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Hundreds of Thais on Sunday lined to watch the couple of pandas that settled home in the northern city of Chiang Mai one year ago, local press reported on Monday.

 

In a bid to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the panda pair's residence, the authority of Chiang Mai Zoo lengthened the time for the display of pandas till 9:00 p.m.

 

Usually, the park where the pandas live is closed at 6:00 p.m.

 

"The excitement of having real pandas at a local zoo here is apparently every bit as intense as it was on the day that black-and-white stars Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui arrived here from China one year ago," said newspaper The Nation, referring to the pandas by their Chinese names.

 

Since the bear couple's arrival in Thailand, they have caused constant panda fervor in the tropical country.

 

In the early days of the pandas' arrival, Thai media continuously reported ardent panda viewers queued in long lines outside the pandas' residence long before opening time.

 

Walking into the Chiang Mai town, people are greeted by billboards carrying panda images in the airport and encountered various form of panda in toys, T-shirts and post-cards.

 

Even in the cosmopolitan Bangkok lying some 696 kilometers southeast of the pandas' residence, people can easily feel the existence of the animals for the zoo's commercials running on newspapers, buses and city trains.

 

In the past year, the panda couple had attracted more than 800,000 local and foreign tourists, racking up more than 33 million baht (US$825,000) in admission fees, said Chiang Mai Zoo director Tanapat Pongpamorn.

 

The authorities have seen even greater business prospect for the bear couples.

 

Zoological Park Organisation chairman Ratien Simongkol said he plans to coordinate with Thai Airways International to sell package tours to Chiang Mai, with the pandas a main attraction.

 

"With package tours, we can increase the number of international tourists and upgrade Chiang Mai Zoo to international status," he was quoted by The Nation as saying.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2004)