Your personal tour guide and private driver will collect you from your hotel at 8 am. Your first stop is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a conservation facility that's spearheaded the preservation of this endangered species and Chinese icon: it's around half an hour from downtown Chengdu. The pandas are at their most active in the mornings, so you should be able to watch the bears feasting on bamboo. At most times of year, you'll also be able to see the baby pandas, and learn how they grow from tiny pink creatures the size of a mouse to gigantic adults that often weigh over 220 pounds (100 kilograms). The landscaped base is also home to red pandas and a lake with swans and koi carp.