PANDAmonium

Yesterday my anticipation was finally rewarded. I've been attempting to make plans to see the pandas for quite some time, but it has been raining every weekend for the past month. No one wants to see a wet sad panda. It truly is a fortunate time to be in Wuhan because normally there would be no pandas. Because of the earthquake earlier this year in Sichuan Province they were moved to the Wuhan Zoo. My guide was my friend Mahong. I was panicking prior to the trip because the battery on my camera has died and so far I have not learned how to say "Lithium Ion" in Chinese. Seems to me this should be lesson number one. Anyways, Mahong came to the rescue with her CAMERA PHONE! Snap. Needless to say they are poor quality pictures but I think the fact that the subject material is a panda that it more then makes up for it.

The bus ride there was a long one but we eventually found ourselves at the gates to the zoo. Of course I would have loved to have run off to see the pandas immediately but decided instead to leave them as the grand finale and instead explore the zoo and see how the Chinese make this insane as well. For the most part there is no difference; lions yawning at a life wasted behind bars, monkeys jerking off in boredom, and visitors constantly disobeying the frequent "don't feed the animals" signs. There was one exhibition that I have, however, not seen in an American zoo: dogs. What the fuck? There are stray dogs everywhere in China - so why the need to put them behind glass for the world to see? Apparently the Chinese find this to be a waste of space as well because I didn't see one person paying any attention to their yapping. The one gorilla I saw was cool though. I peered into his glass cage and he immediately came over curious. I started hopping up and down and he immediately started miming me. I raised my right hand and he would raise his left. I touched my hand to the glass and he did the same. Classy little fellow.

Onto the pandas! It was an auspicious day to be at the zoo because it was the middle of the week and in the evening which translated into very few visitors. It was also lucky because it was just about feeding time for the pandas so they were highly active in anticipation for some savory bamboo. The first panda hanging out in the play area was the male. He clumsily climbed up his wooden playset but remarkably never fell. He even walked out onto a balance beam sort of thing and amazed all of us with his awkward balance. Soon, the door to his cage opened and it was dinner time. Next the female walked onto the stage. Seeing her companion was getting fed she was upset and dismayed. She bounced around the grass and did everything conceivable to get attention from the zoo attendant. She stood on her head. She started eating a tree. Sommersaults. When none of this worked she resorted to make little whining panda noises. Cuuuuute. Still, her efforts did nothing to award her any food. Suprisingly, she wandered over to where I was standing and stuck her face up at me seemingly to look for a handout. I had none, but it presented itself with a good photo opportunity. Soon enough the door to her cage opened and she ran back to it faster than I knew a panda could run. Once they started eating it was quite boring, so we waved goodbye to the pandas and as it was getting dark we decided to head home.

Just one more thing I can scratch off the list of things to do while in China. Its a fortunate thing too, because I think there will be a lot left on the list by the time I go home (Beijing for example). I guess that just gives me the thumbs up to make a return visit at some point. Until next time, 再见！