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Chengdu in Sichuan province which is in the central part of the country is not always included in many group tours.  I like to send people there on private custom tours as Chengdu has so much to offer in the surrounding areas.  Home of the Panda, you can visit the Experiment Station which has only Pandas  including new born ones in the nursery.   Chengdu has many relaxing parks and tea houses where the local people gather to play Mahjong and other games during the warm afternoons. Dufu's Cottage park is one of my favorites.  You can often see an orchestra practicing, choir groups and children playing games.  They have a fantastic Bonsai collection also.  The Wen Shu Temple park is another with vegetarian lunches and tea with snacks in the park.  There are also several areas of the city that have preserved the old buildings and left as they were 100 years ago.  Here you see Jinlin Street as one example.  Another is the beautiful Kuan...

You see here me with a pair of two year old Pandas. They are like lively children always willing to play.  Chengdu in Sichuan province is the home of the Pandas in China.  Located in south central China, the Experiment station just outside Chengdu is like a wonderful zoo devoted to only Pandas.  There is a nursery with a very large picture window where you may see the New Born Pandas close up.  The old Panda Preserve was destroyed by a large earthquake a few years ago.  Fortunately they had just remodeled the Experiment Station so tourists can see the Pandas in their natural habitat close up.  If you go to see Pandas be sure to visit them during the morning hours as afternoons they usually sleep which is part of their habit even in the wild.   I had  my photo taken with a large Male Panda a few years ago and couldn't believe how friendly he was since he was born and raised at the Panda Preserve.   Sichuan province is one of the most...