I was there, but not specifically to attend the event. I’m here for my annual volunteer trip which happens to coincide with Tai Shan’s big day. Here are some pictures from this special day.

The weather forecast had said rain from 6 March (the day I arrived), but it only rained on the 3rd day. This morning, rain in Ya’an became snow when we got to Bifengxia Panda Base. Only for Tai Shan!

Welcome banner and red carpet at the start of the path going up to Tai Shan’s new home

Volunteers called up on stage to receive certificates of appreciation

There were blank cards attached to the railings at his yard for volunteers to write messages to him. This was mine.

Caught in the act!

The volunteers each received a goody bag with a panda soft toy inside. Mine is US bound for a special foo-foo pet … I mean, baby.

And now some pictures of today’s star attraction, Tai Shan.

His keeper and team really got into the spirit of the occasion and decked out a buggy for Tai’s personal transport up to his new home

Within minutes of arrival, he was allowed outdoors. He came out, looked around and headed straight for the slope on the other side so that he disappeared for a while. But he was soon back up and facing the pandarazzi on the other side of the railings.

After the excitement of the morning, he settled down quickly to his usual routine of eating bamboo! We went back after lunch and were rewarded with his left profile …

… and his right profile

Tai in his yard – an overall view to give an idea of the size of the yard.

Mei Lan’s final destination is the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre, while Tai Shan’s another 2½ hours away at the Bifengxia Panda Base.

Both were born in the United States, but under the panda loan agreements signed by their respective zoos, they have to return to China after they turned 2. Tai Shan’s already had his time in the States extended by 2 years, and Mei Lan’s was possibly delayed by the May 12 earthquake in 2008.

For me, their return to China is actually good news as they will be closer to me and easier for me to visit. We are now in the same continent (hence the title of this blog post, because they’re almost here … well, okay, they’re already in Asian air space, but I digress).

For my panda pals in the States, especially the ones in the DC area, it’s a different story. Many of them have known Tai Shan since the day he was born, and some of them have visited the zoo almost every weekend, and possibly public holidays, to see him and his parents. With his return, many of them will never see him again.

The farewells began in early January, with a 4½ birthday party for Tai Shan on 9 January (he was born on 9 July 2005), and officially ended with another party on 30 January. It was on that day, or maybe a day earlier, that the Zoo announced his departure date. It was only 4 days away! The Zoo also announced his last public viewing day would be Wednesday, 3 February. Many of my friends made it a point to visit him as much as possible on those remaining days.

The travel itinerary included flying FedEx Panda Express to Atlanta, Georgia, to pick up Mei Lan, and then continuing to Washington, DC, to pick up Tai Shan.

Due to his immense celebrity status in the DC area, the Washington Post provided “live” online coverage of the departure from the Zoo, which included a police escort to the airport. I hadn’t planned on watching, but I did. I was also “chatting” with my panda pals on the Pandas Unlimited forum. Pandas Unlimited, which was started in 2006 on the Flickr site to share all things pandas, has evolved to become Tai Shan’s fan club.

I started watching after he’d been moved into his transport carrier. But I saw the carrier being loaded on the FedEx truck and the truck driving off to go to Dulles International Airport. There were close-ups of him in the transport carrier, and I was impressed by how calm he was. The National Zoo’s panda team had trained him well. Of course, it also helped that there were lots of treats to keep him occupied. Food is always so comforting, especially when you’re travelling.

With the FedEx truck pulling out of the Zoo, the Washington Post “live” coverage ended but picked up about 45 minutes later at the airport. By now, one of the PU members had discovered that CNN was also covering the departure from the airport “live” on its website. I continued watching on CNN for the rest of the “live” coverage.

Emotions ran very high on the PU forum. Many of my pals were distraught over his departure, and were comforted that the forum provided a place with others who understood and did not laugh at them.

I found myself affected by the coverage and the discussion on the forum. It really was so emotional. Even after the plane took off (the moment the front wheels lifted off the ground will always remain in my mind), my pals hung around to chat and share about their memories of Tai Shan. Then someone posted that they saw in an online news article that we’d lost the adoption bid for Tai Shan.

Soon after the announcement that Tai Shan would be leaving for China, the group had decided to adopt him through Pandas International. In less than a week, group members had donated sufficient funds for a one-year exclusive adoption (US$5,000/-). By the time of his departure yesterday, the group had raised more than US$15,000/- for three years’ exclusive adoption. The group admin team has been talking to Pandas International on the possibility of a lifetime adoption (US$50,000/-) and seeking a timeline to complete the collection of the necessary funds. But always, at the back of our minds, we knew a big corporation can adopt him for life. And now one has.

So on top of his departure, here was the disappointment that we wouldn’t get to adopt Tai Shan. Fortunately, there’s a Plan B. The funds collected will be used towards some form of enrichment for Tai Shan at his new home.

And now the plane’s about an hour away from Chengdu. I’m getting goosebumps on my arms!

Wolong Panda Centre
12 September 2007

During my first panda volunteer trip – Wolong in September 2007 – I had gone into the Kindergarten Yard 1 to meet my adopted panda cub, Yoong Ping aka Feng Yi*. After playing with her (more like chasing her and trying to get her to pay some attention to me), I was told my visit was over. I asked to have my picture taken with her. This was an “official” portrait taken on a bench, either side-by-side with the cub, or with the cub on my lap. I’d seen such pictures on flickr and wanted one with her, even though there were already all these “play” pictures of me trying to hold onto her while she tried to crawl or run from me.

I was told I couldn’t have that “official” portrait with her because she was not allowed to leave the yard. I was told if she was let out, she would continue to crawl away from the door, resist all attempts to stop her, and literally not look back. Instead, I was offered another cub to sit on the bench with me.

This other cub, named Lang Lang, was the exact opposite of my adopted cub. While she had kept trying to crawl away from me, he just sat next to me on the bench, hardly moving except for his paw and mouth. What kept him quiet was the piece of wowotou (special steamed bread made with a mix of flour, including bamboo, and other nutrients) in his paw that he kept putting in his mouth. He just sat there, munching and dropping crumbs all over his belly while I cuddled him, played with his ears and even held his paws. This close-up of my gloved hands cupping his paw came out of that photo session.

*I’d named her Yoong Ping in memory of my parents and niece, while her official name is Feng Yi. Read more about my first visit with her here.

Wolong Panda Centre
12 September 2007

For four days in September 2007, I walked across this bridge to work as a volunteer at the Wolong Panda Centre. Everyday, I would cross the bridge at least twice – once in the morning to go to work, and once in the evening after work. I think there were at least two days I crossed it two more times to lunch and back.

At the time, I did not know that these would be the only four days I would be crossing this bridge to the Wolong Panda Centre. A massive earthquake shook the Sichuan Province on 12 May 2008, extensively destroying the Panda Centre, including the hills behind the entrance at the far end of the bridge.

The first media reports out of Wolong reported that the bridge had been destroyed but the keepers managed to build a make-shift bridge to send their precious black and white charges to safety. It was a heroic deed, but I found myself wondering how they managed to build across the roaring river beneath.

As it turned out, those first reports were wrong. What actually happened was the hills behind the entrance had come tumbling down and blocked access to the bridge. The bridge across the river was still there; it was the path from the Panda Centre to the bridge that was damaged, blocking access to the bridge. Later pictures from the media showed a make-shift footpath had been built parallel to, but slightly below, the blocked path. It was on this footpath that the tourists were led in a single file to the bridge. Since the footpath was beneath the main path, and thus the bridge, the tourists then climbed a ladder to get on to the bridge to walk across to safety. In the same way, each keeper carried a panda cub along the footpath and up the ladder to the bridge – this to me is a deed more heroic than the building of the bridge across the river.

Later, the blocked path to the bridge would be cleared to allow the rest of the pandas to be transported across the bridge, away from Wolong and to their new homes – some to other zoos and animal parks around China, but most of them to Bifengxia Panda Base. While most of the keepers were also transferred to Bifengxia, some remained in Wolong, and with them, seven cubs born in 2007 for company and also as a reminder that hope remains for Wolong.

This image of the bridge was literally the last picture I took on the evening of my fourth, and last, day at Wolong Panda Centre. Perhaps something told me that I might never walk across this bridge again.