First Thing In The Morning,

we popped round to Juu's house, some of the fish had breed in one of his ponds, so he put lots of surface plants in to give the fry some cover so they would not be eaten by the bigger fish,

he also has lots of fish in planted lily pots, like these platies, but next thing we are off to Rayong to visit the HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Herb Garden,

on the first Saturday of every month there is a market in the grounds selling herbs and remedies, but check before you go to the market, just in case it is not on for that day,

we arrived early so there were not many people,

a few handicrafts were also on display for sale,

a view across some of the stalls,

lots of fresh fruit for sale,

like theses avocados at 50 baht a kilo and huge mango's,

the mangoes were huge and as I now know as sweet as a sweet thing,

fresh grapes were also on offer,

there was a competition I think going on as well,

with various people young and old playing instruments,

meanwhile Diana was looking through the basket of sweet potatoes I think they are called,

rambutan only 35 baht a bunch,

as we were early hardly any one about,

these seem to be becoming more popular out here,

mulberries, I tried one, but I did not like it, but I can tell one thing about them, they really stain your clothes!

two ice coffees to go,

whilst waiting for the coffees to be made I spotted this 1.5 inch long wasp, you do not want to be stung by one of these!

then a bit of food for Diana, she had not had breakfast yet,

there were not many plant stalls but this one was selling orchids at 5 for 100 baht, bargain!

there were even a few bonsai for sale,

I liked the 'pots',

made out of tree roots,

a field of orchids,

tall ones,

very tall ones in fact, it took me some time to realise why they were so tall, like some ferns these had been taken from trees they were growing up the trunks of,

this is one of those really expensive orchids,

we have seen them everywhere, but the cheapest price we have seen was 2,500 baht, it is not that they are rare I guess, just that they take a long time to grow,

Diana buying some salad,

a few more purchases, this time some small plum like fruits, a bit sour for Diana but I love them, also some hydroponically grown salad,

more food on offer,

although there were a lot of people here it was still easy to walk around,

sweets!

but Diana resisted,

we then found the stall that shows farmers how to grow crops hydroponically,

from seedlings,

up to cropable plants,

some more tit bits to tempt Diana!

as time was wearing on more people started to arrive,

as we made our way around the gardens there were a number of these archways covered with climbing plants,

some with beautiful flowers like this one,

with signage in Thai and Latin so if you want a specimen yourself you know what to ask for when you next go to a plant center,

all this walking, Diana had to take a rest!

some bonsai like trees, almost looking like they had been made to lean like that because of strong never ending winds, I have seen trees and plants leaning like this the last time we were in Eastbourne on the top of Beachy Head,

all of the trees here have some beneficial product, be it the seeds, bark or sap,

a map of the park,

after having some thing to eat and a coffee we made our way to the main building, through these nicely laid out gardens,

past some decking with a tree or two growing through it,

it is a pity more designs do not incorporate trees growing through them, rather than just pulling them up and building over them,

inside there is a scene from a village with a local doctor dispensing medicines and herbs,

also on hand was one of the many assistants to explain what the display was about,

here a local apothecarie is making a cure for a snake bit using local herbs, of great use to people where a anti venom serum can be to far away to help the unfortunate victim,

the exhibition explains that there are the 4 life forces,

and goes on to show you what you should be including in your diet for your bodies well being,

both Diana and myself are air, so this is what we should include in our diet,

then to the apothecary itself, this the modern face of a chemists shop,

and as it was, or in some places still is,

the scent in here was a mixture of cinnamon, jasmine and a few others as well,

the drawers and jars could be open to smell the contents if you so wished,

at the end of the counter lots of packages waiting to be consigned to their appropriate drawers or jars,

we next made our way to the main building,

through archways with plants hanging roots to walk past,

all of the gardens immaculate,

one of the good things was that I only saw one other European in the whole time that we were there, but all of the signs had Thai and an English translation,

with many photographs of the Royal Family helping with this and many other projects,

inside the main building there are many photographs of the building of the garden,

also a 3D model of the garden, we are standing in the building at the top of the model, as we went to leave the building we were offered a chance to try some of the herbal teas available, the one we tried was bitter in the extreme, but supposedly good for your blood,

although not a large park there is a free bus service to take you around sight seeing, if you want a good view of the fountains sit on the left hand side of the bus, the service runs on the hour and half hour throughout the day, there is a lady giving a commentary throughout the tour, it is of course in Thai, but judging by the sound of the passengers the commentary contained a number of interesting facts about the trees we were passing,

the sign I guess of Royal patronage,

almost looking like a bonsai, this tree and others in its group are going through a dormant period,

every where we went in the bus there were lovely features like this one,

and Thia style gazebos to take a rest in or to get out of the sun, luckily for us it was a bit over cast we even had a touch of rain, which kept things nice and cool,

in certain parts of the garden, stags or elkhorn ferns were growing on some of the trees, it is a epiphytic perennial, taking its nutrients from run off water that comes down the trunk of the tree it is growing on,

in other parts of the garden ferns make their way up the trunk of the trees from ground level, our trip around the garden came to a halt so it was time to head home,

all loaded up and ready to go, if eating fresh fruit is supposed to be healthy we should be at 100% in the next few days!

if you want a trip out this is where we went, I must admit I got a bit lost on the way there and back, but I can say that we went through Ban Chang on both the way there and back it is near Rayong, but looking at this map there may be a shorter route, but remember the market is only there on the first Saturday of the month, but check first, just in case it is not! also a good tip is get there early, it was surprising popular , as we left there was a stream of cars looking for places to park, the Park is known as HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Herb Garden, telephone 038 - 915213-5, the web site is http://www.pttplc.com/ also remember it is closed every Monday if you are planing to visit,

a map of the garden,

although difficult to see on our blog, there are full details in English if you wish to know more about the garden,

and what herbs are beneficial for which aliments you may be suffering from, all in all a very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable day out,

then in a flash it was time to hit the town,

and a very quiet town it was too,

we took a stroll past the big tree in Walking Street towards Bali Hai pier,

every time we go past it new additions have been made to it,

by now it is about 8.45 in the evening, still very quiet, but then this is now the rainy low season,

but the music from The Rolling Stone bar is still of the same high quality,

where are all the tourists? just a few tour groups in the distance, we met up with Juu in Champions, and were later joined by Slim Jim, we catted and caught up with each others adventures since we had seen each other last, then for us time to leave to go to 388 curtsy of Juu, next feet up and watch a DVD,

tonight The Devil's Advocate, every thing goes well for a young lawyer, too well in fact, but before he realises how his good fortune is made it is nearly too late, then for us time for bed.