Vanessa's Journal

Dec. 1

Woke up in the early morning to sounds of construction outside - very typical of China. 

Met briefly with Wenshi Pan, a panda expert who used to trap pandas and radiocollar them in the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  He gave me some last minute advice on trapping (i.e. make sure you have fresh meat in the traps, don’t go out by yourself or you might fall off a cliff). 
Flew to Chengdu, Sichuan Province in the a.m. (2.5-hour flight). By chance sat next to water researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences and talked about panda researchers we both know.

In Chengdu, taxi driver got lost on way to hotel- went in circles for a while, nice to get to hotel and see all the workers who know me

Activities in Chengdu: Errands - bank, post office, last minute gift shopping, last American meal (veggie pita, fries, lemonade), at night watched pre-Olympics gymnastics competition- fervor over Olympics is palpable

Observations in Chengdu- strange to see everyone wearing winter coats (I associate Chengdu with stifling summer heat), I like the weather. Much better than summer, bad air quality is more bothersome than usual, somehow seems more quiet and gloomy in the winter

Fall asleep to sounds of more construction outside.