I got my wish
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.
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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.
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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.
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Three of the 2008 cubs, including a very curious one, in the outdoor yard of their kindergarten.
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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
