We Decided On A Day Out,

and as we had not been to the weekend plant market for some time,

 we were off it is situated on the Sumkivitt Road, as you leave Pattaya for Bangkok going past the Bangkok Pattaya hospital make a 'U' turn just past it and the market is immediately on your left, this is the view from the car park behind the market, 

 looking back to the hospital, if you are coming from Bangkok it is just before Mini Siam and McDonald's,

 we parked behind one of the aquatic outlets, 

 so I just had to have a look, 

 next door a stall selling water lilies,

not only white, 

 but light blue, which seemed popular with this bee,

 and darker blue,

 insectivorous plants,

 next caught my attention, 

 also this stall had rocks,

 that you could buy to make your own mini garden, 

along with mini animals, birds and toadstools, 

 and other mini decorations,

 to the cactus stall, lots of them,

 with a few in flower,

like these,

 this stall had all three of the main aquatic groups of plants for sale, water lilies, lotus and marginals,

 roses,

and then another water lily stall,

 there were a large number of stalls selling these, water features must be getting popular,

 as well as plants there were a number of stalls selling wooden products,

 and I could not pass an orchid stall,

 without taking,

 at least,

a couple of photographs, 

 we came to the end of the aisle, where the larger plants and palms are like these Hawaiian ginger plants, (Alpinia purpurata), 

 with their strange flowers,

 I mentioned large palms, the electric pole on the left will give you some idea of the size of these palms for sale,

 back into the next aisle,

 lots of garden ornaments,

 and a few bonsai,

 a selection of patio pots,

 and cut orchids,

 another waterlily stall,

 with many to chose from,

 and another aquatic stall,

 this one with a couple of aquariums with huge fancy goldfish,

 the next stall pots,

 and another featuring bonsai,

 water features,

 and bougainvillea, the plant that has leaves in many colours, but the flower,

 is remarkably plain and small,

 another stall selling pots,

 and time for a break as we neared the food and drink section,

 Diana had ordered our drinks,

 I had a quick look,

 at some of the gravels on offer to dress potted plants,

 tea and coffee made,

 which was refreshing,

 and we were off again,

 to the bird and small mammal stall,

 a last look at some orchids,

 and nice they were too,

 and at some cut ones and we were home,

 for our evening meal,

 on the balcony, 

 beef stew and dumplings, 

 which we followed with some chocolate cake, diet starts Monday!

 last night it was a blood moon, which we could not see at all, tonight,

 the cloud had cleared a tad,

 but this was it, 

it is easy to tell when it is a bank holiday weekend, normally in the condominium opposite us there are just 4 or 5 apartments occupied, but tonight at least 9 or maybe 10 have lights on, the population has doubled overnight, we listened to music for the rest of the evening, and as the midnight hour approached we were off to bed.