Two Sleeps to China!

[przed]

Things are coming together. Our Chinese currency arrived at the bank today, and I'm mostly packed up. I've also finally started playing around with the digital SLR my mom gave me for Christmas 2011 so I can bring it on the trip. (Yes, I'm pathetic.)

One of the things I'm now mulling over is our visit to the panda preserve in Chengdu. Our plan is to let Ros hold a baby panda, but should I? (On the one hand, you pay nearly $200 USD for the privilege. On the other hand, the funds go to the preserve, one hopes, and when else am I going to get the chance to hold a baby panda?)

So, whaddaya think?

[Poll #1900874]

Comments

[przed.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

It looks like they're pretty good at looking after the pandas, and the money is going to the preserve, so I think I'm leaning to the yes side. The holding a monkey in Majorca thing, however, does sound a bit dire.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

We got warned about the whole 'have your pic taken with...' aspect when I was in Sri Lanka, as you could potentially get all sorts of monkeys, snakes and whatever, anything to make a buck out of tourists - we even saw someone with a porcupine on a leash!

There's a major difference when it's personal gain v. preserve gain, imho, but if you can make the decision nearer the time rather than on the door, it'll probably feel a lot better.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even considered this would be A Thing. I think I'll definitely make the decision once I'm there and can judge how things are set up. The preserve getting the funds and the baby pandas being generally okay with the process will be the deciding factors.