Add Another One To The List

One of my "passions" is to find orchids growing in the wild instead of in someone's pampered collection.  I have a list in my head of the plants that I have seen, in flower, in their natural habitat.  I just added another one to that list.  A friend told me where he had seen these plants growing about ten years ago and hoped that they would not have become part of a 'development' since then.  The plant is the "Bamboo Orchid", or Arundina graminifolia for the more scientifically minded.  Thankfully the area it is growing is too steep, and the soil is very unstable which means that it is unlikely to have a resort built on it (not this week anyway).

The boxes show where the plant was groing, so you can see the type of habitat involved.

Interestingly, in the same place there was a species of "Pitcher Plant" (Nepenthes sp.) growing everywhere as well.

These are carnivourous plants that are most commonly thought of as jungle plants.  This species was growing all through the area and in some places was growing on rock faces where it was totally exposed to all the sun, and to the full rigours of the dry season.

Getting into this area was a test for my (non-existent) off road driving capabilities.  It was all access roads for a line of electricity supply towers.  Being wet season and with the unstable soil, in some places the water washes in the road were bigger than the road istelf.  There were a few moments when I thought I would be calling a tow truck, but I made it in the end.  I discovered some locals on the way.  I considered getting a closer shot but they made it very clear that they were not interested in sharing there area with anything smaller than they were.  I stayed in the truck!

Remember ......New House (assuming all goes to plan)!

Well everything did not go to plan.

The owner hired a local lawyer who was apparently a friend of a friend.  The first version of the contract they produced resulted in my lawyers reporting 9 major and many minor problems.  Problems such as "the contract didn't actually identify either the buyer or the seller" (I would considerthat to be reasonably major)!  So then there was he back and forth.  Their lawyer missed the deadlines to produce new contracts, then told us they were delayed because the owner had them and had not approved them.  I found a direct contact for the owner who confirmed he did not have anything from them.  And so it went on.  When the new contract finally came through only 2 of the major problems had been adressed and more problems had been created than had been fixed.   Every time these updated junk contracts went through, I had to pay my lawyers to review it.  In the end I have decided to cut my losses and withdrew my offer.  Back to house hunting!
I now know that one of the questions you need to ask an an owner here is "Who will be acting as your lawyer".  If it is not a major reputable firm, don't try to buy!

How do you understand the power of a Tsunami?

Unless you have had the misfortune to be in one, or to see the aftermath of a disaster like the tsunami, its hard for anyone to understand the power in this sort of phenomenon.  This image may help put it in some sort of perspective as it did for me.

One of the Thai princes was holidaying off the coast when the tsunami hit.  There were two navy cruisers there for his security.  This is one of those cruisers, basically the size of the standard American sea patrol ship.  As you can see, the boat ended up inland.  Not only was it washed ashore, it ended up 1 kilometer inland!  If you or your property gets hit by a wave it sounds bad, but imagine if that wave was throwing things like this at you.

 The prince was killed and the other boat was apparently never found.

What Can You Do In Two Weeks In Phuket?

I have had my parents here for two weeks (along with my sister) and we have proven that two 80 year olds can certainly keep up with the pace of the place.  My sister and I are having some rest days to recover.  So what can an 80 year old couple do in Phuket over 12 days????

Witness two of their children challenging each other to an insect eating contest.

Have their feet treated by nibbling fish.

See what people mean when they talk about the bars and prostitutes by walking up Bangla Rd at night.

Spend a day driving through a landscape dominated by kastes.

Have your photograph taken with the ladyboys ........

........twice.

(Notice how pissed the pretty ones were when Dad chose the ugly one for a photo!

Go Sea Canoing in the kastes of Phang Nga bay in monsoonal rain.

Build traditional Thai floral offerings.

Walk through the rain forest in Khao Sok national park.

Try many types of food you have never heard of (and probably don't want to hear of again).

Have a monkey eat a banana on your shoulder.

See about a dozen different temples.

Spend an afternoon at the local school sports being treated as a dignitary.

See why there are blackouts now and then.

Follow the local version of a work bus.  You can join them if you have a person sized shoe horn.  You definitely cannot join them if you can spell Occupational Health and Safety.

See swimming monkeys.

Walk through waterfall parks after a downpour.

Do a full tour of the island of Phuket over two days.

Go to an orchid market and see plants you only dreamed of.

Like a giant Coelogyne (OK, I had to slip an orchid photo in there).

Try more new foods.

Go to a series of outdoor markets.

Visit the world largest Buddha.

Visit a beach (or twenty).

Say hello to a gibbon.

Do a photo at a personal temple.

Walk to Bang Pae Waterfall.

Visit an orchid farm.

And feed a baby elephant.

And generally run two fifty year old children into the ground! 

Clearly we crammed a lot into the short visit and everyone had a good time.

New House (assuming all goes to plan)!

I have reached an agreement to buy a house here in Phuket.  It is only about a kilometer from where I am living, so I think I know the area.  Is half way up the island near the "Heroines Monument".  Having lived up here for a while I am sure I would rather be up here than down the southern tip where I originally planned.  It is much quieter, the people seem much nicer and it is a long way from the tourist centres.
The main reason for targetting this house was that it had two very unusual features.  Firstly it is single level which is almost essential for me and my multiply rebuilt legs.  Secondly it has about 4 metres of land on each side.  Most houses here are only a metre or two from their neighbours on all sides.  This one has room for an orchid house on one side and a garden or swimming pool on the other.

Looking across the front to the land on one side.

Looking to the free space onto the other side.

Huge living area.

The main feature.... garden space down one side  ...and ....

...the garden space on the other side.

The view from the street.

Three bedrooms, one more than I wanted.  Two bathrooms, again one more than necessary for me.  But the land was the clincher.  All the funiture came with it which is good in some ways and bad in others (anybody want to buy a set of brown and yellow vinyl chairs with matching vinyl coffee table???) .  Some work to be done as soon as I get settled, but it will be good to get somewhere I know is for the longer term.

Now it is up to the lawyers because buying a house here is not straight forward.  As a foreigner I am not allowed to own land in Thailand.  I can buy the house but not the land it sits on.  There are series of ways around this, some very shonky, others less so.  This will be done under the most common arrangement which is buying the house with a long term renewable lease on the land.

Catching Up On The Visitors

I have been busy for a couple of weeks (see following posts) so here is a catch up on some visitors, as well as some others.

First a parked dragonfly on one of my plants.  Note the red colour and also the way the wings drop down when they sit for a while.

 

This young iguana decided to try out the inside of the house.

Not technically vistors because the next few were at a market, but could be visitors because all were for sale.  Firstly Hamsters.

Own your own hedgehogs

.

Or maybe you would prefer a pet squirrell?

And the ones that amazed me.  A type of miniature flying possum I am guessing!  Available for sale! They were exhorbitantly expensive by local standards at about $100 each, and pretty boring pets as they were clearly nocturnal, but just amazing to see this sort of thing for sale.

Also not a visitor as it was seen on a walk in the rain forest.  A sleeping green iguana.

And finishing on a cutesy note.  A baby monkey at the monkey temple.