We Popped Over To See Sunda Today,

he should have been playing golf,

 but had unfortunately sprained his wrist the day before, so off to the Sabai Resort we went,

 making our way past the hotel shrine,

and the pair of figures guarding the entrance,

 in the hotel reception area I took a few pictures of the aquarium,

 it had been restocked with some new fish,

 this one taking the pride of place, 

a Flowerhorn cichlid, it does not have a Latin name as the parentage is a little difficult to follow, a reasonable suggestion is that the Flowerhorn cichlid is the result of crossing many different types of South American cichlids with each other, the most plausible ancestry is crossings between the Trimac cichlid and other South American cichlids such as Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellum), Red Devil cichlid (Amphilophus labiatum) and Redheaded cichlid (Vieja synspila), as for its worth I personally on one trip to Bangkok saw one with an asking price of 500,000 baht, (£9,820. $15,825 at todays rate),

 we then had lunch with Sunda and chatted away as Mahendra was playing golf,

 after we left we went to the huge store behind Big C,

 outside there are so many garden ornaments for sale,

 like these welcome signs,

 and so many animals and birds,

 like these chickens,

 that one is looking at me!

 whilst chickens seem to be de rigueur,

 for the first time we noticed some blue and green peacocks,

 our next port of call was to Friendship, we parked in their car park and made our way across to the market, the road was at a complete standstill,

 in both directions,

 I went into this entrance to the market for a reason,

 I wanted to buy a gift for a friend in the UK to give to one of his friends, this is the stall I was looking for,

it was owned by this charming lady Tan, we chatted away and she asked about my accent, I replied I was from England to which she replied she had lived just outside London, naturally I asked where, well you could have knocked me down with a feather, she replied Beckenham which is where my UK home and business is! what are the chances of the coincidence of that happening?

in the course of our conversation Tan mentioned that if I have any friends who are in the 55-65 age range and would like to meet her for a coffee and a chat to pop along and say hello, what a charming and well spoken lady,

 I continued my walk through the market looking at the aquatic outlet,

 and at some of the plants,

 and noticed for the first time for this year these Christmas euphorbia, (Euphorbia pulcherrima) or poinsettia as they are commonly called,

 these are in hanging baskets but I am sure there will be other bushes for sale soon,

 as soon as we returned it was time to go to the weekend market night in Thepprasit Road, but on our way out Diana spotted that one of the air plants had a few flowers,

 I was only looking at them a couple of days ago and did not see any sign of them flowering,

 and strange looking flowers they are too,

 a few clouds in the sky,

 looking towards Jomtien,

 and inland,

 opposite the bar this evening a shoe stall and one hiring bicycles made for four,

 crowds in the food aisles, 

 as the ice truck drops off the last of its supplies to the food stalls, 

 a few people in the pet aisle,

 sunset over the market,

 making my way back to the bar I took a closer look at the bikes for hire, I was intrigued by the 4 steering wheels, steering by committee perhaps?

 then I got confused with this one with no steering wheels at all till I looked closer and saw the 2 steering wheels for the back 2 passengers,

 I wonder if we will see many of them on the streets of Pattaya?

 some more clouds came rolling in from inland,

 and then it was time for the lights,

 we were joined this evening by Mr. Tony and Brian, after we said our goodbyes to Brian we had a bite to eat at home, then saying farewell to Mr. Tony after a few episodes of Pickers,

 I was out on the town,

 I made my way along Walking Street, 

 past the bars,

 and restaurants to the end of the street,

 to meet up with Sunda and Mahendra,

 and off we went, the bars we visited were from memory Sensations, Living Dolls 1 and Sweethearts,

 eventually ending up at Roxys,

 where Grieg took exceptionally good care of us, I was going to say I will not name the innocent to protect the guilty, or is it the other way around?

and here is a bit of news for friends of Grieg, at the beginning of next month he will be moving to The Club,

so look out for details of the opening if you want to call in to see him for a beer and a chat.

we were by now in no fit state to do much else other than go home, it was about 01.00 in the morning when someone said lets have a look at Heaven Above, so up we went for a nightcap or three, after making our excuses and leaving we all made a move for our beds,

 but first I telephoned Diana to let here know I was on my way home and to ask if she was hungry, so I stopped off at the food stall at the top of Soi Diamond,

 and the usual smiling food seller was there,

some hot dogs for Diana and a chicken leg for me, next home, feet up and a glass of medicinal red wine to go with the chicken, a few more from Cheers and we were off to bed.