The Thai public has shown strong interests in the pair of Chinese pandas since they arrived in the kingdom one month ago. 

About 2,500 people poured into the Chiang Mai Zoo on Thursday, the first day public allowed to view the Chinese pandas. Anxious to have a look of the bears, people including tourists from Japan and China's Taiwan went to the zoo in the early morning.

A line of 600 people was formed at the gate of the zoo at 8:00 am, one hour earlier than the zoo's open time, newspaper The Nation, Thailand’s English-language daily newspaper, reported on Friday.

The first batch of 200 viewers were allowed into the zoo at 9:00 am, following the zoo staff's instruction.

Waking up before the throng of people with cameras and videos in hands, Chuang Chuang, the male panda, walked across grass to greet the people, showing no signs of being surprised or frightened.

Ten minutes later, he was joined by his female mate Lin Hui to have a bamboo snack.

Since the pandas were not bothered having people around, 30 showings would be held a day, said the director of the Zoological Park Organization Sophon Damnui.

He also expected more visitors at the weekend and on holidays.

The souvenir shops around the zoo also benefited from the panda heat. The panda dolls priced between 100-500 baht (about US$2.38-11.9) sold well.

"More orders would have to be placed for the movable and speakable panda dolls because kids like them," Bangkok Post quoted a shop assistant as saying.

The Thai public has shown strong interests in the pair of Chinese pandas since they arrived in the kingdom on October 12.

Buses carrying advertisements and billboards for the pair have become a normal scene on Bangkok streets.

Many tourist agencies also included viewing panda as a program of the itinerary.

Hundreds of people poured into the Chiang Mai zoo on the second day of the panda's arrival despite of the announcement that the pandas would be open for public only one month later.

The pandas would live in Thailand for ten years in the Chiang Mai Zoo, which was located some 700 kilometers north of Bangkok.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2003)