Sticking with the Panda Reception Hall, next is the Rising Sun Pavilion, which again has 2 indoor spaces and 5 outdoor yards. Much like the Cloud Sun Pavilion, I had mixed successes seeing pandas here – I think I really just got there at the wrong times, but did try and visit in both the morning and afternoon. Last time I saw Cheng Lan, Chong Yang and Fu Shuang – this time Chong Yang and Fu Shuang are still living here but I didn’t really see them. Also here are Er Qiao (also didn’t see), Ni Xiao and her 2023-born cub and the Madrid Zoo-born twins Jiu Jiu and You You! After being sad that I didn’t see them last year, I was so excited to see them outside this time^

Next up is the Cloud Sun Pavilion in the Panda Reception Hall – here there are 2 indoor homes and 5 outdoor yards. Last time I saw Jing Liang and Fu Shun living in the indoor spaces, this time there were only pandas outside, and I saw Jing Liang again! The 5 pandas listed as living in the yards were Jing Liang, He Qi, Ya Yun, Yun Wen and Zhao Mei – I didn’t see any of Zhao Mei, I’m a little sad about this because she looks absolutely adorable in the photos I’ve seen online, maybe next time! The others I didn’t see a lot of, however I had good luck with Jing Liang^

This was by far the most quiet area of the base, there were only a handful of other visitors around the viewing paths of this pavilion at any time I was around here.

I saw Ji Ran, Ke Nian and Bei Xia last year on my visit and had such a great experience watching them – I was so excited to see they are still living together and even more excited to have seen them outside this time, so much better than before! These 3 are so playful and up to mischief, and I saw exactly that on both days. They were a popular trio with lots of people waiting to see them. Luckily their outdoor yard is huge and has a path around the edge so there are plenty of viewing opportunities for everyone to see them. I really like their yard, it’s good a good mix of hillside with trees and frames to climb on, along with a water feature and a range of terrains. The plants didn’t fare too well on these two days because the 3 of them were running around and bolstering through them all! There wasn’t a lot of downtime for these guys, they were honestly moving around the whole time I was at their yard on both days. The best time to see them seemed to be just before/around lunchtime, but I suspect they were also active first thing in the morning, I just didn’t get there before approx. 11AM on either day. They are still only 2.5 years old, so very young and full of energy – it’s all about the playtime! I’m hoping they can stay a trio for a few more years and that I can see them again on my next visit =)

While Bei Xia was moving a bit slower than the other 2, he wasn’t hugely hindered in getting involved in the rough play or running around the whole of the yard – his partial front paw doesn’t seem to be holding him back at all and I just loved watching him getting involved in all the fun. He really has a special place in my heart^

In addition to the kindergarten space, and seeing some mums living with their cubs, I also saw a number of adult pandas alone in the Moonlight Nursery area – two of these were also mums to some of the kindergarten cubs, it’s possible that they are all rotated so this just happens to be what I saw on my visits. These were Olympia (although I didn’t see much of her at all) and Wen Li. There are also some females living here who aren’t mothers to the cubs, and some adult males too – so it’s a pretty good mixed area to see a range of pandas in.

There are also indoor viewing spaces here, one section for very young cubs with incubators and crib-style beds, and another for toddler-aged cubs and up – here I’ve seen a number of pandas before, but on this occasion there were no pandas in the inside viewing, likely because it was Winter and the pandas are being shown outside only.

On the second day of my visit, in the yard next door to cub kindergarten at the Moonlight Nursery, I saw Zhi Zhi and her 2024-born twins, who are a female Zhi Hua 芝婳 and a male Zhi Shu 芝书 – although technically I didn’t actually see Zhi Zhi, and only saw the twins! The twins were super cute and very happy to entertain the large crowd – one of them was sitting up in a fork between tree branches, the other was on the wooden platform just below their sibling. Both seemed super chilled and happy to sit out there, and were probably happy with their independence from mum!