Pandas, Sichuan Cultural Show

A surprisingly straightforward journey using the very-frequent local busses got us to the Panda sanctuary nice and early during feeding-time and before the crowds. The Pandas were the cutest, most-cuddly looking things. For the most-part they were content to find a nice sloping bit of land to use as a back support and chill there, chewing on bamboo. A couple in the adolescents enclosure were a bit more active - bombing about the fields climbing trees - and as Martin rather-excitedly captures on video - having a poo! It was great to watch some real-life animated teddy-bears. The film at the centre showed us that they were actually all cuddly with their human carers too!

There were also some significantly more active Red Pandas, which seemed to have more in common with Limas than the Great Pandas. In fact about the only similarity seemed to be that they both ate bamboo!

That night it was time to get in touch with the traditional local vibe in the form of the Sichuan Cultural Show - a little comedy, tricks, puppets and fire. The first display was all about a mother trying to ward off some boy making advances on her daughter, the second was a girl who was awesome with a diablo and could juggle plant pots and tables with her feet. Then it was the turn of some hand puppets with amazingly dextrous hands which could throw and catch scarlfs and even breath fire. Next a man's wife made him pay penance for being out late by crawling under tables with a lit lantern on his head - a bit of a harsh punishment I feel! A mask-changing and fire-breathing extravaganza topped-off the night.

Back at the hostel we thought we better just see if our bags were underweight for the flight the next day as we'd picked up loads of things since we started travelling. Our nearest scales were at the local chemist's, so down we trundlesd much to the amusement of the hostel staff!