The theme letter for our ‪‎travel pics this week is T, for Thailand

Today is Shirley’s 57th birthday – and in honour of that, I present this thai orchid, taken on the island of Phuket.

Tropical Asia is home to the most species of orchid – up to 300 – and everywhere we went in Thailand, we saw these beautiful flowers.

They were on display near the Kanchinaburi war graves, at Lumpini Park on Bangkok (where we dodged tropical downpours), at the base of the Big Buddha in Phuket, and in shrines we spotted in various parts of the country.

These particular flowers were left lying on Shirley’s pillow, while we stayed at the Front Village, in Karon – on her birthday in 2007.

She snapped this image and it has remained one of her favourites ever since.

I can see why.The flower is beautiful.

But its not as beautiful as Shirley is.