a new country

6:17 AM here.  Where is here?  Sattahip, the home of Conrad’s friend J-J and his wife, Vanda.  Where is Sattahip?  Southeast of Bangkok.  

Yes, a new country for us:  Thailand!

Getting to the airport in Ho Chi Minh City on an early Sunday morning was a breeze.  Getting through the lines took almost three times as long.  Still we had some time in the lovely Le Saigonnais Lounge watching the airport below.  

Our flight was uneventful, and I dozed so long that they served and then cleared away my water without me drinking it!

J-J picked us up at the airport in Bangkok, and we were on the road to the beautiful home (a villa, really) that he and his wife share.  

A very late and filling lunch for us, a little unpacking and dozing, then a drive along the beach to catch the last of daylight before heading to the market.  

What fun that was.  Having two guides who know the language and the food meant we could ask anything, and Vanda insisted on buying us all kinds of things to try.  I love sampling new fruits!

We brought the purchases home and turned around to head to dinner right away.  I don’t know how we fit more food in, but there was soft shell crab, a shrimp dish with noodles, water spinach sautéed with garlic, and a whole snapper steamed with tom yum soup.  I especially loved the snapper, but everything was good.  

I can’t believe we came home and, after a refreshing shower, ate some of the fruit!

Today is a little up in the air.  Maybe a boat cruise, maybe a temple.  We shall see when folks are up and moving!

two plants

A quick little post to start the Saturday off.  As you may be aware (insert eye rolls here), I recently visited Micronesia.  FSM sits about 6 degrees north of the equator.  The land is gently mountainous.  The upshot is that it is - duh! - tropical.  And lush.

Greenery covered the island from what we could see.  Stevenson, who was from the Marshall Islands, a country of atolls, remarked on how green everything was from his perspective, but those of us from California could also appreciate that it wasn't golden brown and dry.

In our modest travel on foot and by vehicle around the island, I was struck by how often I saw two plants in particular:  bananas and papayas.  I've seen both before - it's not unusual to see them in Hawaii, after all.  But here?  So much more.  Bananas everywhere, and the same seemed to be the case for the papayas.  Curiously, while we were served a lot of banana in our meals, I don't recall being served or even seeing papaya on menus.

I took a couple of early morning walks and captured a couple of cool shots, or so I thought.  One, a bunch of bananas with the flower at the end of the stalk. 

I wonder if they also eat the flower.  The other, a papaya flower. 

I've never been up close to a papaya plant and seen the flower, and I was delighted by the discovery.

Oh, and for good measure, here's a land crab we encountered on the road side on the last morning!

Turn over a rock...

...you may find "wildlife".

We spent most of the day on the Sunshine Coast. On our way up to see my Dad and his family, we dawdled, taking photos here and there. One stop was down in Roberts Creek



where we walked down to the rocks that are covered by water at high tide. Turn a rock over and I'm back to childhood at Pender Harbour, catching the little crabs and wondering at them.