Trip To Xi'an Panda Reserve

I was very excited to see pandas. However the weather had been very rainy when I was in Xi'an and on the rainy days the pandas stay inside so all the tours are cancelled. My last day happened to be a sunny day and I was able to go on a tour of the panda reserves. Woohoo!! However there was some flooding from the previous rains.

Besides giant pandas they have many other animals, including the Takin, a goat-antelope that looks to me like a sheep and cow got it on. The takin is a sacred animal in parts of china. The reserve also had Lesser Pandas (otherwise known as red pandas) and a few other special treats.

One thing about pandas, they really just make you feel full of love. They are so pretty and you just want to hug them (sans their nasty huge claws). They are slow and sort of goofy and your heart really melts when you look at them. I'm so glad I got the chance to see them in action.

On the road to the reserves.. Once you leave the city the views become gorgeous.

mountains in the distance.

PANDAS!!

playing in the trees.

Hiding in the bamboo.

Where they live and the mountains around them.

The Takin, see an odd looking animal.

This guy was a jerk. When we fed them he would push them all out of the way and take all the food. Not cool, Takin.

me feeding the jerk takin.

having fun with him.

you can't really see it here but what happened is I was teasing the jerk takin and he just jumped up on the brim of the cage. Threw us all for a surprise. I definitely jumped back like a scared little cat. After we all just laughed for a while and I did all that I could to get him to jump again.

These are two different pandas then before. they just ate and came to play. they are brothers.

Look at that face!

I love this shot.

and this one too

playful biting

look at those eyes...

the path was flooded so we had to take some clothes off and cross the stream The water was moving pretty fast and was also quite cold.

Monkey and small balls

Do you want a leaf?

going for the grab

success!

Lesser Pandas. they look like raccoons, no?

again, looks like raccoon, no?

a big and freaky spider

feeding a red panda

peacock. I kept trying to get it to show it's tail but to no luck. :(

Vultures are some ugly looking animals.

eagles, not so ugly. actually sort of beautiful.

but vultures be ugly.

they don't even like to look at each other they are so ugly.

This monkey was going nuts! running all around the cage like a badass. I had hoped he would fling poop, but he did not/

little baby monley in the corner

I loved watching the momma pick the insects or whatever they were off the papa monkey.

still cute, but sorta sad looking in these cages.

reminded me of a dog with a tongue out here.

this is a familiar symbol.

On the way home, Our driver stopped and picked up some grapes from the side of the road. Xi'an is apparently known for it's grapes and wine. They were tasty but incredibly sweet.