Pandas and Sad News

Well, I was ready to post a great blog about our trip to Chengdu to see the Pandas when we woke up Tuesday Morning with the news of the terrible tragedy at Todd's alma mater, VA Tech. Todd has been reading the news religiously on-line since we don't get much more than snippets on tv over here. It is just terrible. VA Tech is a beautiful school and we can't believe something so cruel and senseless has happened there. How could this boy do such a thing? This is a question that will never be answered. We will never understand what moves someone to do such a horrific act. I pray for all the families of the students and staff that were killed and injuried and also for all those students and staff who made it through without a scratch physically but are probably deeply hurt emotionally.

Ok, now on to something a bit happier...PANDAS! We went to Chengdu for the weekend and went to a Giant Panda Breeding and Research facility. We saw many Pandas enjoying their bamboo stalks and relaxing on the grounds. We made a donation to the facility so we were all able to pet a Giant Panda and take a photo with it. They look like such gentle creatures. It is very easy to forget that they are a BEAR and are not at all gentle. When we went to pet them, there were several trainers/handlers who surrounded the bear and we had to go around to the back of the panda so that he could not really see us. And he had to have a bamboo shoot at all times so that he was focusing on eating and not on us petting him. It was an incredible experience.

Next we were able to hold a Red Panda. Red pandas are not related to the Giant Panda, they are actually in the racoon family. They are very very cute. In fact, they were Noah's favorite at the park. Noah and Jillian both held Hao Hao (which means Good Good) and I was able to hold Xiao Xiao (which means small small) and Todd took video. They were so cute. They are small sized just like racoons. They were eating apples the whole time we held them, also to keep their attention away from us humans holding them.

Saturday Evening we went to a Sichuan Opera (Chengdu is in the Sichuan Province). It was a very interesting show. They had performances of comedy, fire breathing, puppets, singing, musical instruments, shadow puppets and changing faces. The changing faces was the neatest thing. All these performers came out wearing masks and if they moved their heads quickly or covered there faces for a fraction of a second the mask changed. It was really amazing and we couldn't for the life of us figure out how they did this.

On Sunday we went to the Leshan Giant Buddha. This is China's version of Mount Rushmore, lol. It is a huge Buddha carved into the side of a mountain. It was really neat to see and we had a great hike up to see it. The only problem there was the kids became part of the tourist attraction. We had a bunch of people asking us to take photos with them, which has happened much in Zhuhai lately so we had forgotten about this. The kids were great for the first 50 people, but then Noah got really sick of people coming up to him and he got really grumpy. Before his mood changed though, I got a great picture of the kids with a group of people who wanted their pictures with our blond hair/blue eyed cuties. I will try and post this picture. (I apologize for the layout of these photos, but I can't figure out how to make it look nice...sorry!)

Once we were done at the Giant Buddha, we headed back to Chengdu and right to Starbucks. Whenever we are in Starbucks it is as though we are no longer in China. It is sometimes a great escape for us. Once done there, we were on the plane and returned home to Zhuhai.

We leave next Saturday for Thailand for the May Holiday. I will try to post before then, but if not, I will definitely post when we get back from there. Our time here in China is coming to an end, and we are trying to get as much in as we can! 'Til next time!