If you ask any of our past interns, the first two weeks are overwhelmingly the most difficult. Jet-lagged, exhausted, and required to begin training in endangered species research almost immediately upon arrival, it’s easy to understand why the transition is difficult.
Our first day was spent traveling from Chengdu to Ya’an in luxurious style, for the panda base arranged a private van to pick us up and transfer us to our apartment. The two hour drive seemed to pass by fairly quickly with everyone getting to know one another and listening to my incessant story telling. One of the funnier moments is when Bryan informed us that his travel insurance covers kidnapping. We decided to split the reward and hide him at the panda base.
After being dropped off at our front door, we lugged the bags up the six flights of stairs and started assigning rooms. Our apartment is of a decent size with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, so there is no shortage of space. With a quick tour of the apartments eccentricities, I left the interns to settle in so that I could check into my hotel. I could tell that everyone was wiped out, but there wasn’t much time to relax.
An hour later I returned to the apartment and everyone headed out for a quick introduction to the city. As is with any new location, you can get pretty turned around in the blink of an eye. But, we made it a mission to get to the grocery store. Like a Walmart during the Christmas season, the GESO supermarket was jam-packed with curious onlookers. With several bags primarily full of sugary snacks, we managed to exit the building with only a few photos being taken of our group. To my delight, I was even given a complimentary “ice cream” cone.
No tour of Ya’an is complete without stopping at Mr. Cheng’s for a bowl of spicy beef noodles. For me, the noodle shop is a little oasis that is important in having a place to hang out once in a while. Plus, it’s a good dish to introduce the newbies to the spices of Sichuan (peppercorns and red chili). It not necessarily hot, more of a lingering medium fire. With the training wheels about to come off, we made our way back to the apartment to finish out the day by signing out the required equipment to conduct research at the panda base. At about 5 o’clock, I said goodnight and headed back to the hotel to begin preparing for their first day at the base.
