Panda Hugs!

This tour is call "Panda Hugs" and I didn't really know what that meant. As you can see from one of the photos, we actually got to have our photo taken with a real, live baby Panda! It almost looks like a stuffed animal, but he really and truly is alive. They kept feeding him honey and fruit to keep him happy during the photo shoots, but he was sooooooooooo cute. He is a few months old and was very calm. We had to wear a plastic glove on the hand in contact with him and were told not to touch the face, back or stomach. We were also specifically told not to wear bright colors like red, royal blue, gold or orange because the Pandas do not like bright colors, but prefer pale colors. It was our lucky day because normally the photo ops are with the "teenager" Panda, which is about 6 years old and larger. She was not feeling well today and because of the good relationship our local guide has with the Reserve, they allowed us to have our photo taken with the baby :).

The entire park was beautiful and full of Pandas and did not disappoint. As promised, we saw one of the week old twin baby Pandas. It was in the incubator and did not even have fur yet! It was about 5 inches long and its eyes were still closed. We were not allowed to take photos but were literally inches away from viewing it......very special! There was also several areas of large Pandas to view, as well as a "Kindergarten" Panda play area. It had four smaller Pandas playing which were a lot of fun to watch while taking pics and video. We also saw "Red Pandas" that looked like a cross between a Racoon and a Lemur. Needless to say, the kids (and adults) thoroughly enjoyed it.

This afternoon we visited a Silk Brocade Shop, where they explained how they produce silk comforters, wall hangings and tapestries. Kind of a let down for the kids after the Panda Reserve :), but it was interesting.

This evening, we will have our last dinner as a group, then in the morning we all disperse to different areas of China to go to our daughters' orphanage cities. Mia and I will head to deep south China, along with Deborah and Cat.

We have really enjoyed getting to know the other families and Mia has already said she doesn't want to split up from the other children. We will miss being with them.

The next few days will be very different, but the truth is, the orphanage and hometown visit is our main purpose of the trip. Mia seems to have no feelings one way or another about it. I'm not sure if that will change over the next few days. More to come.....M & m