Tino in Chiang Mai

Time to check out of Bangkok and move on..  after a short flight playing games with Mamma and Dadda we arrived around midday in the Northern City of Temples... Chiang Mai!

First things first I took a good nap in our wonderful guesthouse to recharge my batteries..

Then off we went following Dadda's itineraries to check out some of the Buddhist temples.. good job our guesthouse is bang on the main street of the old town and that all temples are nearby!  

Mamma and Dadda were expecting to have plenty of massages while in Thailand but they clearly haven't worked out how to deal with me yet and therefore haven't had a single pair of hands on them this far!  Here we are outside a massage place and finding well more interesting things to look at than boring massage studios where everyone is quiet and looking soo serious!

Woow!  Temples are really fascinating houses!  They are full of dragons, lions, tigers, snakes and elephant statues!  There are even funny people with no hair and orange cloths wrapped around them... 

We then took a Tuk Tuk to eat at the Lemongrass restaurant which was a cheep and cheerful but super-yummy Thai place that our tour operator had suggested her clients had been impressed with... so were we!  In fact it's the first day since my arrival in Thailand that I've moved off plain rice!  I tried out the fish tempura which Mamma said were just like the fish fingers I love sooo much!

While travelling with Mamma and Dadda I am making good progress with my vocabulary and even putting a few mini sentences together.. here below is a perfect demonstration of me indicating "deef uan" (this one) as I also want to drink what Dadda drinks!

We then strolled down the Chiang Mai Night Market full of handcrafts and all sorts of bits and pieces!!  Starting to get tired though... shall we make a move!?

Good job these Tuk Tuk are everywhere and you don't need to ask me twice to jump onto one!  I take my shoes off and make myself comfortable before Dadda has managed to bargain the ride price and fold up my pram!

I get a very good feel for Chiang Mai and I can tell that Mamma loves this place and that she could live out here fore some time.. It's soo clean and tidy, the food and the weather are great and the people are amazingly nice... this driver even made me and my elephant sit on the roof of the Tuk Tuk!

Night Night!!

Tuk Tuk

The best bit of Bangkok was no doubts it's Tuk Tuks... Can we get one to bring back to London to take me to nursery Dadda??!

Click here for a tour on a Tuk Tuk with Tino!

Tino in Bangkok: Day 3

Day one to experiment, day two to adapt and day 3 to master Bangkok's secrets so off we went bright and early to visit Ko Ratanakosin and the city's Grand Palace with Mamma and Dadda...

This must be a very very special place... you can tell by the looks on the guard's faces!!  They were blue with anger and you really don't want to mess up with them so I decided I would be on my best behaviour..

...and so I followed everything our guide Dream said to us, as she showed us all the paintings representing horses, elephants, dragons, snakes and some other boring stuff like temples, buildings, trees and stuff...

Dream was a lovely guide and very friendly to me like all other Thai people we have met this far..

We then went to see the Emerald Buddha which apparently is a big deal out here with loads of people queuing up and they even all take their shoes off before going in... they even told us to take this rose and dip it into the water and then put it on our heads... so Mamma did exactly that...

...weird stuff eh?  Not sure I'm convinced with all these rules and different traditions... I'm running off to the park!!

We left the Grand Palace and moved on to yet another iconic place in Bangkok to see the reclining Buddha at What Pho... and guess what I was soo busy staring at the fishies that I missed out on the Buddha!

And then I found what of course is the greatest temple in the world... a statue of a pony made exactly of my size!!  Pppppppoooooooooooonnnnyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

This place was huge and just like the Ko Ratanakosin it was full of temples and interesting stuff emerging wherever we looked... but we were getting a little hungry so Dadda and Mamma soon took me out of there in search for a Tuk Tuk that would take us to Chinatown!

How colorful Chinatown is!! It is really smelly too... almost as smelly as Mamma's shoes that she keeps in the hotel wardrobe after having travelled from England with them!

The highlight of the day was the Zoo.... Apparently I nodded off to sleep as we stopped for lunch at Wan Fah at the Tha Rachawond pier where we could see a lot of boats and a great view of Bangkok's canal and skyline... Dadda and Mamma made their way back through the city and as they walked 7km in 3 hours under the boiling heat through millions of people and cars I was snoring my head off in my pram!!!

.. and then I woke up to the wonder of the Bangkok's Zoo and it's Elephant, Giraffe and Hippo!

I love Bangkok!!

Tino in Bangkok: Day 2

The best start to a day is with a nice and healthy breakfast... here I am checking that Mamma is fetching me the right ingredients from the hotel buffet...

Mammmmmminnnn????

So off we went in a taxi to explore the Silom area... Dadda asked the taxi driver how everyone appears to live in such caotic harmony.  The taxi driver explained that "in Thailand 95% of people are buddhist...  everybody is happy and smiles"... interesting... so what is it people are back home where everyone is miserable and grumpy on busses?  They should all come out here to check these people out!

... Bangkok is enormous... even the Kimas trees are enormous.. look here!  There are even two magnificent raindeer samples taking care of the tree!

And then off we went on our long tail boat trip up the Chao Phraya River... hurraaaaaaayyyyyy!

The weather here in Bangkok is very hot and humid... and there is also a lot of pollution... my nose gets full of stuff... better give my nostrils a bit of tender, love and care...

As I stand on Mamma's legs to look out at the ever changing horizon of temples and boats, some people including Dadda are giving me some strange looks perhaps suggesting it's about time I need a haircut... some people like zio Stefano in Rome would be proud of my long  hair!!

But the greatest thing in Bangkok is the fish.  In the river!  There are no fish that anyone has ever showed my in the London rivers and canals but here we were given a huge loaf of bread for 20 Thai Bhat (4p!) and Dadda and I started chucking it out to the fishies like there is no tomorrow!!

Thousands of fishies literally jumping on one another to feed themselves... each one of them bigger than me!!

Did you see how big that mouth is?  It could swallow me in one mouthful!!! Almost scarier than the shark we saw at the Siam Ocean World last night...

I really love Bangkok and it's animals... only problem this far has been food..  I haven't had a single piece of cheese or wurstel yet in 3 days and just living off rice and watermelon ;-)

Towards the end of the boat trip we were offered lots of drinks and lots of fruit... sadly, no cheese was served!

Once we got off the boat we jumped on a bus towards to get to the Baiyoke Tower to enjoy a glimpse of  Bangkok from above.... just before we got there an interesting view appeared before us that I'd really like Dadda to explain to me... so why is it we cannot ride Dadda's scooter when we are back home?  Look over there.. there is a family of four that fits comfortably on one!

,,,, and then following zio Ennio's recommendation we jumped into a Tuk Tuk and went off to Cabbages and Condoms at 10 Sukhumvit soi 12...

.. a place from heaven... there were lots of different statues of interesting characters including an enormous Father Christmas and a Christmas Tree made out of funny rubbery stuff!!

Bangkok rocks!

Tino in Bangkok: Day I

Our first day in Bangkok was cut in half due to the fact that we slept all morning and only left the hotel after lunch... after I was awarded by Birthday Boy Star!

First Stop: Jim Thompson's House... and what a hell of a surprise when I found an elephant as big as me!!

..this place was wonderful... there were animal statues everywhere and more animals painted all over the walls!!

Second Stop:  While we were at it we explored the Siam Square area strolling through streets and back alleys...

Stop 3: We then took a peek at one of the largest shopping malls in town where we nibbled at some food that Dadda and Mamma picked up at the food stalls which they both seemed to like a lot except I wasn't that convinced...

4th and Final Stop of the Day:  Siam Ocean World!  

WoooooooooooooW!

...and who would have imagined to find a raindeer looking tuk tuk in that place too!

Beep Beep!!

Birthday at 10,000 feet!

It appears my birthday celebrations were consumed at 10,000 feet on the Dubai to Bangkok flight and I took only a minor part in the event!

As we arrived in Bangkok we were all terribly tired so we fell asleep for a few hours and when I woke up I found the bed full of balloooooooons! (...and a lake of pipi'!!)

Tino in Dubai

Can someone tell me what the time is please?  We got on the plane at crack of dawn.. were up in the sky for a few hours and by the time we arrived and checked in at the hotel it was night already!  How odd!

But there are promising signs I see as we are greeted at the lobby of the Royal Mirage Palace Hotel.. this place is full of horses and we even got a free drink of tea at our arrival.. and I got a smashing new camel as well!

Of course Dadda had it all sorted and we went off to the Beach Grill restaurant just steps from our room for a fish dinner.  Appartently I was a bloody pain in the neck as everyone was having romantic dinners around us except at our table as all I fancied doing was running up and down the stairs and the wooden floor deck!!  Below was a rare moment caught at our candle-lit table with my new camel sitting next to me!  

(p.s.  Dadda was a bit grumpy after dinner as hadn't stopped a second or had an opportunity to have a chat with Mamma and even complained his red mullet was dry and tasteless... ha ha ha!!  You wait to see what comes next!)

We got up bright and early as uncle Fabs had booked us in for a city tour so we went for a fantastic breakfast outside.. the weather is great here Mamma... I don't have to wait those silly hats and scarfs here!  

I love it here.. they have huge camels in front of the hotel!

and the hotel staff are all so friendly with me!!

The city tour was really interesting and our guide Tareq was fun and spoke English, Italian and German so it was soo easy for me to get on with him!  The day went away in a flash and just before we set off to the airport our driver took us to the Dubai Mall..

Great stuff I thought .. some wonderful opportunities for some exercise...

and good place to socialise too!

And finally we did go up to the top of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world to admire the sunset!

... the jetlag is catching up with me... Mamma... "MILSCH!!!"

Thought I was going to fall asleep up there for a second but as soon as we got back downstairs I was well awake again and delighted to see the biggest acquarium in the world too... Mamma! Dadda!  Look at the fishies!!

And then on our way out - just out of nowhere - we saw the most amazing fountains and music display I've ever seen!!  There were more splashes than we have in our bathroom back home when I take a bath!!

What a day it was!  Thank you zio Tabo for the amazing experiences and for making my last day as a 1 year old a very very memorable one too!  Well let's say very beautiful day for now as not sure how much I'll remember in a few years!!

Time to go to the airport now as our driver picked us up and drove us well in advance of our 23:10 flight to Bangkok!