We had our last breakfast on the Yangtze Cruise ship. At 8:00 a.m. our new female guide, Romy, had arrived to escort us from ship. We disembarked at Chongqing. It was a long walk to the bus dragging our luggage along a long and narrow steel walks, bridges, a dark unsavory market where people gaped. Our next stop: the Chongqing Zoo to see the Pandas.
Quick Facts:
- Two days ago we were already in Chongqing when we were at the Gorges
- Chongqing is a municipality since 1997
- Has 32 million people
- Area has expanded: 3rd biggest city in the world
- 82 thousand square kilometers
- West to east: 470 km. Takes 8 hours to cross
- Gambling illegal in China except legal in Macao
- Chongqing is an upper and lower city
- 1937 – 1943 – runway for air-force
- Lots of bomb shelters 1937 – 1943 built in caves
- Seniors look after grandchildren, play mah-jong and exercise (tai chi)
- Husbands are hen-pecked, also do cooking, laundry, and look after children
- Tai Chi for middle-aged not young people
- Breakfast is one egg, soy milk and outdoor Tai Chi afterwards
- Chongqing summer temperature is 40 degrees Celsius
The wide boulevards in the park-like setting of the zoo attracted dancing and T’ai Chi enthusiasts:
© 2015 All Right Reserved Tess @ How the Cookie
Panda Quick Facts:
- Gave a couple of panda (1 male and 1 female) to Toronto Zoo last year 2013(?)
- Artificial insemination successful three times
- Panda called bear / cat but they are not related to cat, maybe racoon (scientists are still studying relationship)
- Morning is a good time to visit Pandas as they are active and come out then
- Besides Panda, important is Northern (|Siberian) Tiger
- China Southern Tiger suffers extinction. Only about 100 in captivity
- Also know her is Golden Fur Monkey
- White Lip Deer
- Yangtze River dolphin (don’t see them anymore)
- Sturgeon
People facts:
- Northern Chinese is taller
- Southern Chinese is smaller
- Yangtze divides north and south China
- Women here like male to be at least 20 cm taller than she
- 3,000 Yuan penalty for second child / Romy, our guide) was the expensive child (2nd child)
- Humidity good for Chongqing skin
- Southern flat face and admire round eye and two-layer eyelid (like to have plastic surgery for correction)
- Nickname for westerners: big nose or foreigner (Lao Wai)
- Want egg or round-shape face
- Like our (North American) ears and small mouth
- Don’t like to tan / like to keep skin light
Brown, lesser pandas look similar to raccoons:
© 2015 All Right Reserved Tess @ How the Cookie
© 2015 All Right Reserved Tess @ How the Cookie
Food Facts:
- Chongqing food spicy and numbing
- Like chilies and black pepper
- invented hot pot about 100 years ago by poorest (could only afford internal organs which nobody wanted)
- Now everything goes into hot pot
- They like duck intestines and Ox belly (stomach)
- Cooks in seconds
- Deep fried crickets
Our Guide, Romy’s, Apartment:
- Cost 7, 8, or 9,000 Yuan per square meter (USD $1166 / $1334 / $1500.00)
- Her apartment new style, rent 2,000 Yuan per month ($334.00 USD)
- Has 2 bedrooms (80 square meters)
- 2 balconies (1 large for the view / the other for laundry)
- Buy apartment as shell (everything concrete from walls to floors)
- Need to install everything: kitchen, bathroom / paint, wallpaper
- Had to hook up to electricity and water (already installed in building)
- Needed hire a team / buy her own supplies
- The work took three months
- 600,000 Yuan for apartment ($100,000. USD)
- 150,000 Yuan for finishing ($25,000.00 USD)
- Can own for 70 years only, then renew lease with government
- Must pay public fee to used elevator + parking space = another 100,000 Yuan (Under $16,000+ USA)
- Instead can pay 400 Yuan monthly ($67.00 USD)
- 80% of hi-rises are just a shell
Chinese saying:
Will eat everything swimming in the lake, except a boat.
~ * ~
Additional Information: Baby Panda at Chongqing Zoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfyCKp-6-44
~ * ~
Next on February 6th, Guilin, Day 17, Part 2: Tea Plantation
For more related posts, click on China tab at the top of the page
© 2015 All Right Reserved Tess @ How the Cookie
How the Cookie Crumbles 
January 30, 2015 at 8:01 pm
I would like to see a Panda!!
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January 30, 2015 at 10:49 pm
You can’t get up close enough, they’re quite delicate and aren’t always white–usually yellow and dirty. They lumber and eat and eat and eat. Their uppermost reason for living, it seems. It IS exciting however to see them, even from afar. ❤ ❤
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January 31, 2015 at 7:26 pm
That would be wonderful to at least see them in person.
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February 1, 2015 at 7:49 am
True enough, but the video showed a better close-up. Sigh.
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February 1, 2015 at 1:49 pm
That is so true in so many situations. Like watching a game in person vs the tv – more closeup and information watching on tv.
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January 30, 2015 at 8:10 pm
At least I didn’t fear (too much) for your life this time. 🙂
Interesting facts.
And the little red pandas — at least as ccute as the big ones. :). Hugs
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January 30, 2015 at 10:52 pm
Thank YOU, Teagan.
So many interesting facts, I couldn’t not share them. Nothing but facts thrown my way. Nothing really exciting.
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January 31, 2015 at 6:20 am
Then you are an even better writer to have made something not “really exciting” so interesting. Hugs ❤ 😀
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January 31, 2015 at 12:26 pm
I couldn’t possible but that information into sentences. It would even put me to sleep. Bullets let you sweep over the information and it’s easier to take in. Yes? No? Thanks for visiting, Teagan. Always nice to see you. Are you getting enough sleep?
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January 30, 2015 at 8:25 pm
*Happy clap* I love those pandas–they’re so cute! (And those brown pandas so look like raccoons, wow).
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January 30, 2015 at 10:57 pm
Yes, those brown ones are called lesser pandas. Confusing if you ask me. Raccoon cousins works better in my book, but i guess their temperaments must be similar to the Pandas we know. ~(~_*)~~
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January 30, 2015 at 8:31 pm
Whoa, those are some hefty statistics. I think I would watch panda’s all day. 🙂
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January 30, 2015 at 10:59 pm
It was exciting to see the Pandas but they were so far below us and far away. They lumber and their only interest seems to be eating. They’re not usually winter white but dirty yellow. 😛
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January 30, 2015 at 8:33 pm
So interesting. I was amazed at the size of Chongqing.
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January 30, 2015 at 11:01 pm
Me too. It’s population is the same as all of Canada.
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January 31, 2015 at 9:08 am
Wow!!
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January 31, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Can you tell I was in information overload? 😀 😛
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January 31, 2015 at 12:41 pm
Yes it seemed so
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January 31, 2015 at 12:52 pm
*(+_+)*
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January 30, 2015 at 8:50 pm
That is a lot of money for the ‘apartment’ that you don’t own. Was she happy with it?
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January 30, 2015 at 11:05 pm
I showed it both ways: renting and owning. That girl was way to young to afford to buy but she had gone through the process–or so she said. Being a tour guide must pay awfully well.
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January 30, 2015 at 9:42 pm
Wow, that does look like a raccoon. Had you not written that it was a panda, I would’ve assumed it was a raccoon. In a zoo!
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January 30, 2015 at 11:12 pm
Yes, it’s called a ‘lesser’ panda. What? I know, I can’t understand it either… 😮
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January 31, 2015 at 12:24 am
So cute Tess!! What a happy day to see pandas!
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January 31, 2015 at 12:07 pm
I don’t know what I expected, but had hoped to get closer to them. They have sensitive systems and eat only a particular bamboo. Still interesting. ❤
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January 31, 2015 at 1:30 am
I’m glad you explained the little brown one is also a panda species. Your trip sounds so fascinating, Tess—it’s awesome how you managed to record all the stats and facts. Chongqing is like a country of its own with its population of 32 million! Were you able to join in the tai-chi?
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January 31, 2015 at 12:05 pm
No, and not any of the dancing either. I was too busy rushing through the zoo because we were in a rush. Sheesh.
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January 31, 2015 at 12:09 pm
I know. That’s about the population we have in Canada. I scribbled when and as much as I could because there’s no way I could process all that information in real time. ❤
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January 31, 2015 at 2:05 am
Very interesting, facts one would never realise until now…love the panda my daughter has been lucky to actually work with a red panda… 😉
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January 31, 2015 at 12:10 pm
Yes? Where did you daughter work with a red panda? How exciting!
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January 31, 2015 at 4:00 am
Lovely pictures and interesting facts, I’m sure the quote is perfectly true, I can just imagine it all.
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January 31, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Yes, nothing is wasted. Nothing. 😮
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January 31, 2015 at 4:50 am
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
It is that time of the week for our trip through China with the intrepid Tess Karlinski and How the Cookie Crumbles. This week less of a personal description and more of a fascinating fact finding mission. There is so much to learn about this huge country that these facts are incredibly useful.. I particularly liked that the husbands are hen-pecked and the Chinese saying…Will eat everything swimming in the lake, except a boat. This is evidenced by some of the items on the menu…duck intestines…. great read and if you love to travel pack a bag of provisions, put your feet up and read the other 17 days worth of the journey….
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January 31, 2015 at 12:20 pm
❤ ❤ ❤
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January 31, 2015 at 5:15 am
Deep fried crickets! Haven’t ever tried that before. Sounds crispy! Wonderful post thanks for sharing. 🙂
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January 31, 2015 at 12:23 pm
Thanks so much for reading and commenting. I think I’ll pass on the hotpot mystery food and the crickets. 😮
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January 31, 2015 at 6:04 am
An awesome trip. Fantastic photos. I’ve never seen a lesser panda before, very cute.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
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January 31, 2015 at 12:24 pm
This was my first time for a ‘lesser’ panda as well. So many things in the world to see. 😉 Thank you for the visit, David.
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January 31, 2015 at 7:20 am
Couldn’t miss this Tess😊 fascinating info, although i didn’t realise the Chinese limited themselves to eating everything just in the lake, I thought it was anything non human that lives!
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January 31, 2015 at 12:28 pm
This means within the borders of the lake. There is also land and sky. They’re another story. 😀
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January 31, 2015 at 7:26 am
I love the sound of the husbands!
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January 31, 2015 at 12:29 pm
😀 😀 😀
In China yet. I would never have thought.
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January 31, 2015 at 8:56 am
Great travelogue with lots of interesting facts. Like the one about women looking for men 20 cm taller – guess my daughter would have been considered lucky there – her husband is more than a foot taller than she! I am also fascinated by pandas but had never heard of the lesser panda.
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January 31, 2015 at 12:33 pm
I’d never heard of the lesser panda either. I’m surprised no-ones commented about the plastic surgery or that we are called big nose. 😀 😀 😀
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January 31, 2015 at 1:58 pm
Fabulous facts and photos! …your certainly Panda to our needs! 🙂
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February 1, 2015 at 7:35 am
😀 😀 😀
Information overload. I know. Right?
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January 31, 2015 at 4:30 pm
How do they afford to live Tess?
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February 1, 2015 at 7:43 am
It boggles the mind. If memory serves, I believe this is the tour guide who bought the TWO-bedroom apartment so her parents could move in with her. There is no social assistance there.
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February 1, 2015 at 7:08 pm
That is a lot of money no matter where you live. And what family dedication. I can’t imagine trying to do all of that AND working. How do they “live”. I mean, actually do anything for enjoyment. Like meet people and marry?
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February 2, 2015 at 8:19 am
I have no idea, but I DO know, they work long and hard to make as much as they can, while they can. Nothing else matters.
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February 2, 2015 at 7:24 pm
I suppose, if that is what life is like and all you know….it makes me sad though.
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February 2, 2015 at 7:47 pm
Now that China is booming, there is much competition for jobs and making money. They want the American dream and do better than their friends. To land a good job is of utmost importance.
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February 3, 2015 at 6:31 am
Sigh…..work is NOT the end all to a good life. 😦
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February 3, 2015 at 1:42 pm
I know. Sigh.
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February 2, 2015 at 7:47 pm
Of course I’m talking about the younger generation. The old people aren’t going to change.
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February 3, 2015 at 6:31 am
Sounds familiar 😉
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January 31, 2015 at 6:51 pm
A lot of good information here, Tess. The prices for the various things to live sound like New York City or Los Angeles here in the states. I was thinking the panda might be related to the koala bear, but looking at your photos, maybe it is racoon. I think I’ll pass on their cuisine.
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February 1, 2015 at 7:47 am
The cuisine for poor people. How they survive! I thought the pandas would be much bigger. How big? I have no idea, but still expected they’d be larger. It was a disappointment that we had to be gated so far away from them.
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January 31, 2015 at 9:14 pm
She looks like a mix between fox and raccoon. Great pictures. Love it!
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February 1, 2015 at 7:57 am
I repeated the raccoon connection as that what we’d been told, but now that you mention the fox, I see that as well.
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February 1, 2015 at 2:58 am
Really interesting collection of facts here, I had to keep pausing to digest them and relate them to things I know. Kind of sad to be a creature who is known as the “lesser” anything!
I’m continually staggered by the amount of information you collected on your trip, you really must have been making copious notes the whole time!
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February 1, 2015 at 8:03 am
Thank you, Vanessa. Yes, I did take notes of all the information I managed to keep up with. Think the difference between hearing all this information in one day and try to process it. I’m g.l.a.d. I wrote and wrote. I would never remember any of this otherwise. It was information overload, but I’m glad of it. Now I get to take my time with it and share it all. ❤ 🙂
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February 1, 2015 at 5:02 am
Lot of info. Just thinking about the size of the city makes my mind boggle. I’m sure I’d seen pictures of the lesser pandas sometime but not sure it had registered. And thinking about having to get everything done before you move into an apartment…
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February 1, 2015 at 8:07 am
I know. A lot of planning. If memory serves me, this young guide (although hard to tell ages> Under 30 I think), bought the TWO bedroom apartment so her parents could move in with her. The tour business must be good pay. 🙂
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February 1, 2015 at 7:23 am
Another wonderful and interesting post, I’m so enjoying them 🙂 Like everyone else, I loved the pandas ❤
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February 1, 2015 at 8:10 am
Thank YOU. It was exciting seeing the pandas. Somehow I thought they’d be bigger and that we’d have closer access. The video give nice close-ups. 🙂
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February 1, 2015 at 9:18 am
*(~_~)* Glad you are reading, commenting and enjoying. Thank you, Cathy.
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February 1, 2015 at 10:44 am
I thought that sweet brown/red panda was a raccoon at first! Who doesn’t love pandas? Only the stone-hearted. Tell me, Tess, do you practice T’ai Chi? I’ve always wanted to take instruction and then head out to a park with a bunch of people and practice it. I love the symmetry of it, the slow, careful movement.
It must be the crazy Pisces in me. When I tell my husband I want to do this, he just rolls his eyes. 😀
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February 1, 2015 at 11:17 am
I did take T’ai Chi classes. The first few times I swear everyone heard my joint snap, crackle and pop. I supposed they were listening to their own. After a few classes I can’t believe how I limbered up and the snap, crackle, pop disappeared. I’m one of those people that rushes to get things done. I don’t know how to slow down (except when I write and edit). It soon drove me crazy to slow down because of the movements. I couldn’t relax. Silly, right? Doing T’ai Chi and not relaxing.
Go try it. It IS good for mind and body and so beautiful to watch. I fell in love with our instructor, who was older than me. Well not in love with him, in love with the way he moved. Breathtaking.
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February 1, 2015 at 10:28 pm
Now I really want to do it! Why do you live so darned far away, Tess??😎
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February 2, 2015 at 8:25 am
Sigh. Why indeed?
It can be expensive but I took T’ai Chi at the seniors’ center. Sometimes the Y offers these kinds of things. You s.h.o.u.l.d. try it. You get a whole different perspective about it once your have. XD
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February 1, 2015 at 12:26 pm
Interesting that we just pick some animals and think ‘How Cute’. When i was a boy we used to go to London Zoo to see Chi-Chi but I don’t remember him being very exciting. Later I bought Panda bears for my children (not real ones of course).
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February 1, 2015 at 1:24 pm
It seems to me the stuffed toy Pandas are so much cuter than the real ones. 😎
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February 2, 2015 at 5:10 am
Very interesting as always Tess 🌻
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February 2, 2015 at 9:09 am
Goodness Tess, this is packed with such interesting information! I never knew that Pandas could possibly be related to racoons and I can’t wait to tell my daughter about the lesser brown panda, never heard of such a thing (she is obsessed with racoons and loves Pandas!). Pandas annoy me for some reason, don’t shoot me!!!! Love how you describe the husbands – henpecked – and that the women like their men taller then they, but at least 20cm!! Fascinating to read about all the costs of living over there, even for use of the elevator! Really enjoyed this. And meant to say, I will come back to read your re-blogged E book series, just haven’t had the time but looks so helpful, thanks Tess, you’re doing some great things here on your blog :-)<3 🙂
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February 2, 2015 at 12:22 pm
Pandas aren’t related to raccoons. The lesser pandas sort of looks like one. As well, I find it hard to see a connection between the two, but that’s the story.
The pandas weren’t what I expected. I thought they’d be bigger, whiter, seen closer. The video at the bottom of the post gives a nice close-up. We were high above them and even if they came close there was still distance.
I love all the little sayings and thinking of people in different areas. Interesting, isn’t it all?
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February 2, 2015 at 4:17 pm
Yes, It is so interesting, I love your take on life over there, from your perspective. I’ve seen Pandas in zoos but as you say, always from a distance and they don’t strike me as very interesting. They are trying to breed them in a zoo in Edinburgh but to no avail as yet. They are not easy to breed apparantely…
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February 2, 2015 at 7:34 pm
The tried breeding them here as well without success. I believe China lend them a pair.
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February 2, 2015 at 12:47 pm
Pandas! Now we’re cookin’!
Not that you weren’t cookin’ before. but PANDAS!
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February 2, 2015 at 3:08 pm
😀 😀 😀
I thought they’d be much bigger. Huh. Don’t know what I expected but now I can say I saw a real live Panda.
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May 13, 2015 at 5:03 pm
This is so interesting, Tess. I enjoy hearing about everyday life and the challenges of living in another place, and I know very little about that in China. Loved the photos of the pandas. We have red pandas at our zoo, and one of the kids got a little stuffed red panda cuddly toy, so I recognized it right away!
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May 13, 2015 at 5:45 pm
I’m so tickled I took notes and then blogged about this. Now I have a record and can read anytime. I’m still over the moon I had this experience. Thanks so much for your interest, Naomi. I’m pleased a seasoned traveler like you can still find something to enjoy about my trip. ❤ ❤ ❤
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May 13, 2015 at 6:13 pm
I’m taking notes on your notes, Tess, as I still have not been to China and would like to go one day. I appreciate your perspective, and all the fun facts you include.
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May 13, 2015 at 6:54 pm
I wrote as fast as I could when the tour guides were good and willing to share stories or facts. The amount of information I scribbled surprises me because I was on auto pilot until the cruise. 🙂
Glad you’re finding things that interest you here. ❤ Thank you, Naomi.
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