Today we bid farewell to Chengdu, China’s fourth largest city with a population of 21 million. Our tour guide, Celine, gasped when we told her Granger’s population was roughly 30 thousand! This led to a conversation about xiaoqu. A xiaoqu is a grouping of residential high-rise towers. According to Celine, each xiaoqu can have up to twenty (20) 24-story towers. Each story has four family living apartments. Apartments may be leased or purchased. Celine and her husband purchased an apartment in a xiaoqu last year. As it is under construction and won’t be move-in ready for two years, Celine, her husband and their 4-year old son live with his parents and his grandparents in a three-bedroom apartment.
We had quite the day yesterday. The day was spent at the Wolong Panda Base. After walking the base, seeing multiple pandas, we joined with other visitors who, like us, offered to volunteer at the base. Our tasks included smashing bamboo, cutting up bamboo leaves for the aged pandas, and making something called panda bread which the panda handlers feed the pandas to ensure they are getting the right nutrients. It was a fascinating day!
Wander Tales by PC, PB, and Ellie 