One night in Bangkok…
Okay la… not one night but three. And one full day is spent in glorious Chatuchak weekend market where everything under the sky is traded for a handful of bahts. From clothes to household items to kitchenware to furniture to shoes to paper to puppies to PLANTS. Yes! Lots and lots and lots of plants!
Hahahah.
At the risk of sounding like a crazy person, I was sooooo insanely excited. We couldn’t get any live plants back cause we didn’t sort out the necessary paperwork. I wasn’t even sure if they would allow us to carry seeds back, but I was gonna give it a go anyway.
There were rows of orchids, hibiscus, bonsai trees, plants in bottles, cacti, ferns of every kind including tanduk rusa, etc. etc. etc., even fake plastic flowers looking so damn real, pots, implements, gadgets, fertilizers, wires, pesticides, oodles and oodles of seeds in shiny packets and even bulbs!
Okay, I have no idea how much I spent. But i bought back some pots (they were so cheap compared to KL) to start with. Then drooled over the seed packets. Even found some cactus seeds! Which has been impossible for us so far, scouring all forms of nurseries, hardware shops and supermarkets. So I got 3 packets just to be safe 
And 2 packets of pomegranate seeds, and of course, some basil. Heaven. The only thing missing was CP seeds, but hey, can’t score everything.
Oh, and then I finally found labels for the seedlings! I’ve been looking for them everywhere but no joy. Even in specialty paper shops. But at Chatuchak, they were casually sitting there, in bundles tied together, just waiting to be picked up. I got more than 200 I think, in 3 different formats. So greedy, but I can’t wait! Already used them yesterday for sowing the byblis liniflora seeds (will update on that later). Oh joy…
And to make it an almost perfect experience, they were selling hyacinth and tulip bulbs! With colored tabs stuck on them, just so you can pick which kinds you want. I have no idea if it will be possible to plant them at all, considering they need cold and dry weather, and it’s hot and humid here, but I’m definitely going to try! Have been reading up, and it involves refrigeration and what-not. Will have to print them out and cross check with the other books we have. I really really hope it’ll turn out. Can you imagine? Tulips in KL. Wah…..
Was very nervous when going through the immigration. I packed them in the backpack and checked them in, hoping they wont get completely destroyed in the process. Figured I probably have a better chance of taking them home than if I hand carry them (although some dude in front of us carried back a huge plastic bag of jambu batu). The customs was unusually diligent that day, and checked through everyone’s bags. Maybe ’cause we were coming back from Bangkok. They scanned our bags, and I thought I saw the custom officer hesitate for awhile… but she didn’t stop us. Just let us through. Hooray!
Now all I have to do is keep them safe until I figure out how to plant them properly
Meanwhile, going to get the Savage Garden book tomorrow, finally! From Tarence of petpitcher, and checking out his haven of carnivorous plants. Mukaketupat wants to buy some sundews. I hope I can get a mini nepenthes…