Daijin Mei

pronounced: Day- jin - Maay (i heard it online)

A rough translation of Energetic Beauty in chinese (wonderful/beautiful).

This is the chinese name that I would like to give to my panda.

I'm on cloud nine.

I've been spending a better part of the day reading about New Zealand and China. Yet, sadly, spent a great deal of time focusing on China. Reading about the different branches of the Great Wall we can explore (some of which are overgrown with forest and have been left untouched through the years) and then reading and researching about Wolong. Now - Brent's job is researching China - he is in charge of that part of the trip. But now it might just be Vanuatu. I have dreamed of returning to China since we first went to Hong Kong when I was in grade 6. This desire to travel there re-surged when I found out about Wolong's Nature Reserve.

Oh my goodness - a dream reserve. A Giant Panda nature reserve (there are 16 in China, 11 of which are in the Sichuan province). Mind you, right now travel to the Sichuan province is highly NOT recommended - and things could stay unsettled for a long time with this Tibet/China feud. But when you see the pictures of the panda cubs, how can you say no to this part of China?

I was reading about this one woman's experience - which gave me great hope for planning my own trip and not taking part in a tour (the tours in China can be tricky - a lot of detour time spent in places you don't want to be, and 'side trips' to jade factories and chinese medicine locations - it's a long story). After reading these stories - I've realized that I can contact the Wolong reserve directly to volunteer with them. And that's what Brent and I will be doing. Probably only for three full days (i could spend forever working there!)...but it will be magical.

You can spend time in open gardens with panda 'adolescents', have your picture taken with cubs and babies (if they are old enough) -- mind you all at additional costs -- but WELL WORTH IT. You can also adopt a Panda cub for 500USD (yes - pricey, BUT, I LOVE PANDAS - and this is such a dream come true). With your adoption - you get 10mins+ alone in an enclosure with your cub (supervised of course), free admission to the park thereafter, updates of their growth, and if you are the first to adopt it - you get to name the cub (chinese name only). I thought energetic beauty was perfect. :) We'll see when I meet my little rascal. The best part is knowing that your adoption fee goes right back to the park where they use the money to continue their studies of this beautiful species and fight to save them from extinction.

When you volunteer there - you spend two sessions with a Panda Master with a 3-4 hour break in between the sessions (time to explore the reserve (where the animals are alert and active, due to the high altitude) and hike in the mountains). The Volunteer work isn't something I would classify as glamorous per se - you basically clean out the cages (both indoor and outdoor), set out bamboo for the animals, but you also get to assist the Panda Master with training the bear (ex: teach an animal to put its arm outside of the cage to get medical vaccines/shots) and you may also assist in documenting animal behaviour and viewing veterinary visits. You are assigned to one Panda Master all day - who looks after one panda bear. So you are able to observe one Panda's behaviour over the course of the entire day.

The giant pandas were a feature at the Toronto Zoo the ONE YEAR my family didn't go when I was younger. It was so sad. My absolute favorite animal, and I've never seen one in the flesh. I used to want to be a zoologist. I thought I would study in Vancouver and learn Mandarin (or the proper dialect required for my travel to China). I then wanted to work at tracking Giant Pandas in the wild and spend my life studying them. Then, at an impressionable young age, I watched the movie "Gorillas in the Mist" - and that definitely gave me nightmares about the idea of studying animals in the wild.

That's my Panda story.

See the thing about China - is at this point of the trip - we're on a tight deadline. We have to return to Canada (namely Ontario) by the end of July - or risk losing our OHIP coverage (we have to report to OHIP that we have returned - but it must be done in person). So from NZ, we have about a month to do Vanuatu, China and Vancouver. I think we'll spend about a week in Vanuatu. This is cut down from its original 2 weeks. At first, we were going to spend our time sea kayaking between the 83 islands in the ocean. This might be possible between some islands, but even the country report lists key islands that have a high shark presence in the water. Not places that you want to be sea kayaking too far from shore. (I also recently saw "Open Water" - based on a true story - such a scary concept). Then we will be in Hong Kong for 5-7 days (soooo short, but we really can't hang out too long). Fly to Chengdu - bus/drive to Wolong. Spend a night in the hotel. Volunteer three days. On the third day bus back to Chengdu - and maybe straight to the airport and fly out to Beijing (sleep on plane). One night recovery in Beijing, spend 2-3 days hiking 2 different parts of the great wall (we have to choose our favorites) - and hopefully take part in an overnight wall experience. Back to Beijing - straight to airport - fly to Vancouver. Probably sleep the entire flight. And back on native soil - enjoy a wonderful few days in Vancouver before flying back home (we're already there to catch a connecting flight - it would be a shame not to show Brent the vancity).

So - as of today, may 6th - that's the new plan. It's sadly a very rushed China experience - but since we aren't spending several months exploring the country, we have decided to take a really quick snapshot.

I haven't really run this new itinerary by Brent yet - he's currently half way through his last exam ever (yay!!) - so this could be altered. Especially since I would love to see the Yangtze River before the entire surrounding area is completely flooded (they expect this to occur by 2010).


I'm done. I have some SUPER EXCITING New Zealand news too - but I want to wait until I follow up on my two amazing emails.

At this exact moment - I'm fluttering. Life is beautiful.

82 days baby!!