13 May 2015

Today, we went to the Giant Panda Breeding center outside of Chengdu.  It was really cool, and although I didn’t get to see very many pandas, it was still a really neat place to visit.  Here are some pictures from that day:

After we got back from doing panda things, we went back into the city to have a huge lunch.  Here are lots of pictures from that meal.  I can't remember all the names off the top of my head, but I'll ask Dr. Ming later and update them then.

That night, we were invited by one of Dr. Ming’s good friends to a banquet.  The food was incredible, and we all enjoyed some 白酒. Baijiu literally means “white wine” but this stuff is nothing like the white wine back home.  It is an incredibly strong distilled spirit made from rice.  It is only drunk at very special occasions, and it is used for making toasts.  There were several made.  After dinner, we got to see a performance of Sichuan opera, right there in the restaurant!  It was really cool:

Here is a glass for 白酒. 

After the performance, we went out into the street and went to head back to our hotel.  But first, we decided to try out some of the street food.  A very select few of us tried 兔头, or rabbit head.  It was a little strange, eating the facial muscles and brain of a rabbit, but it was surprisingly delicious.