Panda BEARS and Samantha Brown

Samantha Brown, host of Travel Channel's Samantha Brown's Asia, Passport to Europe, and Passport to Latin America visited OSU last night, and it was super fun to hear her speak. My school hosts some  really cool programs!

In case you do not know who she is, you can click here for her website. She is one of my favorite t.v. hosts. in the world, and here are some reasons why:

1. She is bubbly and down-to-earth both in reel and real life, and not condescending at all! Not only was she friendly and funny, she patiently answered multiple questions posed to her by the audience even though she is 6 months pregnant with TWINS and STOOD THE ENTIRE TIME. @_@
2. She has a great sense of humor! Scroll down to point 9. 
3. She encouraged students to travel the world- yeah! Not everyone can afford to travel overseas, but she stressed the importance of traveling even within the United States. The Grand Canyon in Arizona, dog sled rides of Montana, and the world's Largest Aquarium in Georgia are some of her recommendations. 
4. She is not afraid to admit that she gives in to the occasional McDonald burger cravings while travelling overseas- yup, the very burgers full of "chemicals" because that's how she had it growing up. 
5. On the other hand, she tried to give traveling tips of how Americans should act when overseas, such as learning a few simple phrases in the native language to facilitate communication and show non-Americans that you are trying, phrases like "Hello" and "Thank you." And she also reassured Americans that even though the rest of the world may hate American politics and foreign policy, they still love Americans. 
6. She loves Southeast Asia, and recommends this relatively unknown gem for travelers looking for a  cheaper vacation destination. The plane ticket to Southeast Asia may be expensive but once you get there the cost of living is very cheap (well, except perhaps for Singapore)! 
7. She loves Asia. Of course she loves the rest of the world too, but being an Asian, I naturally perked up whenever she talked of Asia. She especially loves the Great Wall of China and the scenery of Vietnam.
8. She is open minded and unafraid to dip her toes into new cultures, even if it entails eating food that revolts her, like duck tongue- how cool is she?! 

Here she shared an experience when she was in Singapore (yeah!), and was given the eye of the fish in the fish head curry as a token of honor. Surprisingly, the eye turned out to be very flavorful (though she gave the other eye to her host).

Oh I miss fish head curry!



This is Samantha's all-time favorite picture. She and the orang asli indigenous children of Malaysia are holding apples she brought as a gift. Initially the children were afraid of her blond hair until she told them that she is the only one in her family with this hair color as well! Aren't the expressions of the children simply precious?!

9.  Mainly however, I love her because SHE TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT PANDAS IN HALF AN HOUR THAN I LEARNED MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!

Yes, she is hugging a panda bear. How freaking awesome if that?! Seriously she is so cool. Here are some things I learned from her about pandas.

Fact 1: There is a research center that studies the breeding of giant pandas in Chengdu, and  visitors can pay to hug a panda bear for 2 minutes, hence the above picture. Aww... Her husband once observed that his cimputer desktop background was their wedding picture, while her desktop background was her hugging the panda. *chuckles*

Fact 2: Male pandas have very weak libidos. Yeah... and females go in heat for only two days, so you can imagine if the male panda was like, "Sorry I'm watching a Buckeye football game now so don't distract me..." (Samantha's joke). That's why breeding pandas is extremely difficult, why destroying their natural habitation is extremely devastating, and why a successful birth of a panda is a HUGE DEAL!

Fact 3: To... "heishu heishu" (*wink* Singapore fans of "The Noose") or increase the libidos of male pandas, the hind legs need to be strengthened first. Pandas have very weak hind legs, and it does not help in... you know what I mean. Visitors at the Breeding Center in Chengdu can help strengthen these muscles by (under supervision of course) holding a bamboo high up in the air and letting the panda reach for it. Well, anything to help the natural copulation process.

Fact 4: Panda bears may let you hug them, but when provoked, they become just that- BEARS.

Fact 5: Should you find yourself stuck in a situation of Fact 4, either run or pray that someone very strong is with you. Why?

Samantha related how she was allowed to film a segment for her show in the panda bear enclosure for 10 minutes. She eagerly followed the animal keeper, until she heard him say "Keep moving" just as he turned the key to unlock the metal gate of the enclosure. Surprised, she asked him what he meant by that (via interpreter)

"Keep moving."
"Why?"
"Well, they are still bears." (see Fact 4)

AAAHHH! She started freaking out, but it was too late to back out though and how rare a chance to be in an enclosure full of pandas/ bears! So she moved on, terrified out of her wits. Once there, she tried to "keep moving," only to have her director, who was on the other side of the enclosure and using a telescopic filming lens tell her to "hold still."

"Keep moving."
"Hold still."
"Keep moving!"
"Hold still!"

Back and forth, back and forth, and all Samantha could do was pace back and forth in the shape of a little square. Finally she decided to just hold still for a few seconds. She did, and then to her horror, saw
One male panda
lock eyes with her.

Basically, by standing still she had unwittingly signaled to the panda that this was her territory, and this male panda was very very very upset.
Next thing she knew, the panda bear was CHARGING AT HER! No more cute cuddly animal (hard to picture this huh?!). The animal keeper then shouted the only other English word he knew-

RUN!!!

So she did. And then the most amazing (and hilarious!) thing happened. Just as the panda bear charged across, the animal keeper grabbed it by the neck and

FLUNG IT ACROSS THE ENCLOSURE.

Oh my word. I almost died laughing.

Love this woman!