31 Oct 2019
had an excellent weekend adventure with Owen's team of private guides Dodo in Xian and Carol in Chengdu. Owen was very accommodating in upgrading our request for upgraded seats on the bullet train (try executive business class for a once in a lifetime ride) and the French hotel chain Mercure was an excellent choice for our night's stay in Chengdu. The private guides were enthusiastic, well informed, and really catered to our needs and desires. Carol knew to get to the Panda Base early as pandas were most active during morning bamboo eating. My three tips: have really good walking shoe as I had no idea how absolutely vast both these sites were. Try not to go on any weekend as local crowds can be quite dense. And take the tram to the top of panda mountain--much easier walking down the hill than up it.