Panda Park

Dear diary...Sorry its been a week but i am getting used to life as a traveller and forgot that i still had some responsibilities and that it was my turn to write!There are alot of people in China and they all like to push, shove and hurry everywhere! It is survival of the fittest in every aspect of life with our worst experiences being when trying to get onto public transport or buy food at a stall on the street. To get from Guilin to Chengdu (where i write this from) we splashed out and caught a flight. Our flight was scheduled for 2350 but was almost an hour and a half late to leave. When boarding began (as if people thought the plane would leave sooner) people were elbowing and pushing to try and get their ticket beeped. When we got to our seats that were near the front of the plane another couple had decided to sit in them just because they were near the front! Does no one else notice that there are allocated seats on a plane?? It is also rather commical asking them to move when the only thing we can say in Chinese is hullo and thank you!The best way to describe a public bus is to think of a can of sardines. When the bus comes to the stop everyone runs to the door and shoves to get on. The driver yells what we think to be move back and they just keep jamming people on until they can only just shut the doors and arms and bags are getting stuck! There is no such thing as a personal space bubble!Chengdu is a neat place with our highlight being spending a day at a panda research base. About 10km from the city is the biggest panda reasearch base and park in the world. It was incredible to get there early and see them munch on kilos of bamboo and then slump around because they were so full. The park alone was beautiful with real grass and trees! We also got to look in the nursery, research centre and kitchen which was interesting. Would have loved to have held one but at $250NZ it was way out of budget!While we have been here we have also visited some temples, peoples park, the tibetan quater of the city, seen the sichuan opera (more acrobats than singing thank goodness!) and done a cooking class that we produced so much food we could hardly more after trying to eat it all!Tomorrow we are taking on our next overnight train to head to X'ian to stay with some Kiwis (from Levin) who teach at an international school and to see the Terracota Warriors. We have opted for a first class carriage on the train this time so will be interesting to see what it is like.McDuffMichele and Tristan