By Al Wong This is my experience in Beijing, China in the Summer of 2009. If you came to this webpage first, it's better if you start from the beginning of the story. Monday, July 20 Chengdu, Giant Panda Fiasco! Silk Brocade Factory Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu 8:12am At the Jiuzhaigou airport. It`s really noisy here. We checked in our bags and are waiting at Gate 3 for our flight. Woke up with the same amazing headache and nauseous feeling like yesterday. That hospital visit yesterday was a complete waste of time! I spent over 4 hours laying in a dirty bed with oxygen from a nasal tube (and whether I was getting any oxygen was questionable) and an IV of sugar water. I was hoping they would give me meds but they didn`t. Now I`m hoping I didn`t catch anything there. Didn`t eat much for breakfast. Some tea and a few spoonfuls of rice congee. Steve says I`ll feel much better once we land in Chengdu. I hope so. We`re going to the Panda Research Center there to see the Giant Pandas. Looking forward to that. They have wifi here at the airport but it`s not free. You have to belong to China Telecom. Blah. We`re flying Air China from Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu. The flight time is one hour. 5:38pm We had lunch at Chengdu. The food was really good in this meal which was a good thing since my appetite was coming back. Steve was right. It was the high altitude that was causing my headache. I also think it was the lack of sleep for the last 3 nights that made me more subceptible to the altitude. Anyway, the pressure between my eyes went away and I could breathe better. I still had a little headache but at least I could turn my head without getting dizzy. Panda Research Center Fiasco! Then we went to see the Panda Research Center. It was incredibly hot and humid there and the giant pandas were all inside. They were all in their air conditioned but dark cages. Because the cages were so dark, you couldn't get a good look at the pandas. And they were not very active in their cages too. And there weren`t a lot of them in their cages either! I saw maybe 2-3 pandas in a cage. The rest of the cages were empty. For the ONLY Panda Research Center IN THE WORLD, they seem to have very few pandas. Every giant panda exhibit we visited was like this. You would think the Panda Center would at least attempt to make a show of the giant pandas to the paying customers. It seemed the way they organized things, they just didn't care whether you saw the pandas or not. We did get to see a newborn panda (born just the day before!) but they wouldn`t allow you to take pictures of it. Not even video. Needless to say, that was a huge disappointment since we didn't get to see any other live giant panda clearly. The sad "highlight" of this outing was the panda video which showed everything you ever wanted to know about pandas. But this was kind of disappointing. This whole Giant Panda Research trip was a GIANT FIASCO! Seeing the giant pandas was supposed to be a highlight for this tour. I didn`t see much of the REAL LIVE pandas. So this outing was a bust for me. The local tour guide should have known the best time to see the giant pandas and planned accordingly. Taking us there during the hottest part of the day in the middle of the afternoon and the knowing the giant pandas would be inside and not very visible is just poor customer service. I gather the best time to see the giant pandas was in the mornings. I would have postponed the lunch until later and gone to the Panda place sooner. I was so disappointed with this place I didn`t buy any panda souvenirs here. There was no motivation for me as a tourist to do so. (People in my tour group would be surprised to hear this as I was a souvenir fiend on this tour.) There was a situation where we could hold a live panda in our hands for pictures but they wanted something like $1,000 RMB for the privilege. Before I visited this place, I thought about doing this. When I arrived and saw the apathy towards the regular tourists here, I just didn't feel like doing it. It was like throwing good money after bad. Also, they wanted it all in cash and would not take credit cards. I took this as another bad sign. Chinese Government Mandatory Stop: Silk Brocade Factory We went to a silk brocade factory. Chengdu was known for their silk brocades. This place was really interesting. They had a good deal on silk comforters. I ended up buying a few silk brocade purses for $200RMB (bargained down from $300RMB) The way I did it was I chose 5 silk pieces for $60 each. When they quoted a total of $300 RMB, I asked for a discount. At first they said they wouldn`t give a discount since they were an "official government" factory store. I knew this was bullshit. So I picked the 2 pieces I wanted most and said I wanted to buy these 2 only. That didn't sit well with them. Then they tried to offered me "freebies", other silk stuff that I didn`t want. I insisted I wanted to buy only those 2 pieces. Now they offer me discounts! First 10%. Then 20%. I just insisting I wanted to buy only those 2 pieces. Then the guy dropped down to $200 (33% discount) Since the 2 pieces I wanted cost $120RMB by themselves, I was getting the other 3 pieces for $80RMB. So I agreed to $200RMB! 03/18/11 Update - I added a video of how they make bed comforters from silkworm cocoons! Check out the link below. Dinner at Jing Alley We had dinner at this nice restaurant located on Jing Alley. The area appears to be in the old part of the city that had been revitalized. It is now a pleasant upscale pedestrian walk with restaurants and souvenir shops. We even passed a Starbucks along the street! I should have gotten their business card! The dinner was an "upgraded" meal and it was really good and plentiful. This is how I remembered the meals in my last tour of China 10 years ago! We had lots of appetizers and a many course meal. I got full from the appetizers alone! I wished we could have stayed longer to look around Jing Alley but we have a flight to catch. Chengdu to Hangzhou 8:29pm On the plane from Chengdu to Hangzhou. The Chengdu airport also had wifi but it was China Telecom again. I should mention there`s even less leg room on these Chinese domestic flights than in the US. I can barely put fit my laptop case under the seat ahead of me. And my legs are very close to the seat ahead of me. Only had a day in Chengdu. Wished we could have stayed longer. The local tour guide, Jane, told us that acupuncture is a specialty in Chengdu as well as the tea master service which I have heard about. I would have liked to try both while in Chengdu. The Air China flight time from Chengdu to Hangzhou is 2.5 hours. I`m betting they`re going to have a fast internet connection at the hotel because Hangzhou is a major city in that province. I also need to do some laundry tonight too. We haven't stayed at a hotel long enough to have our laundry done. 2:06am Arrived at the Hangzhou Tianyuan Tower Hotel around 1am! I like this hotel. The room, although small, is very comfortable. Doing some laundry right now in the bathtub! We have an 8:45am wake up call and a 9am breakfast but we don't have to meet in the lobby until 11am today. And we don't have to bring out our check-in luggage until 11am too. Hopefully, my clothes will be dry by then! I'm thinking of blowing off breakfast and sleeping in. This hotel has FREE internet! I just plugged in the ethernet cable and it works right away! I'm also recharging my video camera, iPod (its battery has lasted a long time!), and Mylo (I used it constantly!) for tomorrow in touring Hangzhou. The Next Day China 2009 My Writings Al's Wild Web Page