We Are Just Making One Post Today,

as it is a big one,

07.30 and we are on our way,

to Bangkok,

through driving rain, in fact it rained so hard we almost stopped it was so difficult to see,

and this is where we were going,

the twelfth bi-annual cactus fair, which is held every June and December,

at The Nine Centre Rama 9, and will feature about 250 plant shops and traders,

as soon as you walk in the door,

you are almost tripping over plants for sale,

on the right as you walk in are some tales,where hopefuls will be placing their prized cactus for judging by a team of experts,

we made our way inside,

amazed at the numbers,

and diversity of the plants for sale,

he looks professional,

unlike this bloke I could name,

we made a quick move upstairs, looking to the left,

and right of the sales section,

and then had a walk around the top floor,

so many to chose from,

these already wrapped and ready to go,

and just 800 or 1,000 baht each,

or these at 350,

these Moon cactus, (Gymnocalycium mihanovichii), seem extremity popular,

whilst up here,

I took a few more pictures,

of the stalls below,

then back downstairs,

where some of the prized cactus,

had been placed for judging,

row after row,

of plants or trays of seedlings,

and in case you think that quantity makes them cheap, think again, these mini pots are 4,000 baht each! (at today's rate £93.03 or $164.64),

do not even think about the multi coloured ones!

now whilst these might look like the expensive ones, they are not, as they are a completely different specie,

a personal favorite of mine, living stones, or Lithops, as they are known,

we continued walking,

and found another stall selling Lithops,

these larger individual specimens,

a few more moon cactus,

some of which were in flower,

some of the stalls had some amazing looking plants for sale like these,

so many specie to chose from,

another strange looking cactus in flower,

then Diana saw what she was after,

one of these three on the top shelf,

there were 2 cheaper ones,

both at 55,000 baht each, (at today's rate £1,278.96 or $1,713.90),

   or our personal choice this one at 200,000 baht, (at today's rate £4,650.46 or $6,232.01),

at the last show we saw a picture of this beauty at 650,000 baht, but alas it was not here for sale today, (at today's rate £15,113.20 or $20,254.02), so at least we did not have to consider buying that one!

a quick bit of mental arithmetic, for just these few on this series of shelf's you could almost buy a small new car!

whilst making our minds up we continued our walk,

when I spotted these prickly customer's,

which possibly have the longest spines in relation to their size that I have ever seen,

everywhere we looked,

there were cactus in flower,

like these,

but not from the same cactus, one of the stems I think is from another plant, it looks nice though,

another tray,

with some in flower,

it is just a shame that many of the flowers last for just a day,

another new one for us, we do not know what it is, but it looked sort of cute,

we moved past a few succulents,

and found some more trays of Lithops,

another professional,

who was also looking at these,

 succulents,

in all shapes and sizes,

I have to admit I do not know what these are, in fact they almost looked artificial, but they were not,

on this stall,

I spotted this strange graft,

similar to a Moon cactus but with a different top,

a change from the normal cactus, these are spineless cactus, (Astrophytum),

by now we had looked at almost one half of the show,

but there was still so much more to see,

in the other half of the hall,

there were a number of stalls,

selling pots,

to keep your cactus in,

of all shapes and sizes,

and lots more Lithops,

and succulents,

a customer makes his choice,

a 'wall' of cactus, with theses outwards facing displays for gardens with little space,

bring on the big boys, barrel cactus, Echinocactus and the Ferrocactus, the Echinocactus has a fuzzy crown of fine spines, while the Ferrocactus are ferociously thorned,

at 12,000 baht (at today's rate £279.07 or $373.92), a lot of cactus for your money compared to the ones we saw earlier,

or slightly less expensive this one, at 6,500 baht, (at today's rate £151.16 or $202.54),

as well as accessories there were also a few more stalls selling plants,

many in flower,

as well as more Moon cactus,

and mini collections,

back to the pots in the next aisle,

and lots of them,

a  neat way to display your plants,

also garden statuary was on sale,

as well as fancy pots,

for plants,

and flowers, E=MC²,

and what collection would not be complete without a home?

one of the shelf's we saw earlier being put to good use,

more pots,

and some with animals,

I hate to say it, but this one reminded me so much,

of the town mayor in The Nightmare Before Christmas,

Diana liked the animal pots,

well some of them do look cute,

and there were still lots more to look at,

the stalls seemingly endless,

we then spotted these,

the so called stinky cactus,

a few more wrapped and ready to go,

and some still looking for a new home,

a novelty dog flower garden,

we continued to be amazed,

at the varieties on display,

again,

a few in flower,

for this customer the agony of choice!

according to the label these are Pinus merkusii, which seems a little out of place, as the Latin name used refers to the Merkus pine or Sumatran pine, which is a pine native to the Malesia region of southeast Asia, mainly in Indonesia in the mountains of northern Sumatra, a tad out of place in a cactus show I would have thought, but there they are,

another barrel cactus waiting for a home,

we made our way to the escalators,

but first a quick pose,

then upstairs for another look around,

and another pose,

these looked familiar,

they looked like the Cryptocoryne plants that I used to sell when at work, but these appeared to be totally terrestrial, unlike the aquatic ones that we sold,

one last look,

then time for breakfast/lunch,

a club sandwich for Diana,

a salmon roll,

a croissant for myself,

then to the main show area,

where more exhibitors,

had placed their plants for judging,

some in attractive pots,

all of these on the show benches, 

were the stars of the show,

like this one,

I have no idea,

what this one is, but it certainly looked strange,

contenders were being added all of the time,

another new one,

for us,

almost mini cactus with hundreds growing in one bowl,

this one looked more familiar,

in a nice pot,

the spines,

looking so sharp,

a mini garden,

and another strange looking one,

we decided to have one last look at these,

before making a decision,

oh the agony of choice!

   

this is a short video we made of our visit,

and no mention of cactus would be complete without the cactus song, by Jake Thackray, 

we poped outside,

and waited for our taxi,

it had been raining, 

and Diana spotted this little chap,

home and a shower, 

then I was out for the evening meal,

to the Caddy Shack Inn, which is in Soi 8 off of Thepprasit Road,

and whilst there David and his family called in for a meal,

Barry chose Scotch egg and potato salad, 

for myself chicken breast with sage and onion, boiled potatoes and vegetables, after saying goodbye to Barry,

I made my way home as Diana did not want to go out,

and guess who this is? yes you are right, Diana, who had been playing with her telephone and some of the aps on it, next for us it was feet up, a few from Sherlock Holmes and we were off to bed.