Petit Popotame

Last year, our dear friend Jo visited us. I already mentioned the hippo he brought back from a short trip to his brother, who lives in Hong Kong (see post: Hippo Jo). But he also gave me my first hippo from Paris. A "sweet-looking-fridge-magnet-carrying-daisies" hippo. It has to be mentioned that Jo currently lives in Kenya.... hippo heaven! And he "complains" that he is seeing hippos everywhere... such hardship ;-). I do not know when we will see each other again, but should I visit him, I will have to bring some extra suitcases, as he already told me he has some great ideas about all the hippos I will have to bring back! Petit in French means: small. Popotame is how very small children in France would say: hippopotame (hippopotamus). Popotame sounds cute and daisies make anything look cute, so.... voilà!

Hippo Night Watch

Very close to the Chatuchak or JJ Weekend Market in Bangkok - Thailand, you can find one of my favorite shopping malls: JJ Mall. The JJ Weekend Market is only open (you guessed it right!) during the weekend. The JJ Mall is a 3 story shopping mall, open every day of the week. In the basement I spotted a small shop full with paintings of animals. A large painting with eight cats caught my attention. Eight cute cats sitting on a highway in the moonlight, with in the background skyscrapers and party lights. A very cool painting... I did not buy. I do have to mention it though, because it was that cat painting, that sparked the idea for a painting that I ordered.

"Excuse me? Could you make a similar painting, only not with cats but with hippos? Oh... and I do like the moonlight and the stars, but I would like a painting without the skyscrapers and party lights.... and also maybe not eight hippos on the road...."  

jano_ole@yahoo.co.th

And what a great job the artist did! Thank you Ole, for painting the cutest "Night Watch" ever!

The Hippopotamus and the Pygmy Goat

A few months ago, I bought a wonderful book called: Unlikely Friendships (check out this link). This book is about interspecies friendships. Of the forty seven stories, two are about hippos. One story I already knew (see post: Owen and Mzee), a remarkable story about the friendship between an orphaned baby hippo called Owen and Mzee, a very old Aldabra giant tortoise. 

The other hippo-story was new to me. A friendship between (again) an orphaned baby hippo called Humphrey and a Cameroon mountain goat (also called a pygmy goat). I love the part of the story where they describe Humphrey trying to climb anything, imitating his dear friend. And just before Humphrey is transferred to a private reserve somewhere else, he was discovered to be.... a she! The whole book is an amazing read. But of course, the hippo stories are my favorite ones! 

Hippo Crisps

It has been a long time since I wrote something about the: Hippo-Happiness shared by friends, mentioned in the introduction of my blog. It is about time, because many friends have been sending me a lot of hippo related messages. One of my friends even has a folder in her phone: Lien Hippo. She stores all the hippo related messages she gets. Often I hear her say: "...and I am not even the one collecting them, but they keep sending me stuff!!!" Makes me chuckle every time. "Finally something in Indian Market for you" she wrote to me. When I received this message, I immediately forwarded it to my fellow hippo-collectors. One of them asked whether the crisps are hippo-shaped? Looking at the picture, I do not think so. But one has to be sure. And how do they taste? All very important questions that need to be answered! Dear Divya, could you, in name of very important research ;-), ask you hubby to bring back some "Crispy-Hippos", next time he visits India?