Vanessa's Journal

Dec. 5

Wow, what a day.  Today was one of those days that felt like about five days in one.  I went up to my field station Wuyipeng today.  The purpose was to carry up a bunch of equipment and to have a meeting with my three field assistants, Lao Yang, Lao Fan, and Lao Wang, to discuss our plans for this winter.

It was a beautiful hike up the mountain.  When we started at the bottom, there were light flurries.  By the time we got up to the field station at a higher elevation, the snow was packed into the ground and made crunching sounds as we walked.  I always say that I can feel a special energy on the hike and when we arrive up at Wuyipeng because it is perhaps the most sacred place for giant panda research.  It was established in the 1980’s and has been a central hub for research ever since. 

When we arrived at the field station, there to great me were my friends the chickens.   There are eight of them up there now and they are wonderful companions to have when the days get long and quiet.  It was good to get moved in.  I am staying in a new room this time around which is in the same building as that of my field assistants, rather than my own house like last time, per the recommendation of my field crew.  They seem to intimately understand the message of my boss Jack’s household paper- we will use fewer resources if we all live together rather than separately. 

We had a nice lunch together and I was again blown away by the caliber of Lao Wang’s cooking.  As one tourist who once stayed at Wuyipeng once put it, “The best I’ve had in all of China”.  We had a long meeting where we ironed out all of the kinks in our plans for the winter (e.g. last minute equipment purchases, details of how we will order our food, scheduling, etc).  It was quite productive.  We hiked down to Wolong again and burned a huge whole in my boss Jack’s pocket by buying food and last minute equipment.  Then I had dinner with members of the Ecology Lab. 

It was good to spend time with them all again.  I’m gearing up to go back up to Wuyipeng tomorrow, this time to stay for a few days. 

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