First pandas in China of the trip! Always starting with the Pan Pan Garden area because it’s the first one you come to when you enter – unless you are taking the internal tourist bus. I have posted about this section before from my last visit, so I won’t write much, but there are 5 yards here to see pandas in – on this trip 3 of these held individual adults, 1 held two youngsters together, and the final held a mother and her 2 cubs. I didn’t see a lot of one of the individuals, Mei Xi, but I did spy everyone else living in this garden!
Bing Jing 冰晶
Bing Jing 冰晶 is a 10 year old female, and although I didn’t see very much of her, I did manage to time a walk-past perfectly at feeding time so caught her in the middle of lunch! It was quiet when I did see her out, so maybe she prefers a quieter time to go outside. I thought she looked particularly cute in the final pictures here, with a very fluffy distinctive face. So I did some digging, her dad is Lu Lu who sadly recently passed away but he was a prolific breeder, so she is related to a number of different pandas and gets her fluffy ‘hamster’ face from her dad. There’s not a lot about her or photos of her online on social media, so hopefully I can add to the record of photos of this lovely girl^
Nong Nong 檂檂
Nong Nong 檂檂 is a younger 4 year old male who I saw a few times on my visit. He was living here in Dujiangyan on my last trip, but he didn’t come outside at all that time. This time he was wandering about but also enjoying his bamboo. I haven’t seen his name mentioned much online, however there is a recent iPanda video about him with cute clips of him growing up, super sweet^ Before he lived alone he grew up with Su Yang (who I also saw on this day, and who was also here last year but also didn’t come outside) and E Mei who I saw last year here too. His sign says that he has a calm personality which was reflected in what I saw of him, he seems like a very chilled panda.
Chun Yu 春雨 + Ji Fu 吉福
I was so pleased to see Chun Yu 春雨 and Ji Fu 吉福 again, and still living in the same yard as I saw them last time! Super cute and playful back then, and exactly the same this year when I saw them. These two are both females and now are 2.5 years old, so still quite young pandas. When I first got there one was walking about and the other was napping in a tree, so I came back a bit later and caught all the up-and-downs from the tree as well as enjoying bamboo! The day ended with them very nicely sharing the tree with their own separate sleeping spots. These two were very popular and definitely in a good spot in the base to get lots of visitors stopping by.
