July 24 - Pandas!

July 24:  Disembark - Chonqing - Pandas - Off to Xian

Today was largely a travel day, but not a day without "oh my" photo ops and without stories! We were scheduled to be off the ship by 6:40 am so we were up early and I took the snapshot at left off our balcony....one last look from the Viking Emerald. On the bus ride to our first destination our local guide Molly had a great wit to her as she told story after story while educating us about the city. Some quick facts.....Chonquing is THE largest city in China, it is over 100 times the size of New York City! And is populated by over 35 million people. They are known for three "hots." (1) hot and spicy food, (2) hot weather, and (3) hot women! And the women she went on to tell us are not only hot in way of attractiveness but are spicy in their attitudes and Chonquing women are typically known as "dragon ladies" which means they ALWAYS get their way and are very bossy (Kim subsequently remarked that it's nice to know she is NOT a bitch, but is a dragon lady!.....she said it, not me). The men are typically "soft ear" - which translates to being henpecked! There are EIGHT international airports and 13,000 bridges in the city! 

Our first destination was the zoo to see the famous Chinese Panda bears. We'd been told onboard that we were going early to (a) avoid the crowds, (b) avoid the heat, (c) it was the best time to see the Pandas because they'd be up and eating breakfast, and finally (d) we had a 10:45 am flight to catch. On the bus Molly told us that we "might" see the Pandas because breakfast wasn't until later in the morning. So we were not counting on a great visit - and to be fair many people were unhappy that this huge, world-reknown zoo we were visiting was only a 45 minute stop.

Much to our delight however, upon arrival at the Panda section of the zoo we were immediately

greeted by a red panda - who looks a lot like a fox to be honest. And then we came upon several black & white Pandas. We were entertained for over half an hour in the shade where the temperature was a comfortable near-90 degrees. It's been oh-so-hot here! It was time to move on, so we headed back to the bus. Below are the best individual shots of the Pandas, when the video highlights are online you'll enjoy watching them entertain us :) 

The ride to the airport was about 40 minutes and we were told we'd not have a lot of time here. We got our passports and boarding passes - our luggage had already been sent through by the Viking staff, so nice to be treated like this! We cleared security - it was interesting here as a few of our fellow guests got in one line, but the security station would only process females! The sign was pink and they refused to see any men! All the other stations took either men or women. Got to the gate, half an hour before boarding time, and then "DELAYED." Sigh.....but it was only and hour and a half wait, not too bad. I included a photo of the plane below because we went through the boarding gate, only to be sandwiched into a bus to be transported out to the plane on the tarmac where we walked up the portable stairs. The flight had it's bumps making it an "E" ticket ride for a short while, but we landed in Xian within an hour. We were promised lunch here at the airport and Kim figured, as did most that it was going to be a box lunch. I told her I got the impression it was more than that.....and it was. We ate at the Airport Buffet - though we were served, did not go through the line. I know what you're thinking.....a buffet, and in an airport? Well, three different guests went to our guide Iowa and told him it was THE BEST Chinese food of the trip. It was delicious! 

It was about an hour's ride on the bus - of course our luggage had already been whisked away ahead of us - to our hotel, and we were told that recently Viking had moved guests from the Westin Hotel to the Wyndam Grand. AND we were told the guests had raved about our hotel. We walked into the lobby and OH MY. As Iowa had promised, it was tons better than the Ritz Carlton we'd had in Shanghai. And the room - well see for yourself below. We are DELIGHTED! 

Tonight dinner is in the hotel, any time we want to eat. Tomorrow is one of the highlight days of the trip - we are going to see the Terra Cotta Warriors! And then tomorrow evening we have a dinner show that is all about the Tang Dynasty, should be interesting - it too was given rave reviews by previous guests on this trip.