We purchased tickets in advance to see the pandas when we visited Edinburgh in February 2012. On the day we were there, the male panda was not feeling too chipper so he elected to stay in his hideaway. He was not available for viewing. We did see Tian Tian, the female panda; she was sleeping during our fifteen minutes of time with her.

I was glad that we were able to see both pandas when we volunteered at BFX, the Giant Panda Reserve in China that is serving as a temporary replacement for Wolong's reserve. We were allowed a quick glimpse of both pandas. We had to view them from a distance since they were in quarantine.