Continued appropriation of their bamboo woods habitat has led to designation of them as an endangered species. Captive breeding has reasonable success, but there is not enough habitat to warrant reintroduction to the wild. China’s increasing population leaves little hope of that changing.

We recently rode our bicycle from Chengdu across the SW China mountains (Himalayas and Tibetan plateau). We began in Chengdu and visited the Giant Panda Breeding Center. Lucky, our stuffed panda, made the visit with and was not sure what to think of the really really big (to him) pandas. We did not see any pandas as we climbed through the life zones of the mountains. Though we certainly saw enough bamboo, it was interspersed with villages, farms and other human uses of the land.

Some Photos from the Giant Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu:

Lucky at the Giant Panda Breeding Center, Chengdu, China

Giant panda doing what pandas do best, eat.

Breakfast

Focused on food

This panda found a stash of bamboo, and a good place to watch tourists

A young panda looking for trouble

Panda Cubs Like Climbing

The Chinese love their pandas!

Happy Christmas from Bangkok

Happy Christmas from Bangkok, from Bob and Claire and Lucky. P-bear, Lai Lai and Foster send their best wishes from Tucson.

We’ll celebrate by crossing the International Date Line on Christmas Day. Does that mean we get Christmas twice?

Happy Christmas

Claire and Bob Rogers

PS. See a video of us having a look-back at our Shangri-la journey from Bangkok, Christmas Eve day.

Lucky from Angkor Wat

We took Zippy to  ride yesterday to some place said Angkor Wat. Claire told it was a  important place. It is made of rocks people carved and piled up to make temples to a bunch of gods.

They have scary demons for gods to fight, or something. There is big snakes, elephants, and too, a crocodile carved into walls, and other stuff too.

There are whole armies fighting and different of their big important gods, including Buddha. I’m can’t know how they remember all these gods, but they must have been important for them to do hard work.

Oh, there are 1876 dancing nymphs carved there too, and Bob took a lot of pictures of them.

We went to several other temples that were just as interesting. Claire says we’re going to more today and tomorrow. I’m getting tired, and Bob wants a nap, but Claire says we’ll only be here once, so we gotta keep up to go.

Zippy and me liked the ride back best. It being dark and we no lights. Bob and Claire pedaled fast. We passed bicycles and tuk tuks and even cars. Then me and Bob talked to a little girl selling postcards while Claire got food.

Bob says they’ll put up some more pictures when he finds something called bandwidth. I don’t know what is, but he always grouches about it.

I having fun!

bye,

Lucky

Misty Morning in Shangri-la (Claire)

We took the recommendation of Bill Weir and Alice and Andoni, cyclists we’d met way back in Almaty in 2005, and took a back road rather than Highway 214 to Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had at least one climb each day, one day we had three climbs totaling about 18 kilometers. The road is now paved except for washouts and we had very light traffic and beautiful views. Villages along the way were full of hard-working but friendly people eager to say “Hello!”. Coming the backway into Tiger Leaping Gorge was more fun because we didn’t feel so much a part of the tourist hordes. The big rock slide blocked vehicle traffic so we had the gorge to ourselves for most of the morning.

Shangri-la Vista

Clothsline in Shangri-la

Plowing with Oxen

Fall Colors in the Mountains of Shangri-la

Nearing Another Pass With Moss Covered Trees

Travertine Pools of Bai Shui Tai

The main reason we went the longer, back way to Lijiang was that I (Claire) wanted to see the travertine terraces at Bai Shui Tai. Unlike at Havasupai, these terraces are perched on a hillside, rather than in a canyon.

Flower in Shangri-la

Dahlias grow everywhere.

Carved Headstones

Village in Shangri-la

The expansive valleys on this route were stunning; deep enough that we couldn’t see all the way to the bottom.

Mountains of Shangri-la

Chili Harvest

View from our $4.20 room

Lunch Time in a Shangri-la Field

All Dressed Up

Haba Snow Mountain

Tiger Leaping Gorge

After the rain in Tiger Leaping Gorge

So far we are able to post on our own site, but we will be careful with words.

We will still post still photos, and narratives of our travels. And Lucky will still be able to do his blog!

Today we went to the Panda Breeding Center to show Lucky his cousins; here’s his post:

What a day. My cousin pandas are big, even the babies are big, and they are always eating  something called bamboo. I hear my friends P-bear, Foster and Lai Lai talk about it, but they don’t eat either. The Chinese people are proud of their pandas. There were lots of Chinese there making flashes with little cameras and getting into the pictures. I got into  Bob and Claire’s pictures too. I think I’m prettier than those pandas. The old ones just laid on their backs and ate bamboo, but the young ones wrestled and pretended to bite and rolled around. One even slept in a tree. I guess they really are bears. Claire liked the babies best. I’m jealous. She coooed over me, but nothing like she did with the baby pandas! We even got to watch the bottom end of the baby feeding process. Evidently, baby pandas need lots of help with keeping their stuffing moving through and nurses are on constant display stroking tiny panda butts (theirs didn’t have tags that said Made in China). Bob and Claire cheered for that panda when he finally finished.

Claire: It was really fun to see so many pandas and yes, the tiny ones were really adorable, but the cubs, up to a year and a half were more fun to watch. In slow motion, they loll and wobble and tumble and wrestle. They gum, and paw and flop and blink and yawn. Every move they make is absolute innocence and honesty. With the adults needing most of their day just to feed, I don’t understand why the little ones, who are growing so fast, aren’t constantly hungry and lean. Their diet must be very rich.

The rest of our day was fun too. We rode into the center of Chengdu to meet with Peter Snow-Cao of Bike China Adventures http://www.bikechina.com/index.php. He was able to offer lots of very helpful advice about our route: he confirmed that it will be grueling. On the way home, we got lost three times, it was great.

Bob: Now I know why we get lost so much; Claire likes it. Hmmmm. Claire shot another video as we wove through traffic on our way home. Per the above problems, it will be awhile before you see it, but worth the wait. Most of the people we ride with in Tucson will know that I prefer hills to flat traffic rides, but that I have a fair amount of testosterone for an old guy. Well, there is something about Chinese traffic, chaotic, crazy, dangerous, that brings out the old mountain bike racing instincts and skills from twenty years ago. I get into a zone and we merge with the throngs. I absorb the pattern of traffic flow, read “body language” and know when to challenge the cabbie, and when to track stand and let him pass. It is thrilling and calming at the same time, and I can’t get enough of it. I could do without the deepening cough I get from the horribly polluted air, but it will only be a few more days before serious elevations will have me wishing for air of any kind, polluted or not. Peter says our, now generally set, route through Tibetan cultural area (better than Lhasa he opines) will reach elevations of 15,333 feet at least. Yikes.

Tonight we tried another of the family fandians in our local hutong, and had even more fun than before. This time Claire took photocopies of food pages from a travel guide so we would have some idea of what we were ordering. We ordered fish and green beans and eping pejo (they are big and we share) When the fish dish came it was huge and loaded with all the things I love, garlic, chillies and ginger, also tiny bones and the head and tail. The strange head meat (brains?) was tasty. When the green beans came they were peas. Oh well, 50% isn’t bad. Everything was delicious. There was a general loud banter between the staff, regulars and the lao wai (foreigners). Everything we did was watched with general approval of our eating style. One other diner loudly proclaimed that Claire was very good with chopsticks, and better than me. True.

Life is not easy for most Chinese, the average wage here is about 10 kwai ($1.46) PER DAY. Our expensive, for them, dinner this night, because of the protein, was about $6. We made their day. Our average daily expenses so far in China, $29 including the panda tour and special van from the airport. Travel doesn’t have to be expensive to be fun.

I like Claire’s patches. Some of them are blue and some of them are red and the stiches are black. The bags are going to look like a clown pretty soon, if she keeps putting on patches. I asked Bob why they don’t get new bags. He said they are sentimental about the bicycle and the bags. New would be nice, he said, but these bags have memories; every tear and scuff has some meaning to them. The other bears around here are pretty old too, so I guess they keep stuff. I don’t know if they’ll leave me in China or not.

Lucky takes a think break on a mountain wildflower pillow

I had another of those funny think things. “Respect yourself and others will respect you.” I asked Claire what that word respect means. She took a long time with her thinks before she said something. “Respect means you think well of someone, and that you trust what they say is what they will do.”  That sounds good. I thinked there might be more.  She heard my think, “Respect takes a long time to happen, she said. ” My head hurt, but I wanted to hear more. “To respect yourself, means to be honest so you know you are a good person, or uh, panda.” I had a think that I want to be a good panda. “If you act right, so you can respect yourself, then other people, and pandas, will see that and respect you.”  That was a long think, and I’ll think on it more. I like this think.

I think these thinks are coming from someone else. I’m not that smart by myself. It’s probably not a panda. We just think about bamboo. I wonder if it is a China person? Does anybody know who thinked these thinks first?

We are not the anti-social hedonists many associate with the name Bohemians. Anyone who has followed our adventures knows we don’t avoid challenge or discomfort. We get our high by pushing our bodies and minds in pursuit of creative living, travel, and intimate connection with the World and it’s peoples. That is the New in New Bohemians.

Many people searching for our site found instead a folk rock band, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians, since they had the .com long before we conceived of a web presence. They’re a laid back group with a great sound and meaningful lyrics you can actually understand. They have an interesting, and long, history, that I may explore in a future post.

With the help of John Hoyle at The Small Webmaster, we have manged to get our site second only to Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians, and are gaining an ever increasing following. We will keep the content fresh and, sometimes at least, exciting. You will find travel narratives from all over the world, and close to home, by tandem bicycle, sailboat, motorhome, Asian trains, an aging Soviet era airliner, and one Lada. There are in excess of 300,000 words and who knows how many pictures, with more to come: Tandem, An American Love Story, Around Australia by Tandem and Cruising the South Pacific with Captain Bligh. Start off with photos of these places on our travel portfolio.

Many people have responded to our newest blogger, Lucky the stuffed panda we rescued. He is coming to life, and will join us on our next adventure, when we ride our tandem, Zippy from Sichuan to Yunnan, China, and into Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. We think his blogs will be an interesting view of his country of origin. He may decide to stay. Who knows? We will be posting our own blogs and perhaps some videos.

We leave in early September for Chengdu, where the recent devastating earthquakes killed thousands. We’ll take Lucky to see his namesakes at the giant panda breeding center. From there we’ll attempt to pedal up over the Tibetan plateau, in search of Shangri-La, and beyond.

We’ll give you another heads-up before we leave. For now, check out our Silk Road Crossing page. It is an exciting preview of the challenges and rewards of independent travel in Asia.

Life it good. Share your thoughts on what your read, and tell us about your adventures.

Cooking Spelt and Onions in Claire's Solar Cooker

Claire adding spices and vegetables to the spelt and onions. I'm getting hot!

Adding two small portions of salmon for the final few minutes

General solar cooker dinner; not exactly a recipe.

One cup spelt

One onion, diced

2 1/2 cups salted water

8 oz mixed frozen vegetables, thawed

two portions of salmon, or other fish

garlic powder

mixed spices, your choice

Set up the solar cooker (Claire made hers from a windshield shade and Velcro) in a funnel shape in full sun (duh) and out of the wind if possible. Put spelt, water and salt in baking dish, place inside a baking bag and close tight with twist tie; set in solar cooker. Check spelt after a couple of hours (bad choice, other whole grains cook much quicker); when done, add vegetables and spices. Adjust liquid with chicken broth or water, cook until vegetables are getting tender. Add salmon and cook until opaque.

Amazingly there was a noticeable drop-off in solar power late afternoon, when the hottest ambient temperatures occur; the sun is already beginning to weaken.

This is not exactly high cuisine; it was our first meal and we wanted to keep it simple. As it, it would be a child friendly project. The next time we will use a quicker cooking grain (still whole) use fresh vegetables, fresh garlic and add some olive oil.

Thank you Lucky, for sharing your blog with us, and watching the cooker all afternoon.