Baby Lin Bing - Star Celebrity of Chiang Mai Zoo !
One of our most favorite moments of Chiang Mai ,as well as our entire year and a half in SE Asia was getting to meet Lin Bing, the Chiang Mai Zoo's own baby panda.
The whole experience was really amazing because the people of Chiang Mai are so proud of Lin Bing, the only baby giant panda outside of China in SE Asia. The name was chosen from a list of four possibilities as the winning name from 22 million entries in a national competition held within Thailand, the name Lin Bing (Lin Ping in Thai) means "Forest of Ice" in Chinese.
We saw so many locals wearing fuzzy panda hats, pretty humorous. The Thailand Authority of Tourism set us up to tour the zoo to get an exclusive look at the seven month old baby panda Lin Bing.
We saw Lin Bing’s daily 9am check up, where she plays around in what is basically a baby’s playpen and doctors checked her health. We were able to watch this through the glass with some other lucky observers and media.
Lin Bing is a big time celebrity in Thailand; she is the only baby panda in Asia outside of China and she is the product of an artificially inseminated birth. Her birth was celebrated across the country and she was on the every major news outlet.
Believe it or not, she even has her own 24-hour television channel on True TV! After seeing the check-up, we followed the large group of Lin Bing fans and went look down at the nursery below where the panda is free to play.
I have to admit, this panda was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She was so excited to show off for us that she ran right into a bush immediately after she was released by the doctors! No worries though, she was fine and showed us by sliding on her belly down a ditch repeatedly as the crowd laughed hysterically.
After the crowd left, we got to interview Mr. Buntragulpoontawee and ask our many questions about Lin Bing. Then the really overwhelming part-we got to suit up in a veterinary uniform and visit Lin Bing’s private cage where she was about to be fed by her mother.
We got some unheard-of video and pictures as we were inches away from the mother and baby. We strongly recommend you check out Linbing while she is still in Thailand ;soon she will be returned to China, so HURRY!
Author Bio: Aubrey & Parker are the winners of the 2009 Ultimate Thailand Explorer competition having selected Chiang Mai as their Ultimate Thailand Explorer destination.
