As It Was Friday We Decided To Pop Along To The Soi Bukoaw Market,

normally we would park in Friendship go to the market and then shop at Friendship as we used their car park, but now on market days we park in the street, the problem is on Tuesday and Fridays as you leave the car park you have to turn left as traffic barriers are placed in the road, which means even if everything is 100% OK, helmets, tax, insurance, you will get stopped, you will pay, everybody, no exceptions, so we park in the street, just make sure you know if it is an odd or even day or you will be finned for being on the wrong side of the road! the good news was that we stopped outside the cut flower shop on Pattaya Tai,

there were so many orchids for sale,

and so many different types of flowers, so at least we know where to buy cut orchids, strange really we must have driven past the shop countless times but never paid it much attention till now,

they also sell the orchids for making merit at the temple or putting in the spirit houses some people have,

some of the orchids have strange flowers indeed,

a real riot of flowers,

as a land mark the flower shop is opposite the big gold shop, the entrance to the market by the side of it,

just a short walk from the road the market begins,

a quick look at the permanent fish shop,

Diana was looking for a few things,

so we went our different ways, I spotted these wooden candle holders,

that you can put scented candles in,

then some pomelos, like a grapefruit but not as sour, so I bought one of those for later in the evening, the season for these has just started,

lots of vegetables on sale as well,

I then walked past the temporary fish shop, this one is only here on the two market days,

past boiling oil, this time the owner was frying fish,

then Diana meet me in the coffee shop,

by now we were quiet hungry, I remembered that the last time Diana was in the Philippines I had a breakfast here, the Dat Coffee Shop, so we went there for a bite to eat,

it is almost just opposite the Phuphaya Resort, off Third Road,

Ah! club sandwich and coffee for me,

and a huge spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread for Diana,

then back home to complete yesterdays blog whilst Diana did some house work, after that out for the night market,

again we were a little bit early but it was so much easier to walk round,

there were still lots of mobile food sellers in the aisles, this one selling Coke-cola and peanuts,

having said it was easier to walk around you still had to squeeze past parked trucks still unloading merchandise,

another mobile snack/drink stall by the bar,

the sky was a bit over cast, the rainy season is now with us for the next 3 months or so, the good news is that the rain held off for the evening,

we may have been a bit early, but the pet/flower side of the market was looking very sorry for itself, many once flourishing stalls now boarded up,

just a few of people at the bar, worse two of those were not drinking!

Diana had a quick look around and returned with some food on a stick,

which was soon ate!

'Cheers!' from me, keeping to the low sugar beer,

one thing Diana did notice that was different from last week was that as we made our way to the bike park, next to the 7 - 11 a new building was being built,

not sure what it will be, but it does look a bit small,

then home for a pork chop with vegetables, a beer, then feet up for a film or two,

I saw this 'Blu-Ray' DVD in the market, of course it was not a Blu-Ray, but I had to try it to see, 120 baht, but I had only seen a small part of The Last Castle when it was on cable television, so it was not a total waste of money, to say it was predictable is an undersatement, but Diana was quite taken with it, I can always tell when she enjoys a movie as she cheers on the good guys,

then a strange request from Diana, she wanted to watch Schindler's List, now I do not have a clue what brought that on, but if you have not seen it it is in my humble opion a masterpiece, as it eneded I remebered a quote, 'for it is the curse of mankind that we forget,' then to bed.