The moving in of two Chinese pandas has created a swirl of heat in northern Thai city of ChiangMai, which is famous for its cool weather, The Nation, Thailand's English-language daily newspaper, reported Tuesday.

Hundreds of people poured into the Chiang Mai zoo on Monday to watch the pair of pandas loaned by the Chinese government to Thailand.

The people, too eager to wait, gathered in front of the pandas' enclosure despite the zoo authority's announcement that the pandas would not on display until November. Some impatient ones even tried to climb in, said the newspaper.

Three-year-old Chuang Chuang and his two-year-old mate Lin Hui arrived in Chiang Mai on Sunday evening, beginning their 10-year life in the warm kingdom.

Landing on the small town some 800 kilometers north of the capital Bangkok, Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui stayed at a cage with a special function to keep the temperature at 18 degrees Celsius.

Thousands of hospitable locals welcomed the precious animals along the road to the zoo. Some of them wore a costume of panda and all of them were so excited even though none of them caught a glimpse of the pandas.

In a bid to make the pair feel at home, the zoo spent some 39 million baht (about US$1 million) on 6,250 square meters of space for the animals.

It can be counted as a luxury house for pandas with air conditioners setting temperature at approximately 17 degrees Celsius.

The zoo was thinking of using locally-grown bamboo to replace the expensive home dishes for the "guests". It also planned to build a monorail within the zoo and a six-to seven-story car-park building to help an estimated 1.8 million visitors watch the pandas.

The pandas need more time to adjust to their new environment so as to be displayed publicly, zoo director Thanong Nateepitak was quoted as saying.

The zoo authority, worried about the public fervor, had to station 24-hour safety guard in front of the pandas' residence.

The pandas began to eat normally on Monday but they were still under a little bit stress, said a zoo vet.  

(People’s Daily October 14, 2003)