At Chengdu

Believe it or not, this is the BEST PHOTO I have for the giant panda! Because of the hot weather, they were all inside their air conditioned but dark, unlit cages. It seems they were so used to humans that they don't even bother to look at you anymore. They just want to chill and not be bothered.

Note there's a human keeper or two nearby but all they do is make sure you don't cross the rope separating the pandas from you. They make NO EFFORT to turn the pandas around for a photo op. This is despite the fact there are MANY TOURISTS there trying to take a decent picture. This is just bad customer service.

Also note, there are supposed to be several hundred pandas in this compound. So where are the rest of them? I suspect they only have a few pandas on display for the tourists and the rest are hidden away somewhere. If that's the case, then the few pandas being displayed SHOULD BE ON DISPLAY! Don't put them in a dark, unlit cage where we can only see their backsides.

This is pretty typical of the three panda buildings we visited in the compound. There are 2-3 cages. Only one cage contains 1-3 pandas. The other cages are empty. What a waste of time.

Is there any wonder why I had no desire to buy souvenirs or spend any extra money in this place?