Bangkok deliciousness!
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2008
1
6
16
Trip End
Aug 21, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Sunday, August 10, 2008
We started out in the morning at 8am, having booked 2 spots for a Thai cooking course with a local home-based cooking school. Both Tracie and I were very excited! Looking back at the whole experience, I'd classify it as a "must-do" when traveling in Southeast Asia.
The chef came by our hotel early in the morning to pick us up, and we zoomed away in the back of a tuk-tuk to pick up the other class members. In total, there were 7 of us. We made our way to the local market, where every imaginable grocery item could be bought, all of it straight fresh. They'd kill and pluck a chicken for you, right on the spot! Everywhere, there were squirming prawns, eels, catfish. Piles of fresh veggies and herbs ballooned out of each stall. There was so much activity as locals and tourists bustled around, inspecting what each stall had to offer.
The chef took us through the stalls and explained to us the significance of all the herbs and produce that we'd be using. We all had little straw baskets that he'd dump groceries into, and we'd carry them along the way.
At the school, we learned how to chop and combine the ingredients to make curries, soups, pastes... all sorts of stuff! Lots of the ingredients, I'd never even heard of before! I can't wait to go home and try out some of the recipes.
We met two guys from Philadelphia while taking the class, and after the course, we headed out by skytrain to the Chatuchak weekend market. We had read a lot about it in the Lonely Planet guide... where it was described as an enormous, all-day exploration! As the skytrain passed overhead, we could see what they had meant. There were literally over a thousand stalls, all lined up side by side in rows... and the number of locals and tourists! We spent the 3-4 hours making our way through the thousands and thousands of people, poking our heads in stalls, and buying up as many souvenirs as we could carry.
We got back to the hotel around 6pm, and headed out for some dinner. Over the past few days, we had continually walked past this little street-side outdoor restaurant that was always filled with locals eating out of this clay hot-pot. We decided to stop in tonight, and try out of the hot-pot. They're very straight forward on their menus... grilled fish is exactly that... a whole grilled fish on a plate. Papaya salad was a plate with a pile of salad heaped on top. I'm sure the hot-pot was delicious, it's just that it had to be over 32degC outside, and sitting beside this woodchip burner and red hot clay pot, neither of us could concentrate enough to actually enjoy the food.
Leaving the restaurant, we wandered into a pub where they were showing the China vs. USA basketball game. Two beers and 45 minutes later, we watched as the USA pummeled them by almost 50 points.
Back at the hotel, we started to pack up our stuff. We'd be leaving for Phuket the next afternoon.
