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Kirsten

China Diaries: May 2024 #4 ~ Ya’an to Dujiangyan City + Dujiangyan Schedule

My original plan was to spend 2 nights in Ya’an and do 2 full days at the Ya’an Bifengxia Base, but because Yang Guang and Tian Tian weren’t on show I didn’t really feel the need to have a second day here. So over an afternoon ice cream, I changed plans and decided to travel on to Dujiangyan that evening together with my friend. In the end, I don’t think it added too much of a cost, if I’d gone back to see the pandas again the next day it would have cost me two taxi rides and the entry ticket, which wasn’t that much less than the cost of a hotel room.

Continue Reading “China Diaries: May 2024 #4 ~ Ya’an to Dujiangyan City + Dujiangyan Schedule”
Kirsten

China Diaries: May 2024 #2 ~ Shanghai to Ya’an, let’s stroll in Ya’an centre

After 2 nights at Shanghai Disneyland, it was time to head on towards the main purpose of my trip – to visit the pandas in Chengdu and the surrounding area! So let’s get started with the second part of my diary on this trip, getting myself from Shanghai to Ya’an, a trip I’ve never made before:

Continue Reading “China Diaries: May 2024 #2 ~ Shanghai to Ya’an, let’s stroll in Ya’an centre”
Kirsten

China Diaries: May 2024 #1 ~ arriving in Shanghai, let’s check out the Toy Story Hotel + Disney Town

Welcome to my China travels of May 2024! I’d been thinking about this trip since November 2023, to cut a long story short, myself and some colleagues thought there may have been a conference going to happen in May, so I planned a bit of a crazy trip to see pandas. By the start of April we determined the conference wasn’t going ahead and I’d really worked out the plan in my head, so decided to go ahead and book the trip anyway. This was my first time in China for only a holiday – the other 5 trips have all been for conferences and I’ve added on extra days for seeing other things, so this did feel like quite a different experience. So despite only booking 5-weeks out, and probably not getting the best price for the flights, I pretty much knew my complete plan, where I wanted to stay and what to do already. Nevertheless, I made a fully packed itinerary and it was exhausting but so exciting and completely worth it!

So lets get into Diary 1, my travel day(s) and sharing about the Toy Story Hotel and Disneytown at the Shanghai Disney Resort:

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Kirsten

I’ve seen all the pandas in Europe*, what next?!

When I made my visit to Madrid in June 2023, that checked off visiting all nine* of the panda zoos in Europe (*with the exception of Russia)! Of course, now all of that has changed – at the end of 2023 Edinburgh Zoo no longer has pandas (it was the end of the loan agreement, contrary to what many people were saying online, China were not recalling all the pandas, it was the end of loan agreements for several zoos), and in February 2024 Madrid sent their family of 5 back to China as well. At some point this year it also looks like Vienna will be sending their panda pair back too. Pairi Daiza will also be sending their 3 cubs (who are no longer cubs at all!) back this year too. However, already Madrid has a new young panda pair! And it’s been announced that there will be a new pair for Vienna too. Sooo … looks like more trips need to be planned^

After seeing all of the pandas in Europe, I ended up being in China in September 2023 and all my panda content from that trip has been posted over the last few weeks. But seeing the pandas in Edinburgh Zoo at the start of December, well that’s now been the longest gap I’ve had where I’ve not seen a panda … so what’s next?!?!

Starting next week I will be sharing about my incredible trip to see pandas in China in May 2024 – so much content to share, but before diving into the pandas (and there will be a lot with all of the recently returned pandas to see) I’ll start with travelling and staying at Shanghai Disneyland for a magical third trip^