A New Favorite Fruit: The Maprang

I have discovered a new favorite fruit, second only to durian. It is the maprang (Bouea macrophylla, marian plum). The season of the maprang has arrived in Thailand, and apparently the best maprangs in Thailand are found around the town of Sri Samrong in Sukhothai Province. Is there anything not awesome about my province? It excites me to discover new fruits that I have never even heard of.

The maprang is sweet inside with a tangy skin. It has a taste unlike anything I have tried before...the best way I can describe it without doing much justice to its deliciousness is by saying that it is a fusion of the best traits of the peach, plum, and mango. The fruit itself is somewhat related to the mango though you can't eat the skin of the mango. I think it looks like a mini mango, but my friends swear that they look like eggs. Cheers to the maprang!

Geckos in my Cereal

When I woke up this morning, I decided to water my plants and sweep the front porch area. After I put a load of laundry in my new washing machine, I decided to eat breakfast. So the usual routine. Pour the milk in and then pour the cereal afterward. Not so easy today. Halfway as I poured the cereal, I saw a black thing come out of the box and then fall into the milk. I yelped like a dog as I let loose of the box and the rest of the cereal exploded out of the box. I looked closely and discovered it was a dead house gecko. I decided I wasn't on Fear Factor, so I threw the milk and all its contents in my bushes outside.

Moral of the story? Don't leave your cereal box out in the open in Thailand for more than a week, because some old house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) may find it a perfectly suitable final resting place. TITH (This is Thailand).

A Jumping Spider

 

This afternoon, after I came back from the morning market, I spotted this little creature as I was hanging up my pitcher plant. She was quite striking and had interesting iridescent markings on her back. I fancied for a moment that I discovered a new species of spider and ran to get my camera. I just found out though that it has already been named and researched. Darn, better luck next time. 

In case you were interested, this little female (sexual dimorphism noted, females have a larger abdomen with more iridescence) is a Phintella vittata (C.L. Koch) 1845. She is a jumping spider and her relatives live all around Southeast Asia. It's nice to have such interesting creatures in my front yard.