Taschy's Thailand Trip

Mummy and Daddy went to Thailand (again) for a fortnight's holiday in December 1998, and, as the Farrar hug's resident Travel Consultant, I went along with them.

Below are a few photographs of our trip, which were kindly "snapped" by Daddy. (You can click on any of these to see a larger version.)

Of course, I took a few of my companions along with me, namely (from left to right):

Winnie The Pooh (who is the "morning monitor" and who had been before, last time we went)
Renoir (who is one of the "car monitors")
his friend Bean Bum.

This is the view from our bedroom's balcony in the Marriott Royal Garden Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, which is right on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.
The hotel boasts half a dozen different restaurants, which suited us teddies right down to the ground!

This is the view of a bridge, just outside one of the many Thai temples, up a local klong. ("Klong" is a Thai word that means a man-made canal.)
The photograph was taken during an optional excursion, and we had been "turfed" off the boat to do some shopping in the "tourist tat" shop. As this is not necessarily Mummy and Daddy's style, they decided to have a litle walk around the local temple and street market instead.
It has to be said that there were things for sale in this market that even a teddy would turn its nose up at! I wasn't sure whether you were meant to eat some of these items or hang them outside your house to keep flies away!

This is the "prang" (that's another Thai word that means a sort of tower or spire in a temple) at Wat Arun, which is the Thai for Temple Of The Dawn.
The temple stands on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, and was originally built by King Taksin (not personally, you understand - he just commissioned it).

This is the Phra Sri Ratana Chedi within the grounds of the Grand Palace.
A "chedi" is sort of similar to a "prang", only different, if you see what I mean. This particular one is covered all over in gold leaf and is a Reliquary!

This shows some of the detail on another "prang" / "chedi" / "stupa" (a "stupa" - not to be confused with a "stupour", as in "drunken" - is yet another type of spire / tower thingy).
The figures behind us are monkeys and demons, which are characters out of Thai mythology.

This is one of many express boats that ply the Chao Phraya river. It was one like this that we all took for two trips up the klongs.
On the first such trip, which was early on in the holiday, we teddies decided to acclimatise by relaxing in the hotel room - after all, there was a mini-bar for which we could "paw print". This turned out to be a really good idea, because Mummy and Daddy managed to get themselves absolutely soaked by a passing boat!

This is a "spirit house", and the majority of Thai families and companies have at least one outside their home or premises. They are there to ensure that the spirit that lives on the ground on which the building is situated look kindly on those who occupy that building.
(Daddy did seem to take quite a lot of pictures of these "spirit houses", but then he explained that one of his colleagues had asked him for them because she was interested in building a spirit house for herself back in England.)

This is a view from the courtesy river bus that Marriott provides its guests. The Marriott Royal Garden Riverside Hotel is some way south of the main city, so they provide this free service for their guests to take them to the Oriental Hotel (which is very posh but far too "lah-di-dah" for us teddies) and River City, which is a large shopping centre mainly full of antique shops, but it is also where World Travel Service pick you up for "joining tours".

This is us teddies sunning ourselves on the terrace outside our room at the beautiful Royal Garden Village Hotel in Hua Hin, which is a two hour drive down the west coast of the Gulf Of Thailand from Bangkok.
And what are we looking at? Well, have a look at the next photograph ...

This is the view from our ground floor room.
I know that it is not very clear (that's because of the bright sunlight), but beyond the gardens is the seaside (the Gulf Of Thailand, actually), which is something that we don't get to see very often because of where we live in England.

And this is us having a loll about in the hotel swimming pool, which is really lovely because they have one of the most civilised devices in the entire world - a swim-up bar!

Here we are in our own little tuk-tuk, which is a sort of mini-cab, in more ways than one! (They are called tuk-tuks, so they say, because of the noise they make.)
Mummy and Daddy had taken us into Hua Hin for a bit of food and some shopping, and this is how we got back to our hotel!

This is us having a sit (waiting for our Happy Hour cocktails) in the Sala Chomnatee. This is meant to be styled like a traditional Thai room, but is in fact the main bar in the Royal Garden Village Hotel.
And the cocktails are really yummy too! During Happy Hour, you even get two for the price of one, which can't be bad!

This is our new friend, Chai-Yo, who was adopted at Don Muang airport whilst Mummy and Daddy were waiting for our plane home.
Chai-Yo is the official mascot of the Asian Games, which were being held in Bangkok whilst we were on holiday.

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	Of course, I took a few of my companions along with me, namely (from left to right): Winnie The Pooh (who is the "morning monitor" and who had been before, last time we went) Renoir (who is one of the "car monitors") his friend Bean Bum.
	This is the view from our bedroom's balcony in the Marriott Royal Garden Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, which is right on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. The hotel boasts half a dozen different restaurants, which suited us teddies right down to the ground!
	This is the view of a bridge, just outside one of the many Thai temples, up a local klong. ("Klong" is a Thai word that means a man-made canal.) The photograph was taken during an optional excursion, and we had been "turfed" off the boat to do some shopping in the "tourist tat" shop. As this is not necessarily Mummy and Daddy's style, they decided to have a litle walk around the local temple and street market instead. It has to be said that there were things for sale in this market that even a teddy would turn its nose up at! I wasn't sure whether you were meant to eat some of these items or hang them outside your house to keep flies away!
	This is the "prang" (that's another Thai word that means a sort of tower or spire in a temple) at Wat Arun, which is the Thai for Temple Of The Dawn. The temple stands on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, and was originally built by King Taksin (not personally, you understand - he just commissioned it).
	This is the Phra Sri Ratana Chedi within the grounds of the Grand Palace. A "chedi" is sort of similar to a "prang", only different, if you see what I mean. This particular one is covered all over in gold leaf and is a Reliquary!
	This shows some of the detail on another "prang" / "chedi" / "stupa" (a "stupa" - not to be confused with a "stupour", as in "drunken" - is yet another type of spire / tower thingy). The figures behind us are monkeys and demons, which are characters out of Thai mythology.
	This is one of many express boats that ply the Chao Phraya river. It was one like this that we all took for two trips up the klongs. On the first such trip, which was early on in the holiday, we teddies decided to acclimatise by relaxing in the hotel room - after all, there was a mini-bar for which we could "paw print". This turned out to be a really good idea, because Mummy and Daddy managed to get themselves absolutely soaked by a passing boat!
	This is a "spirit house", and the majority of Thai families and companies have at least one outside their home or premises. They are there to ensure that the spirit that lives on the ground on which the building is situated look kindly on those who occupy that building. (Daddy did seem to take quite a lot of pictures of these "spirit houses", but then he explained that one of his colleagues had asked him for them because she was interested in building a spirit house for herself back in England.)
	This is a view from the courtesy river bus that Marriott provides its guests. The Marriott Royal Garden Riverside Hotel is some way south of the main city, so they provide this free service for their guests to take them to the Oriental Hotel (which is very posh but far too "lah-di-dah" for us teddies) and River City, which is a large shopping centre mainly full of antique shops, but it is also where World Travel Service pick you up for "joining tours".
	This is us teddies sunning ourselves on the terrace outside our room at the beautiful Royal Garden Village Hotel in Hua Hin, which is a two hour drive down the west coast of the Gulf Of Thailand from Bangkok. And what are we looking at? Well, have a look at the next photograph ...
	This is the view from our ground floor room. I know that it is not very clear (that's because of the bright sunlight), but beyond the gardens is the seaside (the Gulf Of Thailand, actually), which is something that we don't get to see very often because of where we live in England.
	And this is us having a loll about in the hotel swimming pool, which is really lovely because they have one of the most civilised devices in the entire world - a swim-up bar!
	Here we are in our own little tuk-tuk, which is a sort of mini-cab, in more ways than one! (They are called tuk-tuks, so they say, because of the noise they make.) Mummy and Daddy had taken us into Hua Hin for a bit of food and some shopping, and this is how we got back to our hotel!
	This is us having a sit (waiting for our Happy Hour cocktails) in the Sala Chomnatee. This is meant to be styled like a traditional Thai room, but is in fact the main bar in the Royal Garden Village Hotel. And the cocktails are really yummy too! During Happy Hour, you even get two for the price of one, which can't be bad!
	This is our new friend, Chai-Yo, who was adopted at Don Muang airport whilst Mummy and Daddy were waiting for our plane home. Chai-Yo is the official mascot of the Asian Games, which were being held in Bangkok whilst we were on holiday.