Enjoy Life, Wherever You Are: Chongqing and Pandas

Chongquing

Apartments Chonquing

Our second internal flight on a government airline took off on time from Xian Our local Guide Windy gave us a brief tour around Chongqing, which means Double Happiness.

It is the biggest city in China with nearly 34 million people living there. In China’s long history, this city too was a capital.

There are only 4 cities in China that are not controlled by a Province, I.e. they report directly to the Chinese Government. Chongqing is one of them.

An average apartment is 90 square meters and costs 90,000 to buy. That 90,000 does not include doors, floors, toilet. It was only recently that windows were included. Her first apartment did not have an elevator and was on the 9th floor. She had to walk that every day - 100 steps. Stickmen make their living helping residents carry their packages up and down the stairs using a bamboo stick and she was grateful for their help..

Rent is between 300 to 400 US dollars per month. Water and gas and electricity are extra. The average salary is 700 US dollars per month. There is not a lot left to spend. Summer time Chongqing can get as hot as 45 to 50 centigrade with 70 percent humidity. Like Dallas, without air conditioning, the city would not exist. She recommended March, April, May, September or October as the best months to visit China, especially southern China.

On our way to the 20 acre zoo she told us that pandas are only wild in Centrum Province. I think at some point we heard that they were not in the wild anywhere. Pandas are considered a national treasure to the Chinese. Only 1200 pandas exist. One of the reasons there aren’t more is that they simply aren’t interested in sex. Put a female and male together with some bamboo and they will opt for the bamboo. They even tried medication and had them watch a movie to show them how it was done. With all that effort they
produced one baby. Until they are four years of age you can’t tell if they are male or female.
Renting a panda for a year will cost 1 million dollars US or more.

The Baby - 1 1/2 years old

Enjoying a Bamboo Snack

This zoo has seven pandas. She warned us not to expect a lot. In captivity at least, they are a lazy animal. They basically eat, sleep and poop. Their daily schedule...eatt bamboo from 9 to 11, nap from 11 to 3 and eat from 3 to 5. One adult eats from 20 to 40 kilos of bamboo a day, average weight from 150 to 250 kilos. If we are lucky we will get to see them eat.

They have very bad eyesight, smell and are food addicts. Put two of them in an enclosure together and they will fight. According to our guide, they have survived since the days of the dinosaur doing just that.

After the zoo we headed for the riverboat. Windy warned us to stay away from the stickmen and pointed a few of them out to us. They are men (and women) who walk around with a stick and offer to help you carry your packages up and down stairs. They charge for it of course. They might also just lend you an arm to get down the stairs, and that is going to cost too. They usually don’t tell you that until after the service .