Wolong Panda Preserve Day 1

7/29/2019 Wolong Panda Preserve Day 1

1/9(cc) Keith Jones www.bajajonesadventures.com @Bajajonestravel

Baja Jones Adventures Travel

By: Keith Jones

I thought I would go back in time a few years to the day I took our first volunteering tour group to

the Wolong Panda Preserve. Those of you readers with an interest in the Giant Pandas might find

this trip log interesting.
http://bajajonesadventures.com/http://bajajonesadventures.com/


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(cc) Keith Jones www.bajajonesadventures.com @Bajajonestravel

About the Author:

Keith Jones is the founder of Baja Jones Adventures, Jones Adventures,

Tigress Tours in Thailand and Butanding Tours in the Philippine Islands and

has led thousands of people to Mexico and other interesting locations

around the world. One of his specialization isgiant panda bear tour.

Day 1

I thought I would go back in time a few years to the day I took our firstvolunteering tour group to the Wolong Panda Preserve. Those of youreaders with an interest in the Giant Pandas might find this trip loginteresting.Keith

Wolong Panda PreserveSichuan Province, ChinaTrip Log, Day one at the Wolong Panda PreserveNovember, 2006

Today was our first full day at the Wolong Panda Preserve. We arrived lastnight, after flying in to the airport at Chengdu. We were met at the airport
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by our local guide, Jai, and then together drove up to this mountain Panda

Preserve in a comfortable passenger van.

The ride up the mountain took about 5 hours. The scenery, the people andthe countryside are quite different from what we saw during our sightseeing time in Beijing. We all found the drive interesting.

As soon as we left Chengdu, which is a modern city with a great history, wecame upon a large open air fruit and vegetable market. I had the driver stopand we all made some last minute choices of fresh snacks. The mandarinoranges were the best I had ever eaten. I found some small finger sizedbananas and bought them because they are the sweetest bananas grown.

Once back on the road, we quickly came to the mountain road that would

carry us up to the Wolong Preserve. The road follows the Pitaio River as itwinds its way through the deep valley gorge that is the home of the WolongPanda Preserve. This countryside is characterized by extremely steep valleywalls, cloaked in an ever present misty cloud cover and covered by denseforest growth.

After the intense new construction we have seen everywhere else wevebeen in China, the many old farm structures we now pass are a welcome
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change. It feels as if we may find some glimpses of Old China here in this

narrow mountain valley.

The people are no longer all dressed in suits and ties or cute short skirtsand knee boots. Traditional colorful mountain styles become common,especially for the women. Bright blue, yellow and red colorspredominate. There is very little exposed skin in this traditional style

of dress. Large bulbous turbans sit atop every womans head. Their skirtsare really long flowing pants that drape over sturdy work shoes.

The faces of these local people are etched and wrinkled by days on endworking their tiny valley vegetable fields. The sun in this mountain regionis intense and the UV rays have taken their toll

on most of the faces I see. Gone are the ageless, unlined faces of theChinese City folk. These mountain people carry their history on their facesand in their bearing.

I look at all the construction sites we pass with an interest that comes from

my past career. Even here, high the mountains the construction workersseem peculiarly over-dressed. I seldom see workers wearing what I considerto be the traditional construction site uniform. That is to say blue denimpants and t-shirts or some type of rugged long sleeve shirt. Instead they aredressed in dress slacks and jackets, sometimes I spot someone wearing a tieas well. Their dress may not be familiar, but the quality of work seemsequal to anything Ive seen in the USA.

They are a gentle, but proud people here in this wild mountainvalley. Referred to by the City Chinese I have met as the localpeasants,over the next several days the local people around the WolongPreserve prove to be both friendly and helpful to me. Shy at first, theywarm quickly to my quiet approaches to get to know them better.

Most of these local people are camera shy. Each time I aim a camera at asingle individual or at a small group of these local people they smile andshake their heads no. Their actions clearly ask me to not take their photo. I


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always honor their request for privacy. I find that taking photos of their

children is different and very acceptable!

Without exception every parent and grandparent I meet is beamingly proudof his or her grandchild. Of course Im the same and this is a connectionthat easily crosses the centuries of language and culture that separateus. Every time I point my camera at a grandchild, the accompanyinggrandparent flashes a big smile and pushes the

kid in the direction of my camera. I build some instant friendships bysnapping photos of chubby smiling children. I wish I had brought along aportable printer so that I could share the images with these proud

grandparents who probably dont own a camera nor even have a photo oftheir grandchild.

When we arrived at the Panda Inn last night it was early evening, about 6:00PM. We arrived just in time for dinner. Was I ever surprised when I firstentered my room to find the windows wide open and a bitingly cold windblowing the drapes wildly about. The temperature inside my room wasprobably 33 degrees F. I quickly closed the windows, pulled the drapes andturned the heater on high to let the room warm up while I ate dinner.

I later learned that the local people believe you must keep the doors andwindows open in your home to allow the bad air and spirits to leave. Atfirst this doesnt make much sense. After all they live in a cold, windyenvironment and most people would want to maintain their homes at awarmer temperature than what is outside.

After studying the design and construction of the old local houses I think Inow understand the origin of this strong cultural belief. This custom is soingrained in the minds of the local people, that every morning at breakfast Iwould enter the dining room to find the double doors that face the PandaGarden, wide open to the cold morning air. Before sitting down forbreakfast each day, I would close these doors to block out the cold wind.

This uncomfortable custom grew out of the harsh style of living that hasdeveloped here in the high mountain valleys. The local people arefarmers. They live off the land. Each person has some small plots of landon which they grow corn, cabbage and some root plants. Many of theseplots are tiny and provide growing area for only a few struggling vegetable


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plants. Each plant is lovingly cultivated from a tiny seed, planted in sparse

soil that is enriched by fertilizer made from human and animal waste.

The homes are mostly all built on the steep sides of the valley in areas toosteep for the tiny garden plots to take root. Every inch of cultivatable soil isjealously preserved for planting.

The typical homes are an interesting three story structure. The lowest levelis beneath the living area. Down in what we would think of as the basementis an area where toilet waste is deposited from the living area above. This isnot the most

pleasant subject to dwell on, but it is the origin of the strong local beliefthat you must keep your home open to allow the bad spirits to escape. Thislowest area is also where the livestock is housed on cold stormynights. Pigs and goats cannot survive in the cold winter environmentwithout some shelter. So this lowest level is usually fenced to keep thelivestock in place.

In reality the open air flow through the living area is necessary to carry offthe offensive odors from below. The second level of these traditionalhomes is the living area. Here is where the family eats and sleeps. Theliving areas are sparsely furnished. These days many homes have TV sets

to receive the one local station whose beams find their way into the narrowvalley.

The third level of this unique home style is usually an open air attic loftused to dry corn and other vegetables. When the corn is harvested, it iscarefully stacked in the drying room on the third level of these traditionalhomes. There the cold wind dehydrates the vegetables rapidly withoutmold and mildew forming.

And thats why my hotel room was 33 degrees when I arrived. I made sureto let the room maid know that I didnt want my window open during theday. In November the air may feel warm

while youre in the sunshine, but in the shade the air is still cold, especiallyfor a Southern California guy who enjoys things on the warm side.

After breakfast this morning we drove up the mountain to a narrow valleythat branches off to the east. There is a paved access road that ends at a


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narrow, but sturdy wood and concrete bridge. We left our driver by the

road and set off up a well groomed hiking trail. Jai (our Chinese guide)leads the way and agrees to stay with the quick walkers.

I like to take my time and so I bring up the rear of our small hikingparty. Stopping to photograph mushrooms, ferns and spiders I quickly fallbehind the group. When I catch up with everyone about 15 minutes later,they are gathered at a section of the trail where a recent rock slide hascovered the trail. I begin to cross the slide area, but it is slippery and thereis some danger of another rock fall. We have a quick meeting and agree thatwell abort the hike and instead take a walk along the valley road.

We have all wanted to stop and investigate the local villages at a closerperspective than that allowed as we drive by. Our driver takes us to theedge of a village and we begin our downhill walk along the highway.

Local people are gathered outside some of the homes, working ontraditional tasks that are time consuming and mind numbing, as we gape atthe busy women from the roadway. We see woman doing laundry, tendinggarden plots and watching over small children. The men are mostly

involved in building projects or just sit and watch the woman work. I soonnotice that every woman carries a small ball of grey yarn and constantlyknits funny socks when not doing anything else.

Jai helps us talk to the local people. She is in front, while I still tag along atthe rear of the group. The photo opportunities demand too much time. Icould take photos in this valley for months on end without getting bored. Iuse my electronic translator to communicate with the local people. It worksokay with the younger people who seem to be better educated. The olderpeople cannot read the text from my translation device. This is the onlyplace in China where I havent found it relatively easy to communicate thisway.

We use up the morning walking, talking and studying the localvillages. Around 11:00 or 11:30 AM we end up at the Wolong PandaMuseum. This interesting museum has mounted wildlife from the region. Itis a real treasure trove of information about the surrounding forests. This


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area is still primarily a Chinese tourist destination, so most of the signs are

only in Chinese and we must get Jai to translate every one.

When we finish at the museum, we make a quick stop at the local Post officeto buy Chinese stamps and then head downhill to the Panda Inn forlunch. Lunch is another multi course family style feast that leaves all of usgrumbling about eating too much.

After lunch we finally enter the Panda Garden for our first walk through ofthe heart of the Wolong Panda Preserve. We are here this afternoon to signup for our volunteer work experience. There is paperwork to complete and

a short introductory lesson by Cindy Lo, that explains the rules to us. Shespeaks excellent, unaccented English and heads up what is known as thePanda Club. The Club is the department of the Wolong Preserve that isresponsible for fund raising.

Cindy offers us hot tea and sits with us to explain the few rules that we willwork under. Number one rule is to always obey our master so that wedont get into dangerous situations by accident. Everything else is very

basic. We are given brown coveralls that will be our work uniform and entrypass to the Panda Garden. We will wear these at all times whileworking. The coverall allows all the workers to quickly identify volunteersso they know we are allowed into the areas we will be working in.

Daily busloads of tourists disgorge from many buses and race through thePanda Garden on their one or two hour tour of the preserve. They thenreturn to the bus and continue up the mountain on their way to anotherquick photo opportunity. These tourists (especially the Chinese) try to getinto all of the off limits areas, to see the protected baby pandas andanything else that might be going on that the preserve doesnt want thepublic to have access to. Our coveralls open the doors to most of theseareas. The exception is the sterile nursery area.

Once weve all signed our work agreements, Cindy passes out the coverallsand we are free to explore the Panda Garden for the remainder of theafternoon. Several of the group set off to bargain for souvenirs out in front


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of the hotel with the local woman who operate small vendor stands along

the highway. I stayed behind at the Panda Garden and just watched pandas.

Dinner was another big feast. Each meal is a small adventure all itsown. Jai (pronounced Jou as in ouch) is doing an excellent job of orderingfor us. She mixes the dishes well and quickly learned our likes anddislikes. I have a special request in for the whole sweet and sour fish. It isa pretty sight and very tasty. I just wish there were a few less bones.

Were all tired and everyone heads to their rooms early to read or sleep. Igo out to the road in front of the Panda Inn and begin planning my leopardsearch that will take place one night soon.

The night air is very cold. Because of the ever present cloud cover there isnot a star in sight. I walk down the road to get away from the hotellights. As the lights recede behind me, the road becomes nearlyinvisible. The forest on the sides of the road disappears and is just a darkdense

black shadow. Im not dressed for the cold, so shivering slightly I walk backto the Panda Inn and welcoming glow of its many lights.

Today was a very satisfying day. I sit at the writing desk in my room andmake some notes. I am content and really happy about the day that isbehind me now. I know that tomorrow will be a special experience. Icouldnt ask for anything more from this vacation. It is all I hoped for, sofar, and much more.

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Wolong Panda Preserve Day 1