Straight On To Today's Post,

as we had a busy day,

 and I took nearly 100 pictures, we started out going to the week end plant market, but were stopped in our tracks by the railway tracks, well the road that runs along side them, the traffic was horrendous, in the past 24 hours some 18 or so junctions had been altered,

 due to the start of construction of a tunnel for traffic under the Sumkivitt Road, so all of the closures added a good hour to a twenty minuet or so journey,

but we arrived eventually, the reason we were going back was that one of the traders had said he would bring a few of the pots like the one we had bought last week, to find the market if you are leaving Pattaya to go to Bangkok as you pass the Bangkok Pattaya hospital on your left take the next 'U' turn and the market will be on the left, there is lots of parking space behind it, we are in the car park looking towards the Bangkok Pattaya hospital,

 looking inland it was cloudy but not as much as last week,

 the aquatic stall was the first we passed,

 on to the insectivorous plant stall, 

 so many to tempt me,

 but I resisted,

 well I had bought one of these a few months ago,

 this one was new to me,

 other than Betsy I do not have a clue as to what it is called, 

 there were so many stalls selling plants in flower, it was just a shame that the sun awnings kept them in the shade,

 roses were doing well,

 I had always thought it would be to warm for them out here, but apparently not,

 I really liked this little water feature,

 it looked so cute,

 as did these,

 Nemos and his brothers,

 something to add a bit of sparkle to the garden,

 jewelled butterflies with wings that move in the wind,

 rather appropriate after Diana's success with them, mushrooms,

 we made our way past the cut orchid stall,

 there were some different ones here this week,

 but as we are eating out this weekend we did not buy any,

 we passed another aquatic outlet,

when I spotted these, water hyacinth, (Eichhornia crassipes) popular as ornamental pond plants in the UK, thankfully they die off in the winter, 

 the reason I say thankfully is that this native of South America has become a huge problem in many parts of the world, including Africa, and India and most of Asia in fact and have been banned in some states in the US, the flowers look nice though as they look like hyacinths, hence the name, 

 orchids next,

 looking so nice in a cascade,

 or just an individual flower,

 so many to chose from,

 we stopped for a bite to eat, there are always some food stalls here like this one,

 whilst the food was being prepared I watched some trees being unloaded,

 wind the webbing around the tree,

 take up the slack,

 then up, 

 up,

 and away,

 job done, we made our way back home sans the pots, the stall owner had not brought them to the market, oh well better luck next time, we spent well over an hour to drive back home, then next stop to the computer shop who had telephoned,

but first I stopped here Pit Stop Motorcycles, the shop is in Soi 6 Theppriasit Road, other wise known as Soi Kohpai, the shop is about 100 yards or so from the Theppriasit Road,

 and what a shop! name a superbike and it is here, Ducati, Honda, BMW to name just a few, as I was looking Tath Siribodhi, said hello, he is the Vice President of the Pattaya RC Motorbike Co Ltd, I explained that I was not looking to buy a bike, but in perfect English he explained that it was not a problem and we started chatting about bikes old and new, 

both of us deciding that a new Ducati was the one we would chose, also for anyone wanting to meet and chat about bikes or cars there is the Pitstop coffee shop next door, what a nice way to spend more than a few moments in the afternoon and what a nice welcome from Pitstop,

 on to Wattana Computers, the shop is opposite Foodland on Pattaya Tai, it was bad news, my ancient steam powered windows running XP computer had finally run out of steam, there were a myriad number of problems with it, so it was time to upgrade to a new computer and Windows 7, I will find out how much the new one will be next week when they work out how many hard drives I need,

 the good news was that the Plumeria,commonly known as Frangipani by the side entrance to the shop had some nice flowers on it, I have always thought that it was unlucky to have a Frangipani tree in your garden, but growing one outside of your property was OK, well now I know why, Frangipani trees were once considered taboo in Thai homes because of superstitious associations with the plant's Thai name, lantom, which is similar to ratom, the Thai word for sorrow, as a result, frangipanis were thought to bring unhappiness, today, however, the blossoms are presented as fragrant offerings to Buddha and Thai people wear them on special festival days like Songkran (Thai New Year),

 after arriving home,a shower and we were out again, to the weekend night market on Theppriasit Road,

 we took separate motorcycle taxis, so I started at the far end of the market by the food stalls,

next to the footwear section,

not many customers but we were a tad early,

I made my way along the aisles when I spotted theses bags,

for some reason they reminded me a little of Betty Boop,

I then noticed this really interesting stall,

that had natural rock and crystal formations as well as jewelry for sale,

and lots of happy smiling staff,

 I was by now at the place I normally enter the market,

 building work still continuing looking towards Jomtien,

 on the right,

 a herd,

 of elephants,

 opposite the bar this evening a clothes and shoe stall,

 the egg seller getting ready for a sale,

 I then spotted some of my favourite fruit which I guess are just coming into season,

 Marian plums, a kilo will do nicely,

 the first food aisle quite busy,

 not so the second,

 but the pet section had a few customers,

 quiet a few in fact,

 some of the stalls still to be set up,

 sunset over the market,

 these boots were made for walking as the song goes,

 some new food stalls at the other end of one of the food aisles,

 one of the many souvenir stalls,

 with wall hangings,

 and fans,

 Barbies,

 and Kens,

 no customers at the bar yet,

 clear skies looking inland,

 'how much is that dogie in the window?'

 I tell a lie,

 it was a rabbit,

 we were joined this evening by Brian and Mr. Tony,

after saying our farewells to Brian, Mr. Tony suggested a Friday night fish and chip supper, so off we went, past the now illuminated Thepprasit market,

 the LED sign,

 continually changed,

 and said it all,

 and this was where we were heading, the Jolly Friar on Soi Lengkee,

 the portions were huge,

 but we ordered some onion rings as well,

 we chose the real cod and it was delicious, exactly the same as you would get in good old Blighty,

and I had to have a gherkin or three, the meal was so nice, if you like UK fish and chips this is the place for you, highly recommended, we arrived home and watched some television with Mr. Tony, after saying our goodbyes a single episode of Endeavour and we were off to bed.