KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 -- Every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday, Chin Lee Peng travels from her home in Puchong, Selangor to Zoo Negara's Giant Panda Conservation Centre (GPCC) in Ulu Kelang - a journey of some 30km - just to see Fu Wa and Feng Yi before they return to China later this month.

The retiree arrives before the zoo opens and stays until it closes at 5pm, and has become a familiar face to the zoo staff.

"It all started by chance, I guess," she told Malay Mail when met at the enclosure recently.

"I've been coming for about two or three years since I first visited after the birth of the second panda cub, Yi Yi."

After observing the cubs and their parents, Chin said she felt a deep, almost magical connection that has kept he...