The girls are interested in endangered animals and I looked in to the feasibility of going to the Panda research centre in china but it wasn’t practical. Instead I organised for them and me to be honorary Panda keepers for a morning in the conservation centre in Ocean Park in Hong Kong.

We we’re let in to the park before it opened to the public and were suited and booted in the appropriate clothes.

We leant about Pandas and their habitats, prepared their food and fed them through a hole in the glass screen. We also set up food in their enclosure. The highlight was cleaning up the den where they spent the night. Shovelling giant panda poo is definitely a one off experience. The pandas were gorgeous and we were all really glad we did it.

Ocean park is also home to lots of other animals and some rollercoasters so although John and Nigel missed out on feeding the pandas they had lots to enjoy.

Ocean park was packed with bus loads of tourists from the Chinese mainland and we were a source of endless fascination for them. The most common reaction was a surprised look, followed by pointing at the children, raising four fingers and an eyebrow. When we confirmed with a nod that we did indeed have four children the universal reaction was a smile and a thumbs up. They must approve of our lack of a one child policy as we now feature in the holiday photos of countless Chinese people.