We Were Up Early,

and in a taxi,

 and on our way out of town at just a tad after 06.00,

 and headed for Bangkok,

 I was hoping for a nice sunrise, but alas too much cloud,

 so we settled down for the ride, 

 near Bangkok over the railway line,

 along the expressway,

 passing many of the tall buildings,

 that make the Bangkok skyline,

 we were getting near now,

 as we passed these huge works,

 I am not sure what it is going to be,

 but it is certainly huge,

 we continued on the motorway,

 until we saw this sign, where we turned off, 

 passing these new buildings,

 that were not here on our last visit,

 and this is where we were heading, J J Mart, where we parked,

 a quick look at the works from the car park,

 Diana was taking pictures as well,

 we went inside,

 taking a few pictures,

 as we went, this shop specialising in carved wooden figures,

 with so much detail,

 we made our way downstairs,

 past the mini motor show,

 and arrived at the Cafe Kaldi,

 where we ordered breakfast,

 it was a self service establishment, 

 a hot coffee for myself and a ice tea for Diana,

 next, 

 sandwiches all round,

 breakfast over we made our way outside, to the Chatchuchak market, taking pictures of the shops as we went, I liked the tin plate toys,

 there were shops here selling,

 all manner,

 of wooden products,

 each section has all of the same or of similar stores grouped together,

 into the interior decor section,

 with gilded furnishings,

 and lights, 

not to mention huge chandeliers, 

 we back tracked, Diana liked this mirror,

 moving on as we past some driftwood,

 we knew we were getting near to the pet section,

 lots of pet homes, 

 and cat toys,

we weaken and bought two for the cats to play with,

 there are also so many shops selling artificial flowers,

 we found one of the market shrines, 

 and then the aquatic section,

 now this trader has to be more than careful, 

 his baskets barely missing the goods for sale, 

 two ladies giving the stock a wash and brush up, 

this stall sells coloured gravel,

 and glass marbles, we bought a couple of packs of marbles for the cats to play with, 

 new stock arriving, 

 crossing the road for the car park, 

 we noticed this stall,

 selling bonsai,

and pots to keep them in,

 we now entered one of the fish sections,

 with attractive aquarium displays, but not for us today,

as we saw these bags of fish on the floor we knew we were getting close,

 to this huge hall, which was why we were here,

 the site of the early morning exotic fish market,

 it is held every Thursday in the early morning,

 what a neat place to look around, if you like fish!

 we soon found what we were looking for, 

 first purchase made,

 Ta-Da!

 not only are there fish on the floor,

 there are bags of them hanging everywhere,

 early as we were some traders were already packing for the journey home to their fish farms, the market winds down after about 08.00 am,

 this is where shops from all over the Bangkok area come to buy their stock, even the ones in Pattaya and further afield,

 as well as fish there are numerous terrapins and shrimps on offer,

 as well as large koi in pools,

 so many fish to chose from,

 and Diana made her choice,

 live stock shopping over we made our way back to the taxi we had hired for the day, 

but stopped first for a cool down with a mug of coke,

 next stop the dry goods section, 

 I had noticed that the filter we had for the aquarium was barely coping, it was the biggest I could find in Pattaya last year when our big filter decided it wanted an early retirement, so I bought a big filter today to help the small one out, I also bought a new air pump, the one we have had for the past three years has just about had it, 

 into the taxi and home we went,

 passing many roadside stalls,

 selling garden ornaments,

 we speed past the gherkin building, now finished, 

 first thing this morning only one of the outside kittens was awake for food, so when we arrived home and Diana opened the back door she was mobbed for food! the white circles are anti ant chalk,

 this is the small filter we have at present,

 and me working out how to load the new one,

 new one in place, the old one behind it,

 so now time to add the fish, we had bought a couple of bags of fancy goldfish, and Diana had bought two rather nice pearlscales, 

 this is the new airpump I bought, it is in an outside store room and I have made a hole in the wall for the airlines to go through, now you may remember I have mentioned in the past how unlucky I am with anything electrical, well this airpump is no exception, in the centre of it there are 2 switches that have 3 positions, low, medium and high, it allows you to run the pump at three different power settings, after switching it on we decided it was a little too powerful so I switched to medium power, and received a huge electric shock! the metal around the switches was live, just my luck, I must remember to ask Diana to buy our electrical goods in the future!

fish in, filter working and lots of bubbles,

whilst at the market Diana made a video of our trip, and here it is, after our evening meal we watched The Chase and two more from Rome and with that and a hectic day we were off to bed.