On Sunday, after repeatedly plunging my dirty washing in a big blue bucket I bought from Tesco Lotus - and then hanging it outside to dry, I went out to the wacky races roadway and flagged a taxi down. I was off to Rot Fai Park to do what many northern Bangkokians do on a Sunday - hire a bicycle and pedal away round the park's tree-shaded circuit.
Halfway round there's a butterfly house with free admission and it's there that I managed to snap these two specimens. Here's the rhymosia plagueus or Georgia Dandy, a gaudy creature that is only happy when it has got its proboscis deep inside a nectar-filled blossom:-
And here's the johannes grayus or the Welsh Earl, a flamboyant butterfly that is equally intent on proboscis plunging though here it is resting on netting after a particularly torrid session in the herbaceous border:-
After a delightful thirty baht lunch in the park, I walked a mile or more along Phaloyothin Road towards Major Cineplex at Ratchayothin. Outside the refurbished Central Plaza I watched a Honda car smashed by a bus. The stupid driver cannot have been looking and her car was shunted forwards sideways on as you can see from the picture I took a minute or two after the accident.
What seemed pretty amazing to me is how the two women in the vehicle climbed out through the passenger door and proceeded calmly to make mobile phone calls. Then the bus driver and his conductor got out of the bus and did the same. Neither party communicated with each other and there was no "Are you hurt love?" or "Why weren't you looking you silly cow!" The women stayed on their side of the car and the two men stayed on their side. They didn't even look at each other and then the helmeted policeman arrived. The calmness of it all was typically Thai. By the way, the windows on the driver's side were shattered and the driver's door was caved in.
Then I hiked onwards to the grand marble penthouse apartment of the Bangkok-Boothies where I snapped this picture of the young lady who is the reason I am in Thailand a second time. It's Baby Alexa aged three weeks. She's looking at Sir Yorkshire Pudding as if to say "Daddy, who is this man with the big camera and why is he pointing it at me?" She will very probably still be alive in the year 2100 but sure as hell I won't be:-
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| "I don't want rusks, I want Yorkshire Pudding!" |
Nutter x
ReplyDeleteShe's certainly worth a trip half-way around the world! What a cutie!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cutey - she has that wobbly-necked look in her eyes that says 'I have to keep my eyes moving because my neck won't stay still'.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous baby and lovely butterflies too. The accident you describe seems quite surreal but how good to be able to deal with things so calmly. Must do wonders for their blood pressure!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are coping well with the heat walking all that way and cycling too. I've always heard that you need to be cautious about eating out but you seem to manage OK and I'm sure the food is wonderful. Is there a secret ?
ReplyDeleteHELEN Touch wood I have never had an upset tummy in Thailand. I am choosy about where I eat. There are diffent gradations of "street food" and I prefer the established places where you can sit down and where the Thais themselves are happy to eat. But often I am paying a bit more to be in a clean, air-conditioned establishment.
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I love the butterfly pictures, Mr. Pudding. But that little baby is awesome. What a head of hair she has! And those intelligent eyes will figure out who you are very, very soon. Glad you are getting on so well.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have my number with your description of that butterfly, and since you do I have a confession to make. I could never have been on such an afternoon adventure because (a) I have never been to Thailand (not the confession) and (b) (here it comes:) I never learned how to ride a bicycle.
ReplyDeleteBetween your bicycling skills and your proven prowess with a camera and your love of gadding about the world, you are clearly a creature of a higher order.
MOUNTAIN THYME She certainly has got a good head of hair and her intelligent eyes will most certainly have come from her mother!
ReplyDeleteRHYMES WITH PROBOSCIS "clearly a creature of a higher order" = You are are a fine judge of character sir! And it is never too late to learn how to ride a bike. This should be a personal challenge for you - hopefully with photos too!
Oh that baby is gorgeous!
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