Fans at National Zoo in US bid farewell to three pandas

Three zoo employees, including assistant curator of giant pandas Laurie Thompson and a supervisory veterinary medical officer, traveled with the trio, along with a bonanza of the pandas' favorite foods, including: about 220 pounds of bamboo, eight pounds of leaf-eater biscuits, six pounds of apples and a pound of cooked squash.

After a 21-hour journey aboard the "Giant Panda Express", including a brief refueling stop in Alaska, Xiao Qi Ji and his parents, Mei Xiang, who is 25 years old, and Tian Tian, 26, have arrived in Chengdu and been greeted by keepers from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

They were to be driven to Shenshuping Base in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan province, where they will remain in quarantine for approximately 30 days.