Chengdu take 2

Joe already blogged some about our toms in Chengdu, but I wanted to add some. It was interesting going somewhere that had just suffered a major disaster. Our friends jon and katie (and most people we ran into) were very apologetic for the earthquake and how out of sorts they were. Obviously it wasn't anyone's fault but was just nice to jug our friends and know they were ok. Due to the 3 day entertainment ban we did not to much, but did go to the Giant Panda Research Center. We originally thought this was at the epicenter but that was another panda place. Audrey was so relieved to know the pandas were ok. Ok the way to the park, Jon drove us past the new building his company was supposed to be miving into that week. It suffered from the earthquake with many visible large cracks! An assessment is being done to see if it is safe.
we oroginally thought we could go to the earthquake zone to help in some way, but the area is closed off to all who are not officially part of relief effort groups. We had brought some crayons, coloring books, diapers and candy to hand out to kiddos, but Katie will take them to an orphanage that suffered damage for us next week. I just wish we could have done more.
Katie, the kids and I went to a street market as well as a street that has had its architecture preserved. We noticed that the parts of Chengdu we were in were more quaint neighborhood streets, similar to Chelsea in NY. Not as cosmopolitan as Shanghai. like everywhere we've been in China, the people were all very friendly.
The Lohmns and Keeleys headed to Xi'an together on Thursday. The Lohmans needed the break from the craziness of living in a disaster zone- it was wearing on the all emotionally and physically, as Katie was experiencing vertigo.