Pandas!

This morning was spent learning a very important lesson: how to tell an impostor panda from a real panda. Here's a handy guide to help.

Impostors:

Real panda:

It can be very tricky when both are hiding behind bamboo.

We woke up early to prepare for our 7:30 AM arrival in Beijing. What we didn't count on was navigating the subway with suitcases in tow at the peak of morning rush hour.

I told Jess that the mild mannered women in yellow on the platform were "pushers", working to load as many people as possible onto a crowded subway car. When the train arrived and we just barely squeezed onto the car with our suitcases, the women in yellow barking fierce orders through their portable loudspeakers, Jess's eyes were quite wide. Three trains later we arrived at our hotel, successfully checked in without help from our friends, texted them to let them know we were safe, and dropped off our bags.

Then it was off to the zoo, following the river of parents with small children in tow. The first stop was the Panda House, wanting to see them before the zoo got even more crowded. Fresh from the subway press, the crowd watching the pandas was a piece of cake to overcome. Soon we were right against the glass and the panda strolled over, sat down right in front of us and started happily munching on bamboo.

Then it was off to visit the other panda, also happily munching

And a quick stop to see the happy, lazy Lesser Panda:

After the zoo we made another trip out to the Haidian district for the giant electronics malls to buy toys, and then back to the hotel to unpack and settle in for our last few days in Beijing.

Seeing the pandas close up was a marvelous part of our trip. The only challenge was sorting through hundreds of panda shots to find just the right one. Thank goodness for burst mode and fast memory cards.