friendly with each other. I stayed for under 10 minutes ate a bit more food and sewed up my bag so that I could wear it again. Then I headed back to see all of the other places I'd not seen yet starting with the moonlight nursery home which was confusing as a lot of pandas were inside. there was one female outside and then around there were a couple of young ones. I moved on to the no.2 panda house and got there at 9.10, I've been using maps bookmarks to write down what time I was at places for future reference. There were 3 young ones there which was quite good and I stayed for 10 minutes before going past the red panda enclosure where one was feeding and going to the no 1 red panda enclosure where there was 1 in a tree. I kept going round and seeing more pandas, sone eating, some walking around, some lying around and some in trees. There were some youngsters playfighting and it was good but more people were turning up and the central area especially the cubs enclosure I'd gone to first was busy. Soon after a group of schoolkids arrived and then there was more and it was garder walking as peopke starting blocking the paths. I'd been to all of the enclosures and had another look around before heading towards the research area to see if I could learn something but there was nothing to do there. I went to swan lake where they had black swans and one had a few cygnets and found my way to the entrance and the museum building which was shut. I kept going and found a new museum building as it had been relocated so I went round and learnt that Chengdu had about 40% of captive giant pandas. They had a fair few information boards about their habitat, ancestry (they were around close to 3 million years ago), eating habits, sexual activity etc. There wasn't that much but most of it was interesting. Then they had a butterfly museum for dome reason with lots of dead butterflies in cases. It was ok but I couldn't focus as I wasn't there for butterflies and it seemed strange. I left and went to the reserch centre where there was only a little bit of information but they had lots of tv or computer screens. I walked to a room with a big tv where the narrative was in English and was David Attenborough and it was about pandas with a lot of the program about Chengdu. It was really good and I learnt more about the pandas recent history and I also wanted to see a baby panda while I was here so when the program finished I had a quick look around the rest of this place which was full of screaming kids and I headed to the veterinary hospital so I could ask someone if there were any babies. The hospital was closed down so I went to the next place I'd planned to see which was the movie theatre but it was packed and I couldn't see anyone to ask. The movie was in Chinese with subtitles and was about Panda behaviour but I'd already watched a lot so I headed back to the information desk near the museum and the woman there told me it was not the time of year for babies. I left and went to the bus stop which was busier but I still got on the 198 bus when it came. I got back to the metro and went to ask the man behind the counter for coins in exchange for my 5 yuan note but he would only sell me a ticket so I bought a 2 yuan ticket but when I arrived at my destination the barrier wouldn't let me out and I ended up jumping it. I had to get some money out before I could buy a ticket to Xian on the 9.05 train. It was a really hot day and I regretted wearing my tracksuit trousers and I was thinking of going back to the hostel and change but I decided to last it out and go to the science museum which would have a/c anyway. I went to get a metro ticket at the machine and tried a 5 yuan note to see if that would be crisp enough for the machine and it worked and gave me change. I looked at the machine again and it looked like it accepted 5 or 10 yuan notes but not the 1 yuan note I had kept trying. I got out at Tianfu square but the fountains were not on. I thought of getting food but didn't see anything so I went to the museum which was properly closed. I headed back to the metro and bought 2 steamed buns in a shop eating one but then stopping as I got to the metro security and on the train. The train was busy even though it was 3pm and I was going south and it had TV screens which kept repeating some footballers scoring and knee sliding to celebrate. At first I thought it might be advertising the Chinese super league as they had Drogba but then they had Henry, Nistelsrooy and several others my favourite being Jose Mourinho not making much distance on his knees and then fist pumping so he didn't look a fool. I got off and exited next to the worlds biggest building, Global mall. It did look fairly big and didn't all fit in a photo and I tried to go inside but there were lifts like an apartment so I left and tried some other doors and it was like a department store but there was no way through. The whole building seemed to be sectioned off into different functions, hotel, shops, offices, apartments etc. I found a supermarket and bought some rice, a wrap, mushrooms and tomatoes, a good balanced meal although without meat. Outside I went to the south west corner and climbed up a grass and treey knoll for some photos. Then I tried to head to the park but a road was in the way and the bridge was a road bridge with barbed wire to say no access. I saw another bridge further south and went across tgere which looked like the park but was just a lake and I walked tound before taking a tunnel to the park with a lake. I walked around that lake and had to divert for some kind of hotel annoyingly on the north shore. I crossed back to go to the metro and head back and decided to see if I could measure the building which was maybe 100m high and according to maps.me about 500m wide. So I walked one side and it took 4 minutes 10 seconds which makes it 400m. There was another metro closer so I went there instead and didn't walk the whole way around the building. I went back to the hostel past the monastery which I thought of visiting but I still had my dreaded packing to do and at the hostel I got back my 50 yuan deposit I'd missed by leaving at 6.30 before people were up. I got my luggage which wasn't tagged, again because I'd just left it and then I spent 2 hours sorting through and packing and collecting my laundry which was at least mostly dry. I threw a few things away but kept most and left my old suitcase outside next to a bin, a sorry end for a 10 year warranty suitcase after just 10 months. I had some food from the hostel, a pork and cabbage dish and then left with my big backpack, HP bag and shiny new suitcase and took bus 52 which did go the right way to the station and on the way I saw 3 dancing groups one of which had a crowd watching. It was like flash mobs . The train was on the platform when I was through security and although my seating bank was full the one next to it was mostly empty so I sat there for an hour or 2 until we stopped and people got on to sit there so I found a 2 seater bank to myself to sleep. It wasn't that comfortable so later I went further down the train and found a 3 seater bank to myself and slept a bit waking occasionally and turning over. Eventually after 4am it was cold and I wanted a pillow so I got all my luggage and brought it back to the seats and went back to sleep.
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