This Will Be Our Last Post For The Next 2 Months Or So,

the reason being,

we are going to have a holiday in England, Scotland and visit some countries in Europe, which is why Diana's parents have popped over here to look after our cats, fish and birds, so on to today, 

 we were off for Sunday lunch,

 to the Punch and Judy, where we bumped into Chuck who we had not seen for many years,

Diana and her Mum and Dad,

shared some spring rolls,

 a prawn cocktail for myself,

 and Mr. Tony went for the pate,

 next the main courses, 

 an Italian dish for mum,

which she really enjoyed,

 cottage pie for Mr. Tony, 

 chicken Kiev for Dad, 

 a trio of meats as a Sunday roast for Diana,

which looked delicious,

and was, like my lamb roast, we then made a move for home where it was feet up for a few episodes of Peaky Blinders which Mr. Tony had not seen before, then after saying our goodbyes we watched a few episodes of Plane Earth II and with that we were off to bed, but please remember, in 10 weeks time or so please call back for our European adventure, best regards, Stan and Diana.

We Had A Quiet Day,

just a quick shopping trip,

 to TukCom, whilst Diana and her family went walk about,

 in the evening Mr. Tony called round, and brought a very welcome friend to the bar-b-q,

 for this evening Diana had made a lobster bisque,

  and a Cesar salad for starters,

 'Cheers!', from all of us,

 next lite the barby,

 and on with the food, for tonight steak and pork ribs,

 the proceedings watched by one of the once fat now remarkably slim feral kittens, we assume she has given birth the day before yesterday,

 I guess this is what is meant by the term a flamed steak,

 the steaks and ribs cooked,

 it was time, with some baked potatoes, to tuck in, 

and for dessert we followed with Diana's home made creme caramel, we chatted the evening away, and after saying our farewells to Mr. Tony for us we were all off to bed.

I Have Bought,

one bad apple product in my life,

and the experience with it made me vow to never, ever, under any circumstances, buy another bad apple product, so I had to laugh when I read that Yisroel Brody on Friday filed at least the 24th class action complaint against Apple in a New York district court, and I have just heard of another one, as I write this just 11 hours ago, so I just had to post the cartoon above, from Don't Hit Save, so funny but so true, and in case you are wondering bad apple really do pay their factory workers a monthly wage of $286 for 60 hrs/week, think on that the next time you by a bad apple product, and if you do buy one, I would like to see you on the same pay scale!

and keeping to a computer theme, this from the same website, it sort of tells you a lot about people, what was that? how on earth could his decision to sell before the news was made public be called insider trading? shame on you for thinking it!

I Have Just Read About The Latest Fad,

drinking raw water, 

that's right people are actually drinking unfiltered, untreated, raw spring water, by choice, which, even when from the seemingly cleanest of sources, can spread diseases like cholera, E. coli, Hepatitis A or Giardia and, this is the good bit, are even paying to be exposed to these diseases! to add insult to potential injury, this unsterilised water, bottled and marketed by startups like Live Water, is priced at $36.99 per 2.5-gallon containers and $14.99 per refill at the co-op Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, the water is often out of stock and typically sees a price hike with every restock, what a potential health nightmare, still I should not be surprised, the California’s bay area is also notorious for other absurd anti-science health trends such as the movement opposing vaccinations which, in 2014, lead to the most significant measles outbreak the state had seen in decades, so that worked then? 

“It has a vaguely mild sweetness, a nice smooth mouthfeel, nothing that overwhelms the flavor profile,” Kevin Freeman, a manager at Rainbow Grocery, told the New York Times, “Bottled water’s controversial. We’ve curtailed our water selection. But this is totally outside that whole realm.” Live Water was founded by Mukhande Singh (formerly Christopher Sandborn), three years ago in Culver, Oregon, but has since moved to Los Angeles. Although pure water is obtainable via a reverse osmosis filter, Singh claims that pristine water is not the goal. “You’re going to get 99 percent of the bad stuff out,” he said. “But now you have dead water.” Singh added that “real water” expires after a few months. “It stays most fresh within one lunar cycle of delivery,” he said. “If it sits around too long, it’ll turn green. People don’t even realize that because all their water’s dead, so they never see it turn green.”

some of these risks that you expose yourself if you drink unfiltered water include E. coli bacteria, viruses, and parasites, “Without water treatment, there’s acute and then chronic risks,” Dr. Hensrud, the director of the Healthy Living Program at the Mayo Clinic said. “There’s evidence all over the world of this, and the reason we don’t have those conditions is because of our very efficient water treatment.” Hensrud compared the “raw water” movement to the anti-vaccination movement for its rejection of established modern science and its risk to public health, the rejection of vaccines has lead to a resurgence of diseases once thought eradicated, and “raw” water could do the same, I will drink to that! and now for a few facts, water treatment in the US eliminated diseases such as cholera, which once killed many Americans, and still kills up to 143,000 people globally every year, the World Health Organization estimates that contaminated water kills over 3.4 million people globally every year, making it the leading cause of death worldwide. 844 million people, according to WHO, lack access to clean water, as one commentator noted, this “raw” water trend among some of the wealthiest elite on the planet is an insult to those millions of people suffering from lack of access to treated water, for a fuller look at the drinking unfiltered water scam have a look here.

In Portugal,

the most visited museum, 

 is the Serralves, and at the heart of the 18-hectare park, there lies an almost hidden treasure,

 DepA has designed a mirrored pavilion, 

that is almost invisible, the Porto-based architecture firm looked to Alvaro Siza Vieira’s museum for inspiration for ‘Liquid Pavilion’; it’s polygonal structure taken from the design of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art itself, I have to say I really like this sort of thing, a walk in a park then suddenly you see something unnatural that blends in with it's surroundings, neat.

At First Glance,

I thought of building blocks,

 like for instance Lego,

 but then realized they would not lock together,

 so what were these staircase looking blocks for? 

well of course the question is easy,

 if you know the answer, 

they are chocolates! Universal Favourite takes the visual element to another level with their modular Complements chocolate, the Australian design studio created the project as a client gift and developed it into a collaboration with sweets experts Bakedown Cakery, each modular staircase-shaped chocolate (blackcurrant, cherry, cookies and cream, fairy floss, lemon, matcha, pistachio, shortbread, single origin dark, strawberry, vanilla, and watermelon) fits together with a complementary flavor to form a very visually appealing cube, Bakedown also shares their handiwork on Instagram, as does Universal Favourite, and there was me thinking the blocks were made of plastic!

We Are Only Making One Post Today,

as it is a big one, 

 and this is where we are going,

 the Sanctuary of Truth, Diana and myself had visited here before,

 in Thai: ปราสาทสัจธรรม Prasat Sajja Tham, it is a religious construction between Pattaya and Naklua,

 on the coast,

 going from the dolphin roundabout towards Naklua,

on the Pattaya-Naklua road, as the road goes downhill, 

 turn left into the Na Kluea 12 alley as it is called,

 follow the road,

 and the entrance to the Sanctuary is on the right,

 if you have never been here before,

 and Diana's parents had not,

 it is a stunning place to look around, but one thing to remember,

 it is an ongoing construction site, so you are given safety helmets if you go inside,

 but I guess taking them off,

  for a picture is OK!

 the sanctuary is an all-wood building filled with sculptures based on traditional Buddhist and Hindu motifs,

 the top of the building is 105 meters high, and the building covers an area of more than two rai,

 it features contemporary Visionary art based on traditional religious themes, 

  the project was initiated as an idea of Thai businessman Lek Viriyaphant in 1981,

 and is scheduled to be complete in 2050,

 amazingly we were told that every joint in the sanctuary is made of wood,

 now for a bit of fun,

 inside there is a set,

 that you can have your picture taken in,

 so Diana's Mum and Dad,

 strike the pose,

 for the photo,

 and very regal,

they both looked too,

 a smiling Mum,

 and Dad with the sword,

 Ta-Da!

  going back to the building,

  the main style of the sanctuary is based on the Thai architecture of the Ayutthayan period, richly decorated by Hindu-Buddhist hand-carved wooden sculptures drawn from various artistic traditions,

 including Dravidian, Angkorean, Chinese, Mon Dvaravati, Srivijayan, and Thai,

 it has four gopura, respectively representing images from the Buddhist and Hindu religions and mythologies of Cambodia, China, India and Thailand,

  according to the official website, its purpose is to use art and culture as "a reflection of the Ancient Vision of Earth, Ancient Knowledge, and Eastern Philosophy. Within this complex, visitors will understand Ancient Life, Human Responsibility, Basic Thought, Cycle of living, Life Relationship with Universe and Common Goal of Life toward Utopia",

 it is a wonderful place to visit,

  just remember to bring plenty of memory cards and batteries for your camera,

 you will be taken around by tour guides that speak your language,

  when you buy your tickets,

 which are 500 baht each,

 you are asked where you are from,

  you will then be assigned to a tour guide that speaks your language,

  Mum strikes the pose,

 the wood carving just has to be seen to be believed,

 the sanctuary itself is built on the shoreline,

 looking out towards the sea there is a small garden, 

 back inside huge wooden pillars support the ceiling,

 whilst below all manner of creatures,

are carved in wood,

Diana, Mum and Dad walk down the steps to the outside,

 there goes a tourist,

 no wait a second,

 it is me!

 whilst they had been inside,

 I had been walking around the outside with the normal and infrared cameras,

 the view looking along the seawall,

 four faces looking over the sanctuary,

 Mum and Dad were amazed at how big the place was,

 as they are having their picture taken I am snapping away in the background,

 another pose,

 and this picture gives you some idea of the shear size of the building,

 you may notice the building has two different colors,

 on the left the building is brown, which is the new color, painted I guess to help stop the wood from weathering,

 on the right the 'old' or untreated part of the building,

 and there I am, waiting for the elephants,

 meanwhile Mum,

 Dad,

 and Diana wait and have a cooling drink by the lagoon,

 and then there is an elephant,

with a family having a ride,

 a quick picture,

 and then a look,

 at the gold tree, and it was time to make our way home, but before we go, here is a picture I took with the two camera set up I was using,

 this one taken with the normal camera,

at the same time as this one, taken with the infrared camera at the side of the normal one, this is how the camera sees in infrared,

 then putting it through a converting program and adjusting the color to how I like it, looks like this,

 using the different program I can convert it to black and white,

or give the picture an antique or old look,

and if I play with the colors I can achive a really wild look, not everyone's cup of tea, but playing with the photographs is great fun for me, arriving home in the afternoon and having a bite to eat we were off again, 

 this time to the Friday night market on Thepprasit Road,

 slightly cloudy looking towards Jomtien,

 and the same looking inland,

sushi, that will be my evening meal but Diana will buy it from the sushi stall in Tesco lotus as she, along with Mum and Dad are shopping there,

new for this week, barking, walking, light flashing puppy's, with hats and shades, these dogs are so cool they wear their mirrored sunglasses with the mirrors on the inside,

 I made my way past one of the more colorful stalls,

 instead of the fruit seller this week a drinks seller,

 at the end of the row a stall selling soft toys,

 opposite the bar tonight a stall selling clothes and another selling,

 yes you guessed it, soft toys,

 at the auction part of the market there was a seller with a loudspeaker,

 looking along the steelworks, not much seems to have happened, until you look closely,

 a layer of concrete has been added to the roof,

 by now I had walked to the auction stall,

 and then to the fruit stall, where a tour guide was showing his group around, I bumped in to him and his group a few times in the market, and I have to say I was very impressed, on each of the stalls he stopped by the stall holder gave him a plate of samples for his group to try, a really neat touch and one that he had taken the trouble to lay on for his group, and I would guess not for commission, because in most counties you can not bring fruit or produce in with you,

 on to the pet section,

 a few stalls not opening, the owners I guess still on holiday,

 I stopped by the usual shop to buy 3 boxes of wet food,

 I had a bimble around,

 some of the food stalls in the covered area,

 taking a few pictures as I went,

 these fish slowly turning over glowing charcoal,

 the sushi stall getting ready for business,

 on this stall,

 something I had not seen before, some type of herb I would guess,

 sunset over the market,

 the toys opposite the bar,

 and then a nice surprise, Brian and his wife Sa and son Nicky arrived,

 Nicky trying not to smile,

 Dad has just said he is going to buy him a toy,

 it was soon getting dark, I said my farewell to Brian, Sa and Nicky and made my way home, Diana and her parents took a baht bus,

 arriving home every one had pizza, except me, here was my treat, sushi, after we had finished eating, we watched The Family Chase, followed by a couple from Peaky Blinders, and with that we were off to bed.