Chengdu, China - Panda Research Center

Dear Family and Friends,

Our next stop is Chengdu, home of the one of the largest panda breeding facilities in the world. Due to many factors, including habitat destruction, pandas have become an endangered species.

We were walking the trail, following our tour guide, with our eyes searching for a glimpse of a panda. What we saw first was a peacock roaming around the grounds.  No tail fanfare but it was a beautiful bird none the less.

We also saw Red Pandas, who aren't pandas at all, but part of the raccoon family.

We even saw some Black Swains.  They were sharing the lake with lots of big Koi. This is the first time I had ever seen a black swain.  

But the most popular animals we saw, by far, were the Giant Pandas.

It was fun to watch the interaction between the baby pandas and the care taker.

When he finished caring for them, he stacked up for a nap.

These are my two favorite panda pictures.

Tomorrow we travel to Chongqing to embark our boat to cruise the Yangtze river.

Love,
Nancy

Xian - Muslim Street

Dear Family and Friends,

Muslims in China? Yes, there are an estimated 50,000 Muslims in the Xian area alone. They have been there for over a 1,000 years. It turns out, we learned, that Xian was the end of the silk road. Merchants traveled back and forth on the silk road trading their wares. Obviously, some people chose to stay in Xian.

Xian was the first city in China to be introduced to Islam when Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty officially allowed the practice of Islam in 651 AD.

Our guide took us one evening to see this popular tourist street in the Muslim district on our way to a dumpling dinner.

We strolled from one end to the other with our eyes wide. It was an amazing experience.

In the picture below you can see how popular this street is.

It is mainly a street full of vendors selling snack food, or I guess you would say, street food.

I am not sure what is piled up here, but I will tell you it is not pork.

How about this interesting looking bread?

Here are a couple of fellows pounding taffy-like candy.

An interesting way to cook potato chips.

In the midst of all the crowd were workers keeping the street clean. It reminded me a little of Cuenca.

I think we were in China during pomegranate season. We saw them everywhere being sold on the roadside. This vendor is selling pomegranate and pomegranate juice.

How about some fried squid on a stick?

And this guy is selling hand rolled cigarettes. At least I think they were cigarettes.

I highly encourage you to watch this short Youtube video of a vendor making a cotton candy flower on Muslim street in Xian.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_bnIW4qY74

I saw the vendor making this cotton candy but did not have time to video him as our group was hurrying along.  One of the downsides of traveling in a group rather than independently.

When we got to the end of the street we were at the ancient city wall built in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The wall is still strong and solid to this day. The picture below is one of the gates to the city. It is beautiful all lit up at night.

We continued on to have a great Chinese dumpling dinner with over 20 varieties of dumplings.

Tomorrow we travel to Chengdu, home of the Panda Research Center.

Love,
Nancy

Xian, China - Xingqing Park

Dear Family and Friends,

One morning, while we were in Xian, we went to Xingqing park. This park is the center of the city's activities. It turned out to be an incredibly fun experience.

According to our guide, many of the Chinese senior citizens come to the park every day for exercise and entertainment.

We saw some folks doing tai chi. They were very nice and even invited us to join in. We looked like a bunch of bumpkins compared to their smooth rhythmic movements.

We wandered up on a huge crowd doing morning exercises. Again, our guide encouraged us to join in.

Here is brother Larry getting into the action.  

Here is Chuck....uh not exactly stretching, but he was having a good time.

Then everyone ended up giving the person in front of themselves a nice shoulder massage.

In another section of the park there was an orchestra and people singing.

In the picture below you can see the orchestra leader.

She would also turn around and lead the people singing.

These folks were just standing around singing their old favorite songs.  They even had songbooks.

Just in case you have ever wondered what a Chinese songbook looks like, I took this picture over a man's shoulder. 

The most fun activity in the park was a group of people dressed up in silly costumes doing fan dancing.

They were having a great time all dressed up. There were many interesting characters.

Once again we were encouraged to join in the fun.  In the picture below, Chuck's sister, Carol is having a great time. She is wearing the light blue jacket. If you look behind them on the left you can see someone we all know and love dancing up a storm.

Before we left the park, we had a group picture.  

I think we rolled back about 20 years that morning goofing around in the park. What a fun way these senior citizens have chosen to spend their senior years. 

Love,
Nancy

Xian, China - Terracotta Warriors

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we went to the archaeological site of the Terracotta Warriors. It is a vast collection of life-sized soldiers, horses and chariots that were entombed with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.  This site was not discovered until 1974 by local farmers.

This army was built to protect the emperor's tomb.

These are life size statues and amazingly each face is unique.  

Estimates from 2007 is that there are more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 calvary horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits.

It is still being excavated today, more than forty years since the time of its first unearthing.

We found two soldiers with very unique faces.

Next post will be about a fun morning we spent in Xian at the Xingqing park.

Love,
Nancy

Beijing, China - Forbidden City and Summer Palace

Dear Family and Friends

When we woke up this morning it was hard to believe we were in the same place we were yesterday.  No rain, not even a cloud in the sky.  The weather was beautiful and the smog was gone.

We started out this day at Tiananmen Square, according to our guide, the largest public plaza in the world.  It was built at the height of the Ming Dynasty. The square's Gate of Heavenly Peace was once used as a staging ground for imperial edicts and by Mao Zedong himself to declare the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.

This is a picture of the Gate of Heavenly Peace that sits at one end of Tiananmen Square.

In the middle of the square there was a temporary enormous floral arrangement.  It was placed there for National Day (October 1st)  The holiday has now become a week long affair and is known as National Day Golden Week.  

National Day marks the beginning of the People's Republic of China.

The Forbidden City lies behind this wall at the opposite end of the square.  You can see Mao Zedong's portrait over the entrance.

The Forbidden City was once residence of Chinese emperors from the Ming to the Qing dynasties. The complex designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a masterpiece of Chinese architecture.

The total complex consists of 800 buildings with more than 9,000 rooms.  

After we walked through the first opening in the wall we had to walk through three or four more gates and courtyards before we were in the part where the emperors lived.

Besides their wife, the emperors had many concubines. Because the emperor wanted to make sure the blood line remained pure, our guide told us that the only males allowed in the emperor's living areas were eunichs.

Believe it or not this was a comfortable job to have because it mean't food to eat and good living conditions. Families would castrate a son so that he could have a chance at a better life.

This is a picture of one of the walkways to the women's living quarters.  Each woman, wife or concubine, had her own house.

We had to pass through two or three different gates just to get out the other end.  

It was a very interesting tour.  We had done this tour once before, but like many things, you learn even more on the second time through.

Our next tour on this day was the site of the Summer Palace, a former resort of the Empress Dowager (the only woman Emperor in China's history).

We didn't actually get to go inside the original palace, which sits high on the hill.  We walked the grounds and saw the surrounding gardens.

This picture is of the palace. 

Below the palace is a huge man made lake. 

The grounds are the largest, most well preserved royal park in China.  

The grounds were beautiful and well kept. 

I think I posted a picture of this stone boat awhile back in a Friday Photo from a previous visit.  Well, I am happy to report that it is still afloat.

The next morning we flew to Xian, home to the Terracotta warriors.

(You may have noticed that the type is larger in this post than in the past. I am experimenting. My eyes are not as good as they used to be and I find this more comfortable to read.  Let me know if you prefer the larger type or if you would prefer the original type.)

Love,
Nancy