Since arriving in Ya’an I’ve had the opportunity to experience and learn many new things. Not just from the studying pandas, but also from exploring the busy city of Ya’an.  Here are a few of my favorite moments that I’d like to share with everyone!

PDXWildlife’s stereotypic research is the main project that I work on and I spend most of my time observing the curious behaviors of these beautiful bears. A couple of behaviors that I find the most interesting are with Yi Chang and Jin Ke.  While observing Yi Chang, she spends most of her time pacing the right side of her outdoor enclosure, vocalizing towards Su Shan. As Su Shan came approaches her howdy windows, Yi Chang likes to stationary alert and then move in unison as Su Shan moves. Yi Chang then likes to vocalize once Su Shan walks away, as if pleading with her neighbors to “hang out.” I found this interesting because pandas are usually solitary creatures in the wild. As for Jin Ke, he is strangely interested in humans. During my observations he would see me and just sit, watching as I watched him. Early on in my observation the keeper informed me the best way to view Jin Ke is to stay hidden, otherwise he will just continue to remain stationary. This behavior has me curious on how he will react during his personality trials!

Moving onto cultural experiences- It’s known from my previous blog that I was excited to try local foods, teas, and attempt to learn how to make some authentic dishes. So far I have learned to make pao cai (Pow Tsii), a pickled cabbage dish, and have also helped make dumplings for our meal at one of my favorite restaurants by our apartment we call “Happy Face.”  Pao cai is my favorite dish and I have been hilariously nicknamed the “Cabbage Queen” by my fellow interns. I like it so much that I have been waking up early to buy it in bulk before catching the panda bus at 7:30 am! The one condiment I found most surprising is Balsamic Vinegar, which is available at every single restaurant. It enhances the local spices and is decent in limited quantities on rice. As for tea, we have found quite a few at the local market, but on a visit to Yingjing we were given a well-known local green tea that was a full flavored loose leaf. While in Yingjing we visited the Yunfeng Temple and I’m continuously surprised at how beautiful China is. The bamboo forest around the temple is picturesque to say the least.

While on a spontaneous adventure with Michelle around Ya’an we stumbled upon an outdoor business promotional event with dancers and raffles. The host began calling on people and I was eventually wrangled onto the stage. He asked me if I knew any Chinese and then proceeded to teach me two phrases; How to tell a woman she is beautiful and how to tell a man he is handsome. After eventually saying it correctly with everyone laughing I was given a lovely bottle of corn oil. This may have been the strangest moment I’ve had in China so far and yet, I still don’t know what they were promoting. China has been a wonderful experience these past few weeks and I look forward to seeing more of the country and seeing what other intriguing behaviors may arise from the pandas!

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My name is Lorelei Burnside, and as PDXWildlife intern I study pandas at Bifengxia, China. If you are interested in applying for upcoming internship opportunities, be sure to click HERE. Thanks for reading my post and send me questions by commenting below. Thanks!