We woke up at 6AM to make it to the Chengdu Panda Research Base at its opening time of 7:30. The internet was adamant that the pandas are only active in the morning and we must get there right at opening. It was a little rough after our late night but we made it. We pulled up right at 7:30.

Once we entered we got very confused as to where to go. The place was huge. We followed the masses of people and spotted our first panda. They really are one of the cutest animals of all time.

We walked around a lot and kept spotting more in various enclosures. It was like a zoo but the only animal was pandas. There was a gift shop everywhere we turned, I would guess they have at least a 1:1 panda-to-shop ratio.

I would not describe any of the ones we saw as “active” so who knows what we would’ve seen if we had waited until later in the day. After a couple of hours the crowds started, so it was still worth the early start to beat the hoards.

We didn’t have time for coffee and were all very tired, so we headed back to the hotel at about 11. We popped into the mall next door and while Nick ordered us coffees I walked with Millie to get her a yogurt smoothie. They all seemed pretty healthy so she pointed to a pink one and ordered it. After the lady gave it to me she typed out in a translate app “this is not suitable for children, it has a lot of probiotics and will cause diarrhea”. Not exactly a great sales pitch. I translated the label on the cup and realized I had unintentionally bought my 4 year old some sort of horrific dietary supplement that causes diarrhea for weight loss.

We each took a sip and threw it away. Then we went up to our room and had a quiet afternoon. Nick and Millie watched Na Zha 2 and I lay in bed doing nothing.

When hunger struck we walked to a hot pot restaurant recommended by our guide from last night. Remember when I said things here had been less spicy than I expected? Well, we got too confident and ordered everything at “spicy” level. The food was amazing but one of the spiciest meals I’ve ever had. I had to take multiple breaks and at one point I got the urge to leave the restaurant, like an actual fight or flight reaction.

Millie ate fried potatoes and rice and we bought some fruit on the way home. When we got back we played for about an hour in the hotel playroom and then we got ready for an early night. We have a flight in the morning which will be … interesting … for digestion reasons … after tonight’s meal.