Just a Wafer Thin Mint Sir?

  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Saturday, October 4, 2008

More Lunch

After 6 dishes before tea on a daily basis our stomachs are extremely glad that the cooking course is now over.

Lunch, a veritable Feast!

By the end of it though, we finally had the process down... No breakfast, cook - eat, cook-eat, cook, cook - eat, cook, cook eat! Walk about 10km, have a light snack (Sushi or Fruit) then go to bed! Today they tried to trick us by making us cook three meals for lunch which wasn't very nice of them! Thai cooking is amazing. It is all concerned with the union of aroma, taste and look to make the experience worth-while. The preparation is the most time consuming- but luckily the cooking school staff did all the grudge work for us, while we just did the chopping, flavouring and putting it together. Thai cooking at home will be a different experience, particularly without a dishwasher!

We have stayed in two guest houses both within the old city walls fairly close to the cooking school. Our after 'school' activities have mainly included a walk to the tailors for further fittings. After 4 we are bothy very satisfied and looking forward to looking extremely professional in London. 

Kirsty's final fitting

From there we tended to wander along the night market, trying alternative routes to make it back to the old town. We only had one section where we were rather harassed, and after Nepal, even that was simple to ignore. The markets can be quite touristy but we have wandered into a few that are just for loacls. We have come acroos the notorious grasshoppers and worms but luckily have been too full to contemplate trying them...yet.

Flowers at a night Market

This evening we went along to a meditation class at a beautiful Wat just off the Saturday night walking Market.

After our Meditation

It was a simple 2 hour class on meditation, starting with a fairly short talk from a local monk who explained some of the concepts of Buddhism, and then the process of meditation and the ideas behind it. We got to try some forms with his guidance but found our 'mindfulness' wandered pretty quickly. We both found it very interesting and enjoyed the experience. A lot of the philosophy behind it will be good to put into practise. Unfortunately meditation is quite time consuming and London life may stomp on our current good intentions. Though while we currently have the time, practise makes perfect?