Good News And Bad News,

bad news for us as it happens,

 you may remember our Onkyo amplifier decided not to amplifier, well HomeWorks who we had bought it from called asked us to call in,

 so on my bike and off I went,

 and made my way past the stalls outside,

and into the store where our amplifier sat on a trolley returned from Onkyo Bangkok, I signed a piece of paper to say I had received it and was surprised to find that there was no charge, I asked why, 'kaput' was the answer which I knew already, that was why I had returned it, but it was worse than that, one of the sales staff explained the problem to me, Onkyo no longer makes spare parts for the NR-609 amplifier that we have, what to do? I was told a new NR-609 was 29,000 baht, but HomeWorks Pattaya no longer sells any Onkyo products, so I would have to buy it elsewhere, they could supply a Pioneer amplifier for 18,900 baht which has similar specifications or I could buy another complete mini system for 9,900 baht, looking back we actually paid 21,900 baht for it, so effectively we have a £449 or $672 if you prefer doorstop, not to mention the 6 speakers that we bought to go with it, but I really have to say that the after sales care given by Onkyo was, we thought, very poor, the unit is actually 2 years and 11 months old when it was returned and it seems incredible that spare parts are no longer made for it, so if you are thinking about any Onkyo products if our experience is any thing to go by there will be no spares for it in 3 years time! the unit is now in an independent repair shop to see if anything can be done to repair it,

 on a much happier note we went to the weekend plant/flower market, 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, Diana has her 'insect' glasses on, the Bangkok Pattaya hospital in the background,

 entering the market from the rear on the right hand side there are stacks of sack with soil in waiting to be purchased,

 one of the first stalls in the market,

 sells these mini self contained waterfalls,

 on to the flowers, in this case orchids,

 and bougainvillea,

 on to the large self contained waterfalls,

 theses orchids looked pretty ordinary,

 until you saw the one in flower,

 I am not sure what these are,

 other than 40 baht each or 3 for 100 baht,

 on to the insectivorous plant stall,

 one plant caught my eye,

this Venus fly trap, what a beauty!

 opposite this stall was selling some bonsai,

 this one a nice example,

 here for the first time,

 some 'tribbles' that we had seen before in Bangkok, but I now know that they are a type of fern,

 water-lilies,

 if only we had a bigger garden we would have a pond,

 as few more cacti,

 some grafted ones on the right,

 the handicraft stall was still here,

 the artisans making all manner of animals,

 like this lizard,

 and unlike other stalls where there is nothing you can do till a customer walks in,

 the owner can continue to use his time to make more products,

 some of the ginger type plants flowers,

 new for this visit,

 solid looking furniture finished in this red gloss,

 two of the food sellers passing the time of day,

 the lady with the sugar cane crusher looks like she already has had a few customers,

 we have seen this plant before,

 and still do not know what it is called,

 some different garden ornaments this week,

 this one with I am guessing a welcome message,

 these amaryllis put ours to shame,

 we bought a bunch of orchids for table decoration for tomorrows Sunday lunch,

 and noticed these blue orchids, they were real, I thought that they might have been in dyed water to give them this colour, but the water was clear, we have never seen orchids quiet like these before,

 for us these,

 are the more usual ones we see,

 or like this hanging variety,

 nice they looked too,

 more cactus but we did not buy any here,

 we made our way past one of the aquatic outlets,

 and had a look at one of the stalls,

 where you can by birds and butterflies for your miniature garden,

or rabbits and mushrooms, or would they be toadstools?

 then for what we had come for two more trays to make cactus gardens in the future,

 on the same stall the owner had a selection of bonsai,

 whilst he was packing the trays, 

 I had made a move to the stall behind his one,

 which had a nice display of amaryllis,

 trays packed we made our way make to the truck past a rustic furniture stall,

 it was a long way to the truck,

 and they were heavy,

 we returned to the market going past another aquatic stall,

 and found these colourful specimens,

 a shame they are not real,

 if you ask for a bunch of bananas out here,

 this is the family pack,

bromeliads, ours are still with us, but are not doing so well, we lack an area that has enough shade for them, but still an interesting group of plants,

 orchids, I am always so tempted, these 5 for 200 baht,

 then coffee time, Diana also said she was hungry, so she is going to by a pad Thai,

 so I took a few pictures whilst we waited,

 a few ingredients in first,

 then the eggs,

 three of them, crikey I know Diana said she was hungry but three eggs!

 the cooking continues apace,

 two huge handfuls of noodles,

 ladles of liquid,

 all mixed together,

 add bean-shoots,

 green stuff,

 add lots of spices and cook,

 and then the mystery was solved,

 the chef was making three portions only a third was for Diana,

 on to the coffee stall,

 thick black coffee poured over ice,

 it appears the market has become the place to eat al fresco, which is not quiet the correct term, in Italian the term al fresco usually refers to spending time in jail, Italians use the phrases fuori or all'aperto to refer to eating 'in the cool (air)',

 arriving home we readied ourselves for the Saturday evening bar-b-q, but tonight a difference, we had ordered a Indian take away from Country Favourite,

and what a selection we had,

 'Cheers!', we spent the evening listening to music, one performer in particular, Andy Fairweather Lowe, I remember him from years ago when he was in a group called Amen Corner, it was a delight to hear him again, my favourite track? Gin House Blues,

this is the big band line up and what a talented line up it is, the Chris Barber Band with another hero of mine Jools Holland, or for a more intimate small band sound,

there is this version, if you have time to listen to real music grab a coffee or two sit back, relax and listen to both, a real pleasure, as there did not seem to be much of interest on the net I have only made this one post today, so with that as it was well past midnight we were off to bed.