One of my earliest memories is being given a cuddly toy panda my paternal grandfather had made while he was a patient at Stracathro Hospital near Brechin.
I loved that bear as much as my granda. It came everywhere with me and was hugged so much it ended up threadbare.
I’ve had a soft spot for pandas ever since, so it won’t surprise you to know I was keen to see the giant pandas, Tian Tian (Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) who have taken up residence at Edinburgh Zoo.
Hardly a day goes by without these superstars of the animal world being in the news.
If it’s not them shoving the penguins off the most popular-with-visitors spot, it’s a new tartan being designed in their honour.
Then there’s the debate about them being proof of a growing friendship between Scotland and China, and whether having pandas here is the right way to go about saving the endangered species.
All of which is instantly forgotten as soon as visitors clap eyes on them because they are just as beautiful as you’d imagine them to be.
More than 70,000 have already seen the pandas since they went on public display just before Christmas.
Once inside the zoo, the specially-built panda enclosure is the first place you want to visit.
The trouble is, everyone thinks the same, which is why an advance booking system is in operation.
It doesn’t cost any more than the normal entrance fee and gives you an allocated time to see the pandas.
Around a third of panda tickets are also put aside on a daily basis for visitors, available on a first-come first-served basis.
At 1.30pm precisely I joined a small group of around 20, patiently waiting next to a pagoda-style building outside the enclosure. While Chinese lanterns and flags fluttered in the breeze, we were reminded no flash photography or filming was allowed as it upsets the pandas.
A well-informed guide led us into the enclosure — the pandas were inside when I visited but are quite happy outside as the climate is similar to their native habitat in Sichuan Province.
The guide struggled to be heard above the cries of “ooohs and aaaahs” coming from the crowd who were delighted to see the female, Tian Tian, sitting on top of a tiered wooden platform and happily posing for her guests.
Yang Guang was camera shy. He kept popping his head into the inside enclosure then, just as quickly, retreated.
As well as being endangered and rarely seen outside China, they are an extremely cute and much stronger looking when seen in the flesh.
I learned they eat a third of their body weight in food every day, munching through almost 50kg of bamboo – some of it grown in Scotland, and that male pandas do their own version of a handstand to scent mark their territory.
They are also pretty solitary creatures and only meet up for short periods in spring so they can mate.
The zoo experts think mating season could roughly be any time between the end of this month and the end of April but will just have to wait and see.
Various tests are done on a daily basis and keepers will keep an eye out to see if Sweetie is sitting in her pond more than normal – a hint that she could be ready to mate.
The outside enclosures have trees and climbing platforms as pandas spend hours resting in trees or hiding from predators.
There’s a pool to splash around in, a trough for drinking and little caves which act as outdoor bedrooms.
Surprisingly, the caves are made of stone off-cuts from Roslyn Chapel, the setting for Dan Brown’s blockbuster book, The Da Vinci Code.
In a strange quirk of fate, Brown’s book was published in 2003, the same year these giant pandas were born.
While Yang Guang played hide and seek with us, Tian Tian happily played to the gallery, clambering up and down her platforms, grooming herself and carefully inspecting bamboo branches before biting into them.
I could happily have watched her for hours, but with the next group waiting, we were reluctantly moved along.
So is all the fuss justified?
You bet.
The giant pandas will be Scottish residents for 10 years, and with a bit of luck, may breed, but even if this doesn’t happen, their presence will do much to raise awareness of wildlife conservation around the world.
Although the pandas were the highlight of our visit, there’s also plenty other creatures to see, and free talks to enjoy.
These currently include talks on sea lions, chimpanzees, birds, sun bears, koalas, Indian rhinos, sea eagles as well as the not-to-be-missed daily penguin parade and talk.
Edinburgh Zoo on Corstorphone Road is owned by the charity, The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Admission costs, which include a 10% donation to various conservation projects are: Adults £15.50, Children 3-15, £11, under 3s free of charge. Concessions and family tickets are also available. To guarantee seeing the pandas you must book your viewing slot at the same time as you buy your ticket.
Contact: 0131 334 9171 or visit www.edinburghzoo.org.uk
While in Edinburgh, if you are looking for a memorable meal or place to stay why not try 21212, 3 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh. The restaurant with luxury rooms is run by Michelin-star chef Paul Kitching. To find out more about the food on offer here, look out for the restaurant review on pages 18 and 19.