Flowers, Part 13: Morning Blooms

Orchids blooming on a tree in Santhipap Park, Bangkok

A pink Mussaenda shrub blooms

After accompanying a friend to Victory Monument fairly early one morning (where he caught his usual ride to work) I took my time walking back along Thanon Ratchawithi, detouring through Santhipap Park, a peaceful stretch between Ratchawithi and Thanon Rang Nam.

It's an elongated park - seemingly an afterthought amid a well-built-up area - and nothing like the vast expanse of Lumphini Park.  About a football field wide it's perhaps 10 fields long, but has paths, benches, ponds and well-maintained flowers and trees.

The last time I mentioned this particular park was a couple of months ago in November, when a young couple became part of the "Smiles" series as they were courting on a bench, the same morning today's photos were taken.

Early morning and late afternoon light are just about my favorite times of day for pictures, and although it can be harsh that's just part of the challenge, I suppose.  Anyway, here today are three different "pink-ish" pictures taken in Santhipap Park, and one red herring. . .

Ixora is a common shrub used throughout Thailand, but a dense bunch of clusters are still really beautiful, I think.

That's one carefully carved tangmo (watermelon)

OK, so the last one's not really a flower, but every so often you run into a fruit or vegetable garnish that's been carved so skillfully it's worthy of being included with the real things.  The well thought out detail of this watermelon carving reminded me a little of the carved soap flowers from "Don't drop the soap (it's fragile)" post from last September.