Domestic days

We have three floors and a roof terrace but often hauling it all the way to the top floor is too much to expect of a human so we spend a lot of time in our front courtyard.
It's 5m x 2m but packs a lot in.



Because we were heading out almost immediately we left the scooter parked outside the gate. At night it lives on the ground floor next to an armchair.



Our courtyard is home to twenty plants, 17 fish and assorted visitors.



We have tiny chairs that make it look bigger, if you look carefully you can see my first home grown orchid just starting to bloom.



And here it is, My First Little Orchid.




A view from three floors up with one still to go before we reach the roof.



You wouldn't want to forget anything you needed or to have suicidal tendencies. However, the climb to the roof space is worth the risk of being enticed to throw yourself down the stairwell.



As well as the view we have a fridge up here dedicated to beer and wine.

Tet flower market, Saigon

As Tet approaches it seems like everyone goes flower crazy. The biggest market I've seen so far is in the park between Pham Ngu Lau and the New World Hotel. The plants are incredible and I was sorely tempted to buy some but we're going away over Tet and it's never pleasant to come home to dead plants so I limited myself to taking pictures of them.



Yellow and red are the predominant colours being sold but there's lots of variety of plant related objects, like fruit rats.



These stand about a metre and a half high and are made from a yellow waxy fruit which I don't recognise. They're sold in pairs and are, for want of a better description, striking. You might be able to see that they're entwined with fairy lights too. Nice.

Kumquat trees are very popular, I don't know if this shape is traditional of if it's borrowed from Christmas trees. They'll look spectacular when the fruit ripens.



Orchids are popular too, here's a perfect white blossom:



Of course, at times something a little more decorative is required, so why not buy an orchid planted into a straw dog's head on a plate?



Just to be on the safe side...


... the police maintain a presence. You never know when flower buying could turn nasty and I'm sure stall holders can sleep more peacefully knowing that they're there



That's it, I expect the next posting will be on our jaunt to Singapore and Cambodia, Happy New Year.

Plant life

Topiary deer
Originally uploaded by amasc

Plants here look very exotic, some familiar, some not but these topiary deer outside a church caught my eye for their sheer exoticism.

A closeup of the deer creature.

Aquatic plants seem popular too.

This was taken at a branch of Highlands Coffee, the Vietnamese Starbucks, I think this was the branch beside the opera house, good coffee, posh shops.


These floating plants are found in shallow bowls all over the place, the leaves are about as big as a pinkie nail and if you're lucky you'll see a dragonfly hovering over them. Obviously I wasn't lucky for this picture.


Finally, a lotus pod, I think, very attractive anyway. This was taken outside the appartment, I'm still wide eyed at the plant life having previously only seen most of the specimens in a botanic garden hothouse.