Mark Very Kindly Gave Us Some Plant Pots,

so we just had to go and buy some plants to fill them with,

we had no idea what to buy,

but for us the place to go is a weekend plant market on the Sumkivitt Road, the tall building in the distance is the Bangkok/Pattaya Hospital, the market is just past it on the opposite side of the road if you are going to Bangkok,

 they pretty much have most things here,

 including ready made waterfalls,

 the next sales area wooden furniture,

 and of course my favourites, orchids,

 there were a diverse number of plants for sale, like these pitcher plants, they grow where there is not enough nutrients in the soil and catch insects to make up the shortfall in their food,

some have hanging pitchers like this one,

 whilst others grow theirs from the ground up,

 like these,

 for some reason this one made me think of Day of the Triffids,

  there are also complete miniature gardens for sale,

look out for the tiger in this one!

in this one a nearly hidden Buddha image,

 there was even an aquatic outlet, some fish in aquariums,

 and others in pools,

 in the distance the shop is selling pumps foods and other aquatic accessories,

 waterlilies ready to go,

 of course no garden would be complete with out a ornament or two,

and what could be happier than this one?

 the market is not only limited to plants and flowers, trees are also available,

 as is the home delivery service if your car is too small,

 we saw some of these at the market we went to last week,

 they will grow into 'short' coconut trees, the fruits just a couple of meters off the ground, ideal for the vertically challenged!

 most other fruit trees are also available,

  like these banana plants,

 the fruits were huge,

 back to a few orchids, lots of plants available,

 as well as cut flowers,

 also some lotus flowers,

 this stall can also provide bouquets for special occasions,

 small cacti make an interesting change to the other plants on offer,

 next door anther stall selling waterlilies,

 but these ones had huge red flowers,

  items of garden furniture were also on display,

 we had by now wandered into the section with more
accessories than plants for sale,

 like this water feature,

 so it was time to make our decisions as to what to buy, Diana went for a couple of plants that had nice coloured leaves,

 whilst Diana was paying for them I had a look at some air plants,

 although they are called air plants the do in fact need watering a couple of time a week, they will live with out water for some time, but will of course eventually die with out watering,

 I was taken with these Bromeliads, I figured they are a part of the pineapple family and they grow well out here,

 so I bought a few to put into 'my' pot,

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it was then that I noticed an orchid I had never see before, which is not a surprise as there are approximately twenty thousand species and nine hundred genera of orchids are known, the numbers of species vary from anywhere between fifteen thousand to thirty thousand and the number of genera range from seven hundred to one thousand, not many people know that,

 it was so delicate with the petals moving in the slightest breeze,

totally different to many of the others we have seen,

 plant purchasing over it was time for a ice coffee for me and a coconut for Diana,

 any minute now,

 back to the truck, air con on and relax, even in the shade it was hot walking around,

 our last stop,

 for some coconut chips,

 and soil, here I am displaying my lack of Thai but we made a deal in the end, 15 baht for a bag of coconut chips, 20 baht for a bag of soil,

next stop home,

plants, chips and soil,

 

Diana started first with a plant Juu had given us,

then I put my few purchases in a pot,

this is the one from Juu,

'my' Bromeliad pot, time will tell if I made the correct decision!

Diana liked the leaf colour of this plant,

and this one, the strange thing is that when we watched an episode of Waking the Dead later this evening this was the very specie of plant in one of the offices,

all looking nice,

I forget how much Diana paid for her plants but the five Bromeliads I purchased were 2 at 35 baht, 2 at 50 baht and I pushed the boat out by buying 1 at 100 baht,

 now just grow!

after all of that we fancied our evening meal out, but on the way we stopped off to buy Diana some eye drops,

then to the Punch & Judy,

I took advantage of the beefburger and pint of beer special at 199 baht,

whilst Diana had the Welsh rare bit,

 

which she said was absolutely delicious,

I have to say not a favourite of mine, but Diana really enjoyed it,

 

on the other hand my beefburger, salad and chips were excellent, 'Cheers!' then home feet up for our late evening viewing,

for this evening Waking the Dead, End Game, serial killer Linda Cummings sends Boyd a severed finger and a note,'Whatever Happened to Sandra White?' Cummings then plays with Boyd's mind, could Boyd really become a killer? one of the poorer episodes, total lack of forensics protocol, not to mention just one officer being sent to look for a hostage in a huge 5 story factory, hopefully things will improve next time round, then for us we were off to bed.