I love visiting Bifengxia in December for multiple reasons. The first is that we are outside of the tourist season and the airplanes, buses, and cities are somewhat empty. Second is the cold temperatures. Lastly, and arguably my favorite, is that I get to have Bifengxia all to myself for about an hour in the morning.

We ride the employee bus to the panda base everyday and arrive about 8:15. As the base doesn’t open until 9:00, I can stroll around without seeing any workers or visitors right up to 9:15 or 9:30. This solitude is extremely pleasing as you zip up your jacket, place your hands into your coat pockets and casually glance off into the distance looking no further than the misty, bamboo covered road. You can hear the distant chomping of bamboo from Bai Yang as you round the corner to his pen. Alone with the pandas… Has a nice ring to it.

With the interns needing a much deserved day off, I selfishly get to enjoy all of this on my own. This is part of the reason that you will never hear me complain about my work. I get to leave the blood pressure meds at home due to the naturopathic nature of this job. My destination this morning was to the pen of Shen Bin (F-SB#755), born August 20th, 2009 at Bifengxia. She is currently housed in at the Old Breeding Center in pen #2, right between two very handsome males, Jin Ke and Yi Bao. Although she was performing a stereotypic pacing moving between shift doors in anticipation of being fed, I was unable to grab any worthwhile pictures. However, on the previous morning when we were walking by, Jeremy was able to snap a few photos while she was up a tree.

With a quiet first-half of the day around the office, I returned to switch over some fecal samples in the lyophilizer. Later in the afternoon I will head down the hill to take the interns around the city and show them a few key spots such as the grocery store, Carols, Mr. Chengs, the movie theater, and the underground shopping area. A pretty relaxing day.

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If and when you make plans for visiting Bifengxia, I would highly recommend traveling here in December or early January a few weeks before the Chinese New Year. The hotels are cheap, as are the flights. If you every need help in figuring out a trip, please don’t hesitate to ask for my opinion. Cheers!- Nathan.