With All Of The Rain We Have Been Getting,

the plants in the front garden have been growing really well,

everyday new flowers are on the hibiscus,

the yellow one had four huge blooms,

one on this pink one,

two on this one,

we also bought a dark pink flowering one,

even the 'double' flower plant was putting on a show,

we were on our way to get Diana's nails painted, we had been to Tuc Com where there was a stall but the lady was having lunch, out here 12 to 1, well we waited with some other customers till ten past one, tried telephoning but the number was busy, then we walked away, the good news was that Diana had remembered this place on Soi 17, it is at the intersection of the road that runs to Pattaya Tai, past what was the Hollywood disco,

the view looking towards Second Road,

towards Third Road,

and Soi 'barbershop', looking towards Pattaya Tai,

if you are wondering about the two prices, 40 baht for Thia's, tourists 80 baht, tourists have bigger heads I suppose,

the good news about this place is twofold, firstly easier to park,

secondly 80 baht instead of 150 baht, but the one thing I do not understand is why the lady who works for herself has to take more than an hours lunch break, all of the others eat their lunch, 'on the go' as it were, eat when there are no customers, serve them when there is, not leave the stall unattended, the sad news is for this entrepreneur is that we will never be back, strangely enough the same happened when I wanted a haircut a few years ago, I was told 'come back 1 hour, lady sleep' I came back to the saloon in two hours and was told 'lady still asleep' by now it was 3 in the afternoon, so Diana and myself went to one of the big stores and bought a set of electric clippers and scissors for 249 baht, (the price of 3 haircuts), hey presto no more trips to the barbers!

the number of designs was almost endless,

these are just two of about a dozen show cards the ladies can chose from, then there are even more in colour catalogues,

beside most bussiness and buildings there is a small shrine, this store being no exception,

first few applications completed,

now on to the flowers,

whilst waiting I took a few pictures of passing traffic, normally two on a bike is de rigueur, but so many make it three,

or four,

well I am not sure about four, but this little accessory makes it a bit more comfortable for three,

a third seat, I am not sure if this is legal as there are signs up all over Pattaya saying it is a 500 baht fine for three on a bike, just do not get caught!

the flowers finished now,

and few leaves, a clear gloss coat and we are ready to go,

to Carrefour, we were still on the trail of the kitchen scissors, also in the building was an Home Pro outlet so we tried there, but no luck,

but we had to have an ice cream though!

mango for Diana,

and an ice coffee for me,

delicious!

we also wanted to buy some coconut chips for Diana's mini garden, so just up the road from Carrefour is a large number of plant stalls,

just by the road you are greeted with a beautiful display of orchids,

each stall or shop selling different plants, this one took Diana's eye,

more miniatures for her garden,

another show of bromeliads and orchids,

we then walked through to the back section where more treasures awaited us,

bonsai, I just love bonsai, but they are so expensive,

one you do not see very often grown as a ornamental plant,

a pineapple,

so many plants to chose from,

so little space in our garden!

these were quite neat, for plants that need air circulating round their roots you can buy pots like these with holes in the sides,

coconut chips at last, 20 baht for a bag full,

then I saw them, three beatiful bonsia,

the pots were about 17 inches or so across to give you an idea of scale, I thought the price would be in the many of thousands of baht, but after haggling and walking away, just 1,100 baht delivered, (we were on the bike), bargian!

marigolds in full bloom,

I also liked these hanging baskets, but I had spent enough already,

by now we were back to the street where lots of bromeliads were flowering,

some of the flowers can retain their color from two weeks up to twelve months, depending on species, in some species the flower remains unseen, growing deep in the base of the plants,

but obviously here only the more showy ones are grown,

and showy they are too,

great plants if you have a shaded area,

then across the road to the kitchen center, I do not know what it is called,

but it is three shop houses knocked into one, if you want plates, cutlery, pots and pans this is the place to come, for us four kitchen sissors that we want for the boys,

add this expensive pedestrian crossings to the ever growing list of them that do not work, next to the kitchen centre is FoodLand, these are the lights outside them, press the button to stop the traffic, but nothing more that a bleeping sound is heard, no change to the lights, we tried but had to run to beat the traffic, the same as this family after us, get ready to sprint, ready, steady, go!

we were then on our way home, after a last look at the plant shops frontage,

now I have no idea if this will work, I am trying to keep Diana's mini garden moist, so we bought a cooking tray with two plastic containers with holes in to surport the rock, the idea being the tray will keep a reservoir of water in it, also the coconut chips will help with evaporation to keep the area moist, who knows if it will work!

finnished and ready to plant,

then Jay and Pricil called round,

not long after the bonsia arrived as promised, I just love it, the only thing I would like to see different about it is some green moss on top of the soil,

whilst Jay and myself chatted upstairs and I lost at cribbage, the girls enjoyed a game of Monoploly,

Diana's mini garden 'planted' we will have to buy some more cococnut chips as we can still see part of the tray, another job for a few days time, it was then time for Jay and Precil to leave,

so then it was feet up for us to watch another from the Hammer box, The Reptile, looking surprisingly like some one from Avatar, the female monster of the piece attacks people as she turns into a snake,

the next to watch was Cirque du Soleil: La Magie Continue, made in 2001 the second of the 4 DVD box set, it was as good as the others we had seen but we felt a little let down that 3 of the acts we had already seen from the first of the box set, still enjoyable but I would have thought that the producers would with have made the effort not to repeat acts from the first DVD,

by now it was getting late so we finished the last of series 2 Open All Hours, Diana is really getting to like this series, especially when I told her that Chris from sunny Brighton (Hi Chris, Wannie and family), thought I was the same as the lead character when I was working, it did not help that the till we had was even older than the one in the series, then for us it was off to bed.