On Thursday morning we went to the Panda research centre here in Chengdu. It was truly amazing and because we were there early they were very active – apparently they sleep most of the afternoon! We were allowed to see some newborns in incubators and some babies as well. The pictures of these are poor as taken through steamed up glass.

In the afternoon we took a 2 hour drive to Lansing to see the Giant Buddha. This was built in 700AD to calm the evil spirits believed to be present at the confluence of three big rivers. In fact it worked as the debris from the build entering the rivers calmed the turbulence!

I hiked up to the head but did not want to risk the stairs down to the feet, however Niall did this with a couple of others from the group.

On our return to the hostel we were in time to partake of a hot pot party. Met a Dutch family who arrived in Chengdu today to find their hotel empty and shut down! Also met a Danish guy travelling around southern China. Really interesting group.

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