Posted on 25 May 2009 @ 22:09 in Stress Busters, Travels
And so on 12 May 2009, the first anniversary of the China earthquake that affected tens of thousands of lives not just in China but also around the world and not just humans but animals, too, I found myself with my precious bears at their new home in Bifengxia Panda Base.
In true “Duh, Chet” fashion, I forgot about marking that particularly moment – 2:28 p.m. – with a meaningful gesture. By the time I remembered, it was at least five minutes past that moment, and I was getting ready to leave my room at Xiao Xi Tian (“Little Western Sky”) Inn* to return to the Base just a few minutes’ walk away. And that was the way it happened for many of the panda keepers a year ago – many of them were getting ready to return to work after the lunch break.
As it was then in Wolong Panda Centre, so it is now in Bifengxia Panda Base – the lunch break is from around 12:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. In Wolong, staff quarters were next to the Panda Inn, itself right beside the Panda Centre. Many of the keepers, including the married ones with their families, were in their own rooms when the grounds rumbled and the mountains came tumbling down on beloved Wolong that afternoon. One keeper I spoke to during my recent trip said he was on the first floor when he heard what sounded like a steamroller nearby. It was only when he saw the glass in the windows shatter that he realised it was an earthquake. He first went to the toilet and eventually leaped to the ground from a window next to the toilet.
Perhaps one of the most famous panda rescue images from that day is that of keeper Tang Chenping emerging from a collapsed wooden house with the 15-month-old cub, Qing Qing, in his arms. It was only later that we would learn that his wife and 53-day-old baby daughter were in their rooms in the staff quarters but both escaped to safety.
A year later, Bifeng Gorge, where the Panda Base is located, decided to commemorate the day with free entrance to the zoo nearby and a discounted entrance fee to the Base itself. This resulted in a massive traffic jam and the eventual closing of the road at noon. Mr Yang, the inn keeper, was supposed to fetch my friends Annette and Ellen at their hotel in Ya’an city at 9:00 a.m.; an hour later, he was still on the road (the journey would’ve taken at most 45 minutes) and nowhere near the hotel. He later called to advise them to cancel their plans to come up to the Base that day.
It turned out to be an eventful day of sorts for me. That morning, as with the previous two mornings, I’d gone to visit a favourite giant panda. She lived in her own enclosure up on a small hill. Having been there the two previous mornings, I was a little over-confident with my steps, unaware that the path was slippery until it was too late. Yes, I slipped and fell quite hard. By the time I got up, I peered over the wall and saw an anxious panda looking in my direction, her eyes wide open (she’d been asleep the two previous mornings, sprawled on the ground, butt facing the world). But I was too worried about whether I’d broken any bones to think of taking a picture. And so that image of that anxious beloved panda is only available in the camera of my mind.
I’d started my outdoor volunteering the day before, but one of the outdoor enclosures I was assigned to clean was a little too steep for me. I was not sure if I wanted to continue with the work, and now with that rather bad fall, it seemed the decision was made for me. I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the Volunteers’ Lounge and visiting some of the bears.
Here are some pictures I took at Bifengxia Panda Base on the first anniversary of the China earthquake.
This is the outdoor enclosure that I’d helped clean the day before. You can just make out the head and ears of You You, the resident of this enclosure.
Three of the 2008 cubs, including a very curious one, in the outdoor yard of their kindergarten.
I’d helped to look after Gong Zhu last year, and got to look after her again this year. I have very strong evidence that she remembers me. When I went to help feed her on my last day on the Base, she was outdoors and would not come in when keeper Gao Qiang called her. But when I called her, she came in. *grin* She also shifted her sitting position when I told her to “come here”.
*Before arriving in Bifengxia last year, I was told Xiao Xi Tian is a hotel but really, it’s nothing more than a backpacker-style motel. This year, I finally figured out what it really is – an inn
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Posted on 21 May 2009 @ 18:36 in Stress Busters, Travels
There was a time when travelling was exciting. In those long ago days, not many people got to travel but tour packages soon made travelling possible for them. A tour package would comprise a set number of days, usually through more than one country, with airfare, accommodation and some meals included.
Positive stories about such packages included how one got to see and experience a few countries at one time. Negative stories included how one got herded around with limited time to see and experiences those countries – get up in the morning, meet at lobby, get on bus, go to first place on that day’s schedule, get off bus, walk around, take pictures, back on bus, on to next place, etc.
Still, people went on such packages, mainly because of limited budgets and limited free time (aka annual leave).
Now, in the wake of the H1N1 flu pandemic, there is a new story to add to all these travelling stories.
I was in China between 8 and 18 May 2009 to visit my beloved bears in Bifengxia and Fuzhou. About a week or 10 days before the trip, the outbreak began. My brother advised against the trip. I was quite determined to go on it, but told him I would monitor the situation closely. A day before my trip, he emailed to ask if I was still going. I replied yes. He told me to be careful.
At that time, China had not reported any cases. Still, the airlines were taking precautions. I, too, took precautions. I went to the pharmacy and bought five N95 masks. I’d called in advance to ask if they had the masks, and told the man over the phone I needed five, to which he’d replied “Ha?” (the Chinese equivalent of “What?”). He said at most, people would need two – one for the flight going, and the other for the returning flight. But I was taking internal flights while in China – three, to be exact – so I needed a total of five. In the end, I didn’t use any of them.
On 8 May 2009, the H1N1 situation seemed to have stabilised, and the scene at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport seemed normal – not a mask in sight.
On board, the usual announcements were made about safety and what to do in the event of an evacuation. Then came a new health announcement. It went something like this:
“Will passengers who have travelled to the following countries (list of countries on the H1N1 alert) or felt unwell in the past seven days please identify yourself to members of the cabin crew … ”
Wtf? Couldn’t they have done this before we boarded the plane? I’ll bet you no one identified themselves to any member of the cabin crew that flight, or any other flight with a similar health announcement.
On 12 May, my fourth day in Bifengxia, we heard of the first case in China – a Chinese man travelling in from the States had been found with suspected H1N1 on a flight coming into Chengdu. From then on, we started feeling a little uneasy, especially for those of us who would be travelling later on.
After Bifengxia, I’d gone on to Fuzhou with two other friends. We took a flight from Chengdu to Fuzhou. Suddenly, every cough heard on board seemed ominous. We started to look around to see how far we were from this or that cough.
Upon arrival in Fuzhou, we’d taken an airport shuttle bus to our hotel. My two friends sat a few rows behind me. During the ride, I would glance over at them to see how they were doing, and saw that they’d fallen asleep. I also saw they were wearing masks. I wasn’t. I didn’t think of it. But the bus was an even smaller enclosed space that the plane had been. Upon arrival, both of them told of a passenger just behind them who was coughing so they decided to put on a mask.
On the flight home to KL at the end of my 10-day trip, there was the same health announcement asking passenngers to identify themselves to the cabin crew, etc. I looked over to the guy sitting next to me and made a comment about how this should’ve been done before we boarded the plane. He agreed.
Upon arrival, we were told we would be given health declaration forms to fill before we get off the plane. There was a delay as we waited for officials to come on board with the forms. For the first flight at the start of the trip, health forms had been given out during the flight, along with the usual disembarkation forms. Why couldn’t it have be done this way for the return flight?
So we made our way to the exit of the plane where we were each handed a pink form. All the while, I wondered how we would get to fill in the forms before getting off the plane.
As it turned out, we left the plane and were ushered single file through a door to a room with a group of people that included a camera man pointing a video camera at us. Every now and then, a few would be let through, then we were told to hold on and then another few let through. When it was my turn, the camera man pointed to a guy behind me and told a woman in uniform to take him out. The rest of us went on to a waiting area where we filled in the forms. I wasn’t sure about the question asking if I’d been to a H1N1 identified country seven days before returning to Malaysia so I left that blank and went to ask on my way to submitting the form. The answer to my question was “of course, that’s why we’re screening this flight.” Of course. The H1N1 identified country that I’d returned from was China. Major duh, Chet.
This trip has been quite an experience, and not just because of my beloved bears. I’m not sure if it’s a travel story I will remember to tell, except maybe for how they should’ve screened passengers before allowing us on board. But for those passengers who were identified and “taken out”, I’m sure this is one travel story they will be telling for a while to come. Or maybe not.
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Posted on 12 May 2009 @ 09:52 in Personal, Stress Busters
This is one anniversary that does not have the word “happy” in front of it.
It’s a year since an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude devastated the Sichuan province of China, including the Wolong Panda Base. A year on, I am here in Bifengxia Panda Base where many of the Wolong pandas were moved to in the weeks and months after the earthquake. The last batch to arrive – last month – comprised the panda cubs who’d remained behind, with their keepers, to provide hope and cheer to the place.
Wolong Panda Base is now completely empty of pandas and their keepers. The newly arrived cubs will be a year old in another two to three months’ time.
Today, the media in China and around the world will focus on the earthquake, particularly on the reconstruction. Here at Bifengxia Panda Base, there will not be any special events to mark the one-year anniversary. One of the senior vets told me this is not something they want to remember in any way.
But in a way, the earthquake is being remembered here on the Base, and in a positive way. Instead of standing around and lamenting the loss of Wolong Panda Base, a symbol of giant panda conservation work, the senior staff and the keepers have carried on with the work, with much progress made in the one year since the earthquake. Bifengxia Panda Base stands as a fine example of this progress.
Prior to the earthquake, Bifengxia had been home to the elderly members of Wolong’s black and white population as well as the younger members not participating in the breeding programme of any year. After the earthquake, more than 50 giant pandas were moved to Bifengxia. The Base soon found itself short of housing for its new residents.
Work quickly started on temporary housing – a series of wooden houses, distinctly green, each house comprising two rooms and each room with its own outdoor yard. By the time of my first visit in August 2008, there were green houses on the grounds of the Research Centre and further up the road behind the Centre.
Meanwhile, work commenced on the permanent brick houses. During the same visit, I saw the beginnings of two areas that would house these permanent houses – one was located halfway up Leopard Mountain, and the other next to a green house on a hill at the Research Centre.
Nine months since my first visit, I am back in Bifengxia, and those two areas are complete.
The one halfway up Leopard Mountain – named New Leopard Mountain to distinguish it from the older Leopard Mountain further up the hill – features large glass displays that allow visitors to look into the outdoor enclosures.
The one near the Research Centre is the new breeding centre, an impressive structure comprising 13 indoor enclosures and a roof area with walkways for keepers to keep an eye the breeding going on in the enclosures below. The walkways have rails, which is much safer than the breeding centre at Wolong Panda Base which had none.
Right now is the breeding season, the busiest time of the year in giant panda conservation work. Female giant pandas only come into estrus for a very short period every year. As the vets keep track of who is ready, the keepers stand by to help move the black and white residents into the new breeding centre to mate and then move them out to make room for the others coming into estrus.
The breeding season is not off-limits but open to participants of the volunteer programme. If you visit Bifengxia as a volunteer to the breeding season, you might be assigned to work wiith a keeper at the new breeding centre. Coming to volunteer here is an experience of a lifetime; to get to work at the new breeding centre is the ultimate experience. But that’s just my opinion.
There has been talk about the reconstruction of Wolong Panda Base. The one extensively damaged by the earthquake will not be rebuilt. Instead, there will be a new Wolong which will be located at Genda Town, which is one town before Wolong. It offers the same climatic conditions as Wolong – very close to a giant panda’s natural habitat – but is safer at the same time. The hospital will be built in Dujiangyuan, a large city with easy access to other medical facilities and support.
I plan to be there when new Wolong is rebuilt and reopened. That is, if they will let me.
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