THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: The female panda cub born at Chiang Mai zoo last month will soon have a name after more than 300 different suggestions were submitted in a national naming contest.

The 20-day old panda cub is reported to be in excellent health, having put on more than 650 grams (1.44 pounds) since it was born and now being nursed full-time by it’s mother, Lin Hui.

The committee set up to oversee the naming of the new cub said it received over 300 names on more than 560,000 postcards submitted by the public in the last few weeks.

The four names selected are:

Kwan Thai – a Thai expression meaning, “darling of the Thai people”.

Lin Bing – Chinese for “a forest of ice”. The word bing is also very similar in Chinese pronunciation to “ping”, the name of Chiang Mai’s major river.

Tai Jin – meaning “Thai gold” but can also refer to the Thai-Chinese relationship as “jin” is the Thai way of saying China.

Ying Ying – Chinese for “prosperity”, while in Thai “ying” means girl.

People throughout Thailand will have the opportunity to vote on the name of the cub with a special postcard containing the four names going on sale in Bangkok from Friday and in other provinces from next Monday.

Members of the public can vote for their favorite name at any post office until August 5, with the result to be announced on August 12, Thai Mothers’ Day to coincide with the birthday celebrations of HM Queen Sirikit, who turns 77 this year.

The cub is now on display to visitors to Chiang Mai Zoo and Zoological Park Organisation director-general Sophon Damnui has asked visitors to avoid having contact with dogs and cats before visiting as they could spread viruses to zoo animals during the flu season.

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for June 18, 2009