Chinese New Year Travels

Hello Everyone-

Beware- this is a long post!

Recently Ryan and I had the chance to travel the province of Sichuan in Northwestern China over the Chinese New Year holiday a few weeks back. I had been interested in going to this area for awhile after finding out is is home to the largest panda breeding centers in the world- those of which have opportunities available to sit and hold a panda.

We were fortunate enough to have one of Ryan's coworkers, Leo, travel with us during the trip. Leo is originally from Sichuan and was able to drive and guide us around the province during our one week stay.

Day 1- After arriving that afternoon and driving a few hours, we arrived at a hotel nearby a snow mountain we would be visiting the next day. That day was the eve of Chinese New Year so everyone at the hotel and restaurant was in a festive mood- having large meals with their family, lighting off fireworks and sparklers and playing mahjong. It was fun to drive through the smaller country towns to see the locals out in the street celebrating and preparing for the new year together.

Fireworks outside our hotel

Day 2- Our first full day we spent at the XiLing Snow Mountain Resort. Though there wasn't much snow left after a few days of sunshine, there was enough for the many activities the resort had to offer. There was a small ski hill which Ryan and Leo went on for a few hours, a snowmobile track for kids and adults and gondola rides up to the top of the mountain. It was fun to see all of the kids sledding and making small snowmen that they would try and take home.

Kid size snowmobiles

View of the resort from the gondola 

 Day 3- Our third day was spent at the Ya'an Bifengxia Panda Base. Here we spent the day hiking, watching pandas and going through the zoo. We had a few unique experiences on this day. The first being my time sitting with a panda! I got to spend a few minutes with a panda named Jen Jen, who was 17 months old. I was told not to touch her on the top of her head, ears or hands to prevent upsetting her. It was amazing to have such a magnificent animal sitting right next to me, looking right at me. It was the best birthday gift ever!

Suiting up to see the panda 

Our next unique experience was getting to feed lions and bears (the tigers weren't hungry). We were driven through their dens on a bus that had holes in the windows large enough to push skewers of meat or apples through for the animals to eat. It was quite the site to see them jump up at the bus and eat off a stick we were holding.

Day 4-  The next day we drove a few hours to Hailuogou to go see some glaciers throughout the mountains. It was beautiful scenery after a long, windy bus ride and a cable-car up to the top of the mountain.

Day 5- The next day was another long car ride (and learning I now have motion sickness being pregnant). Along our trip we began to come across Tibetian villages that were very interesting to see. The houses are all very much the same and a lot of color is spread throughout with flags and garlands of Tibetian prayers and sayings. Once we arrived at our destination we made the journey through a small Tibetian village to a temple at the top of a hill.

Typical Tibetian home

Tibetian temple 

Tibetian temple 

Day 6- Our next day was traveling to another Tibetian village for some hiking at Mt Siguniang. Ryan and I had a wonderful time leisurely hiking through the park. I wasn't able to do more of a strenuous hike since we were at a higher altitude but we still managed to get in 12 km. It was nice to just take it easy, enjoy the scenery and discuss a few baby names (none decided yet).

The village we stayed in 

Day 7- Our final day of travel was to travel back to Chengdu for Ryan and I to fly out the following day. We had a very scenic drive back, including some amazing 'cloud oceans' in the valley of the mountains.

We also drove through the area that was effected by the large earthquakes in '08 and '13. We did a 20 km drive that took almost 2 hours because of the conditions of the road. There were still crumpled cars on the side. Crews were set up all along the road but little improvement had been made.

Day 8- Our final morning before flying out was spent at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. We were able to see a lot more younger pandas playing together, which was probably the cutest thing that ever existed.

6 month old cubs 

8-12 month old cubs 

Red panda