He, he, he, he… The number of visitors to panda enclosure is already less than expected. They do try to pump the enthusiasm on the MRt with announcements like : still 9 thousand tickets available…
Most people come out of the enclosure dissapointed … not enough time to see the pandas. Two hours wainting in line in the cold and they get pushed 20 seconds in the panda enclosure.
So far, the winners are the restaurants: more than 200 nts for “Tung Tung’s favorite meal”: two mantos, two sad looking pieces of broccoli, a watery sweet soup with three red beans, and extra a plate of half-boiled Italian noodles and a spoonfull of packed sauce. $$$$
The pandas are going to be around for a while I should think. So the best is to wait a few months , then you can spend a lot more time in the panda house. Its senseless to stand in line in the cold for 2 hours to get 30 seconds with the pandas.
I saw those poor things in Mainland and I’m telling you, I cannot understand how they keep them in boxes like in the Third World zoos -hell, like the ones back home … in the seventies- while here -and mostly abroad- they are treated like royalty.
Japan just got some pandas for Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo and it promptly renamed them. Bǐlì (比力) and Xiānnǚ (仙女) are now Riri (力力) and Shinshin (真真). Nobody seems to be making a fuss about this in China.
Somehow, though, the Ma administration apparently never even gave a thought to doing something similar.
