The kids know that the giant pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, have come and they’ve been asking, almost every day since the news of their arrival in September, “Is it December yet, Mama? Can we go see the pandas now?”

December’s here and they know it. We’ve put up the Christmas tree, gone shopping for Christmas presents and even watched “Home Alone” together as a rare tv treat.

“It’s December, right?” Ben would ask. “So can we go see the pandas now?”

So today, the kids skipped school and despite them having a cold and some rather swollen eyes, we headed to the zoo much to their excitement.

When we got there, we realised that we had to pay to see the pandas. At the entrance of the panda enclosure, the zoo staff explained that we have to purchase add-on tickets at the main entrance of the zoo. According to them, each giant panda preview add-on ticket is valid for one viewing and is limited to 15 minutes and all preview time slots are allocated and based on a first-come-first-served basis. The tickets are priced at $5 for adults and $3 for kids three and above.

We were allocated the 11.20 preview slot and went in to the enclosure with about 40 others. We walked past the completed River Safari enclosures (without the exhibits) and arrived at the entrance of the Giant Panda Forest. There, we were told not to use flash photography and not to startle the gentle giants. The zoo staff then told us to have a “pandastic day”, gave high-fives to all the children walking past them, and proceeded to follow closely behind – and we all know why – because we only had 15 minutes and they would need to gather us so we can exit together as a group later on.

The air in the enclosure was cool and a nice respite from the humidity outside. We walked past a golden pheasant and the Lesser Red Panda before arriving at Kai Kai’s side of the bamboo forest. The dude was obviously bored to his paws as he paced up and down repeatedly, before deciding he was thirsty and headed to a little water catchment to have a drink, much to the delight of everyone who was frantically snapping away with their cameras, yours truly included. At Jia Jia’s side of the enclosure, she came much closer to the crowd. The dudette was also pacing up and down repeatedly, oblivious to the crowd that was right before her eyes. Ben was thrilled to see pandas for the first time. Becks was like, “yea, panda, whatever” and the baby was fast asleep in the Beco carrier. I, on the other hand, was thinking of ways to make pretty Jia Jia eyelashes for a panda bento. The cartoon versions of these bears are way too cute not to make a bento!

Before we left the panda enclosure, Ben asked, “Mama, can pandas see?”

“Of course they can! Why do you think they can’t?” I quizzed.

“But their eyes are so black, how to see?”

Ah, perfect time to teach personification, as I have promised myself to do.

“Ben, look at my eyes. Are they black too?” I asked.

“Ya, quite black,” was his reply.

“My eye rings are black. But I can see. So surely the panda can see too.” I know I don’t make any sense, but I couldn’t help it. The kids need to know that any resemblance their mother has to the panda is not coincidental.

All in all, we had a pandastic 15 minutes indeed.