This past June, Brandon and I took some time to visit Chengdu, China. Chengdu is the home of the panda. So I looked into the opportunity and happened upon..."feed the pandas". So we visited the National Panda Breeding Center high, high in the surrounding mountains... 
but before we could feed them we first had to put on these goofy coveralls.
but before we could feed them we first had to put on these goofy coveralls.On this day it was about 95 degrees with about 85% humidity. Needless to say they were not comfortable (nor stylish) but we did get to feed the pandas as you can see below. 
The pandas native diet is one of bamboo. The bamboo, they told us, is only found high in the mountain tops in the surrounding area. We fed them panda "cookies" which is their main diet at this facility. The cookies are made from a combination of rice, sugar, wheat, and ground up bamboo. After we fed the pandas (about 6 of them), we then had to carry some bamboo into their roaming area. 
The feeding experience was rather surreal. Though one must keep in mind - these are bears - they are very gentle animals. They would grab their cookie and sit on their rears with their hind feet out in front of them. These bears were in captivity obviously but I did not get the impression that they were aggressive. Having this said, we didn't take our chances and we were very cautious.
Until next time...a hard days work deserves a bowl of noodles (and a Coke).
