Royals keep their date with panda

This was the third visit by the prince to see the zoo's pandas.

Accompanied by 10 families of the prince's friends, the two went to the panda clinic and the prince jumped with joy when he spotted the cuddly cub inside a basket.

The princess gently held the 6,035-gram cub in her arms, while the curious prince lightly patted the cub as suggested by the princess. The princess commented that the cub was very cute and it was a good opportunity for her to hold the cub.

The prince brought a panda doll to Lin Ping and played with it for a while. After zoo staff took Lin Ping back to its mother, Lin Hui, they also observed the two pandas for five minutes.

The prince, who next wanted to visit the zoo's aquarium, also hugged panda researcher Ratchaneewan Khejarawong and said "thank you". The princess and her son also visited Chuang Chuang in the panda display section for 15 minutes and gave it a bunch of fruits before they proceeded to see the Snow Dome, the aquarium and the koala section.

Zoological Park Organisation director Sopon Damnui also presented the prince a souvenir basket, which included a koala-shaped backpack, panda dolls, a shark doll and a shirt as well as a nine-pound panda-shaped cake. The prince's friends also got a Nemo doll and a koala doll as souvenir.