First Thing And Off To Big 'C',

the one near the dolphin roundabout,

we wanted to buy a battery for Diana's Nokia N95, the nearest Nokia shop that I knew is on the first floor, we had bought a copy battery, but it did not last so we decided to buy a genuine one from the Nokia shop, considering it is a current model you can imagine our surprise when we were told, 'not in stock' so we went to the shop next door, great news they had a genuine Nokia one in stock, the assistant put it in Diana's phone, nothing! so the assistant took a battery from another N95 and tried that, all was well, she then tried a copy battery, again all was well, the genuine battery at twice the price of the fake was a dud, so even when we tried to buy the original it was not possible, just like the Harley T shirt,

next stop the plant market on the Sumkivit Road,

naturally a quick look at the fish stall,

opposite a water feature stall had opened this week,

not quiet my taste but colourful neither the less,

so many plants to chose from,

but we had come to buy a mini garden, like these,

they are a pieces of rock that has moss or ferns growing on it, 350 baht for the piece we bought,

now all we had to do was find some miniatures to put on it, but first a look at another fish stall,

tanks and pools complete with filters, this was a double sized stall,

speaking of pools there was another stall selling water lily's, if only I had a pond!

then Diana found some miniatures,

they are small birds and mushrooms, Diana wanted them to decorate her new mini garden,

8 for 40 baht,

then time to put them on their new home,

first a pink flamingo,

a duck, rooster and a mushroom,

also a horn bill in the distance,

new garden planted in the shade of the jasmine, I also bought another type of fern in the pot, it looked nice so I will try to transplant it onto the rock,

unfortunately we have had more than a few downpours, so the top heavy sunflowers have fallen over, we just had time to water them when our guests arrived,

Sunda had kindly agreed to cook a meal for all of us, also to show Diana how to cook Indian food,

Mahendra relaxed with the rest of us upstairs,

Madhu prepared the chicken whilst Diana helped with the garlic,

Mike, Riza and Mabel were also here,

meanwhile downstairs Mabel and Riza were preparing the potatoes,

Sunda, Mabel and Madhu all hard at work,

Mike had called into one of the food stores on the way in and bought some quail eggs amongst other goodies,

then the cooking lesson began, Riza taking notes Diana committing everything to memory,

Depak and Madhu taking things easy,

first course, filleted fish in a delicious sauce,

I popped downstairs to see how things were going, just some of the ingredients for the second course,

the cooking lesson continues,

'Cheers!' from all of us, also all of the guys wished Eric and Chenel every success and happiness, everyone is looking forward to seeing you again, next we had a chicken dish which again was delicious, many thanks to Sunda for all of his hard work

then downstairs for a tipple or two, Mike very kindly offered to take our guests back to their hotel, he then called back for a game of cribbage and to pick up the girls, I lost 3 to 2, but in my defence the medicinal red wine had kicked in, well that is my excuse! then Mike, Riza and Mabel left for home, as it was late it was off to bed for us, a truly great evening was had by all.