Thailand has had panda fever ever since the birth of Lin Ping at Chiang Mai Zoo in May 2009. They even have a 24 hour reality show so people can watch from home. This is a picture that I took of Chuang Chuang, the father.
The queues to see the pandas used to be very long. Fortunately this morning we were able to go straight in. The temperature inside is a comfortable 15 Celsius. They have built an ice dome for them next door but at the moment only the tourist section is ready.
The area where the mother and daughter pandas stay is quite large. Maybe too big and dark if you want to take a picture with a mobile phone. You are also not allowed to take a picture with flash for obvious reasons.
This is a picture of Lin Ping who is now one and a half years old. She is more active than her mother and was climbing up and down a lot. Under the agreement with China, any panda cub born abroad must be returned to China within two years. I think Thailand is trying to extend this but we have to think of the welfare of the panda.
The father panda, Chuang Chuang, is kept in a separate area. Here it is lighter and you can also get closer to observe his habits. Entrance to Chiang Mai Zoo is 520/390 baht (290/190 baht for Thai people). For the panda enclosure you have to pay another 100 baht (50 baht for Thai people). The snow dome is also extra at 150/100 baht for both foreigner and Thai.
- Posted from my iPhone
better than KFC and McDonalds lol but the name...