It was a busy Saturday afternoon at my local market on the outskirts of Bangkok, this being a hot sunny day after a long spell of storms. However, my orchid seller’s stall was very quiet, the poor guy – poor as a church, or in this case, wat mouse – had nothing to sell. Nothing was in bloom, that is. Before continuing on I noticed a little den, hanging forlornly in mid air with no others to keep it company, this little guy however had a blooming spike. The flowers caught my eyes; I took a quick snapshot before I left.
Later on while having my “starbucks” at a coffee shop downstairs, I went through my phone’s photo album and looked closely at the last shot: wow, the flowers are nice, with kinda cattleya-ish lips, very interesting. I mulled over for a good half hour trying to make up my mind whether to take this little guy home.
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I was still undecided when I returned to the flower stall, it was way past 5 already. Maybe I’d get it anyway, if only to give some business to the seller, who looked so dejected. Anyway, I swivelled twice on my heels but couldn’t find the den anymore. Maybe someone had bought it already! Finally I whipped out the phone and showed him the pic. He laughed and pointed right past my nose. It was still hanging where I first found it, but because the sun was going down and the plant was so small, I was literally looking straight through it. The flower’s main body was about the size of a wasp. So that settled for me the dilemma to buy or not to buy, I couldn’t even see the thing!
For additional info he told me that it blooms only once a year, and is of a variety that another customer of his, whom I know in a rivalry kind of way, is very fond of… Well, she can have it.
A change of perspective
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