Head to Chengdu via China High Speed Rail
Do you believe in how one could have an unlucky day with a series of unfortunate events? This happened to us on this day to Chengdu.
The day started on a low note as we discovered that Vin’s ticket was bought wrongly from Trip.com with no proper identification number on it. The ticket had his name but the passport number was a random number that did not correspond to his passport number. He had bought tickets for all four of us but only his ticket had problems. Thus, while we crossed happily through the checkpoint with our bags and body checked, he was still stuck at the entrance with the security. After a while of negotiations, the guard finally allowed Vin to go through the station to the ticket counter to solve the problem.
Then, it was a mad rush to reach the ticket counter which was located right at the end of the other side of the Xi’an Bei Railway Station. It was a long walk through the huge railway station. Vin then bought two new ones from the counter staff while attempting to cancel the existing ones. Alas, he was not able to cancel the ticket going to Chengdu as it was already less than an hour. With much time wasted and an impending ride, we raced to get breakfast for us to eat on the train… only to realised that there was nothing suitable for me to eat (I have some diet intolerance). Most of the items sold in the morning were noodles. There was beef rice and some vegetables rice but I was not sure of the local taste. We bought McDonald’s breakfast meals for Vin and the children.
Rain poured when we crossed Qinling Mountain to the other side and I was shocked to see extreme heavy rains when we alighted from the subway. Oh no… that goes my anticipated Panda visiting!
Lunch at Food mall across Chengdu East Railway Station
They said the specialty of Chengdu food was the “dried chicken” (凤凰风干鸡- do not order this）so we ordered… and it was soooo…dry that it was hard to bite into. This was the worst order we had so far. However, the rest of the dishes were good, such as the pork ribs vegetables soup and Yu Xiang Rou Si (pork cooked with fish sauce, sweet taste)… The rice was in a big bowl for us to scoop ourselves in generous portions.
Exploring in Torrential Rains – Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
I wished I could say “I love our exploration in the Chengdu Research Giant Panda Base….”
However, we were dealt with a shocking realisation that after alighting from our DiDi ride at the car park down below, we had to walk up an elevated ground in extreme heavy rain and wind to reach the entrance on top of a hill. The walk drenched us around 70 percent despite us carrying umbrella. It was difficult to fight the strong wind that blew the rain hard against us and even our hair got a little wet under the umbrella we were holding.
Meanwhile, an ambitious man was there trying to sell raincoats to every visitor to the park, chasing after each of us in the rain. I was tempted to buy as he shouted to us that it would be cheaper to buy from him than buy from inside the research base (not true). Later, Vin reassured me that he noticed those raincoats are those cheap thin kinds that do not cover below the knees…he saw people wearing thick raincoats with panda logo on them that covered better.
As we were in a hurry to go into the park, we missed out visiting the visitor centre at the entrance which surely sold the panda raincoats and just passed by it. The entrance was so huge that it took a long while even to reach tour bus station, which we must descend a staircase to reach. (took 8 minutes to walk from visitor centre to the bus station)
Thus, it became our mission to find the “research base panda raincoats” instead of looking at the Panda residents first as I could not stand my thin bottoms getting more wet every minute.
Mission – Get on the Tour Bus so we could avoid walking in the heavy rain
…and get drenched anyway…
We bought the tickets for the tour bus at RMB30 per person (Link to tour bus details) and got on, thinking the bus could shield us from rain. Unexpectedly, there were nothing at the sides to cover the vehicle and the rain combined with strong winds could still splashed in through the sides. With no choice, we had to open up umbrellas while seated in the vehicles to cover ourselves. By the time we arrived at a center to look at our first panda, our lower body were mostly wet. Our water-repellent outer wear could only cover our tops. Even some parts of our tops were wet too.
Video of The Open Sides Mini Bus which moved super fast!
Fortunately, I had thought to bring along spare top attire for our day trip ( in case we need a change due to sweat. Little did I know it would be raining so heavily) for us to change later if we need. For my girl, I brought both top and bottoms. In the end, we decided not to change our tops as the rain was still ongoing and we might still get wet. I only asked my girl to change her wet bottoms.
Raincoats Priority
It was crucial to get a raincoat for my girl so she does not get sick from being drenched so we bought one panda raincoat to try out first at the souvenir shop in Star Nursery House “星星产房礼品店” Xing Xing Chan Fang Li Ping Dian. Fortunately, the length fits on her just right and could amply cover her to her ankles protecting most of her body (she was about 130cm). Consequently, we went to buy more raincoats for each of us and it did well to cover us below the knees a little. That really helped me as I was wearing a thin bottom skirt pants and have no other change of pants. The guys were wearing jeans so they felt better but the wetness could take a long while to dry.
With the temperature being only about 20 degrees in this highland area, it was quite cold to walk around in drenched attire and the thicker raincoats helped to keep us warm. I was glad I did not succumbed to buying the cheap plastic one from the illegal seller outside. We still carry an umbrella despite wearing a raincoat because the rain was super heavy coupled with wind and the water would go into our faces if not for the umbrella shielding us.
How To Take Photos in the Rain
We wore our phones with lanyards which we hanged around our neck. This protected our phones well as we could hang them inside our raincoat. It was also good for single- handed operation as we took out with one hand to take our pictures when we needed, with our other hand still holding the umbrella. If you are interested in what I bought: Here’s the shopee link.
What We Discovered in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding:
1. Information about Giant Pandas:
Modern Giant Pandas were discovered scientifically in 1869 by a Westerner, Armand David , in Baoxing, Sichuan, China and introduced to the world. He was a French naturalist and fourth Catholic Priest of the Church in Baoxing. He had been engaged in biological collection and research for 12 years in China. Giant Pandas have lived on the Earth for at least eight million years and have survived a long period of evolutionary competition and natural selection to become what they are like now. They generally live in high altitude and cool air below 20 degrees Celsius.
2. Mother Panda and Baby Pandas in Star Nursery House 星星产房
This place was an air-conditioned building with the enclosure built a level down in the centre. It was interesting to observe the Giant Pandas by looking down at them from the level we were standing. Two panda cubs were playing around while one was just rolling on its own. A bigger sized panda was just lying there on the rock further away and not moving, which I assume must be a Mother Panda sleeping or being emo. This place had a souvenir shop to buy Panda souvenirs and we were glad to finally purchase our raincoats from here to continue our journey.
3. Panda in the rain refusing to get down
There were only a few Giant Pandas in the outside enclosures. We encountered a keeper trying to get a Giant Panda to come down from the tree as he was worried about it in the heavy rain. He changed different positions and tried for a long time but the stubborn Panda remained there and kept chewing on the tree bark. We also saw another Giant Panda high up in the tree with its backside facing us. I was amazed they seemed unconcerned by the rain.
4. Pandas kept in different roomy enclosures that we had to walk far to visit each
It was difficult to walk in heavy rain with umbrellas and raincoats to visit each “Panda Villa” as they were far apart. Almost all the pandas were kept inside due to the weather but we still had to keep moving on as we were already there and wanted to explore all areas. Most of the pandas were enjoying their bamboo stems meal and we just observed them from behind the glass enclosure. Each panda was named and its character information was displayed on an information board inside the enclosure. Frankly, they all looked the same to me but still adorable to look at.
Watch A Video of How The Pandas Ate and Moved and how the rain was heavy:
5. Nice landscaped garden
The Panda Base was surrounded with pretty landscaped gardens and a huge lake. If the weather was good, we would surely enjoy a good walk through all these greenery. Alas, the rain spoilt our nature walk and we could not explore fully.
6. Had to climb lots and lots of stairs going up to the West entrance
At the end of the walk, we exited at the West entrance and there was a long flight of stairs going up and up. I was pretty annoyed as it was tiring to climb up stairs in the rain. (still heavy and did not seem to want to stop). There were some shops to browse through and my girl bought some blind boxes from one of the shop.
Shopping – What We Bought
- Raincoats – That look like research coats (see above). We bought them in the souvenir shop in “星星产房礼品店” Star Nursery House Cultural Creative Shop. However, we had to throw them away on the last day as they were too bulky to bring back to Singapore and would cost luggage space.
2. Souvenirs – Panda Blind Boxes in a shop at the West Entrance (I cannot remember the shop name). My girl just had to get a toy related to pandas and it must be from a “blind box”. I believe she loves blind box for the “thrill” of not knowing what she would get when she opened up, like she gets a surprise each time. We had fun “unboxing’ them on our HSR train ride back to Xi’an.
[In Summary]
It was very unlucky for us that it rained so heavily on this precious Chengdu day trip from Xi’an that took hours to reach. I would most likely never be going back there again and thus, this experience in the rain masked what would otherwise had been a day of fun exploration, observing Pandas in their natural habitat (open exhibits) and going around in the tour bus for each stop.
The majority of pandas were kept indoors due to the weather…so disappointing. We also hated going on the tour bus when it was not covered and windy rain kept coming at our faces. It was a cold and unpleasant experience throughout our exploration of the Panda Research Base.
Link to Official Website Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding: https://www.panda.org.cn/en
Chengdu MixC Shopping Mall 万象城
After leaving the research base by calling for a DiDi ride, there was not enough time to go to the famous Jinli pedestrian street. Under the recommendation of the taxi driver, he drove us to MixC Shopping Mall 万象城 instead which was supposedly near the HSR subway. It was still raining then.
We shopped around for some new socks to buy to change into as it is not good for wear wet socks for a long period of time. There, we spotted a shop called KKV with lifestyle products, snacks and blind boxes. My girl bought another two blind boxes – Mr Pa. Panda (RMB$49 – SGD$8.94) (see above pic) and Maltese (RMB$59 and RMB$69) while we bought four pairs of socks and some snacks.
Head Back to Xi’an – Metro and HSR
After observing the massive traffic jams during evening time, we decided to take the metro to the train station. MixC Shopping Mall is linked to the metro station and we just took the escalator down to Shuangqiao Road Metro Station.
We boarded the metro at Shuangqiao Road Metro Station (line 8) –> alight at Dongdalu Station (1 stop away) to change to line 2 by walking to another area –> Take line 2 at Dongdalu Station to Chengdu East Railway Station for the China Railway High Speed (CRH). It took about 20 minutes to reach the railway station compared to if we were stuck in a jam.
Unexpectedly, the train was also crowded and we almost could not get in despite queuing right at the door. The locals have no concept of waiting in line and would push past you to get in. My heart leapt when Vin’s bag got caught in the door when it was closing. He shouted that he was stuck and I quickly helped to pull it away. Fortunately, it was only for two stops.
We had time to grab a quick dinner for about 30 minutes before we boarded the HSR train ride. (和谐号）There were plenty of dinner options at the High Speed Rail Station – Chengdu East Railway Station.
The HSR train ride was the worst also as due to Vin changing his seat (he bought a new one directly and refunded the online one with error), I had to sit beside a plump woman who sat slightly out of her “space” and invaded my personal space. She yakked non-stop on the phone for a few hours (slept for a while, woke up and call someone else again!) and I had to endure the noise. =.=
We reached at 11.11pm and hailed another taxi ride to our hotel. It was almost midnight when we reached our hotel in Xi’an.
This was like the worst day ever for our Xi’an trip due to the heavy rain.
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Xi’an to Chengdu June 2025: Day 5 – Day Trip Itinerary
- Departure from Xi’an to head to Chengdu via HSR (abt 4 hours)
- Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
- Wanda Shopping Mall ( Shop a little )
- Dinner in HSR station
- Back to Xi’an via HSR (abt 4 hours)
READ China Xian 2025 Itinerary Summary: 6-Day China Itinerary: Xi’an | Chengdu
Tips For Travelling in China: “Essential Tips for Safe Family Travel in China“
Past Explorations in China :
Read About our China 2018 Trip: 9-Day Family Travel Itinerary in China Shanghai, Suzhou & Hangzhou
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