Alms, Cooking Class, Cobra Whiskey & Kangaroo Bar
Trip Start
Oct 31, 2009
1
5
18
Trip End
Nov 08, 2009
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Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
There is a shrine there, and it is a popular spot for giving alms to the monks who walk there from a couple of different temples. There are quite a few tables set up with trays of food for sale at 20 baht each which equals about 65 cents USD.
For the Alms Giving Ceremony, our guide would invite the monks over as they passed by and they would lift the lids of their bowls. We then put the items from our trays into their containers (again, as a woman, I had to be careful to not touch them). Afterwards, locals take their shoes off and kneel in front of the monks while they give their blessing. Foreigners can remain standing. The blessing is given in Sanskrit. Then the monks continue their walk to accept more offerings.
Receiving a Blessing for Ancestors
They do this for several hours each morning which gives them their food and drink for the day: breakfast and lunch. They receive so much food, though, that they are able to provide for the needy as well. The temple dogs will get fed last; none of them looked underfed.
Every Thai boy or man is expected to join the monkhood at some point in life. They can join for 1 week, 3 months or their whole life (for any amount of time). It really seems like a pretty decent idea. Living a meek and humble life for even a short period might do some good for our spoiled male population in the States.
We returned to the hotel and went to Kad Kafe for breakfast. I had a really nice meal. Such great fruits and fruit juices in Thailand! Some of our group went for a more traditional American breakfast, while others went more along the lines of a traditional Thai breakfast. I went somewhere in the middle, eating fruit, nibbling on potatoes, and drinking tea.
After breakfast, we met a chef from the Four Seasons at a food market (I'm afraid I don't have the name of it). Her name is Por, and she showed us all around the market. Our first stop was a stall selling little Thai "donut holes" that were absolutely delicious. There was a sugar-coated one and a plain one...both were very yummy. We all would have liked to eat more of them, but we were still full from breakfast.
Thai YUMMMMIES
Next, we needed something to drink. So we went around the corner to get Thai tea or Thai iced coffee. I got the Thai tea, which came in a bag. I remember seeing Anthony Bourdain posing for a photo shoot with a bag of Thai tea on one of his shows. Now it was my turn. It was great. I had not realized how easy it is to make. Everyone uses the same type of tea in Thailand (No. One Tea), then you add condensed sweetened milk and evaporated milk...you know, good ole Carnation. That's it. So good. Still not sure why it turns orange though.
From there we walked around the different stalls investigating the vegetables, fruits, fish, meats, you name it. Por showed us the inside of a 1000-yr old egg. Did not look appetizing to me. It smelled ok though. The meat section was kind of gnarly: snouts, entrails, eyeballs looking at you. I admit, sometimes I prefer the American plastic-wrapped, styrofoam tray option.
Chicken Feet
Lastly, we stopped at the hot sauce booth. We all made purchases of hot sauce, dipping sauce, and spice mixes. A couple of the spice mixes you can only get in that particular part of Thailand. Por said she would get us a recipe for the mix (and she did later).
Then we headed over to the Four Seasons Chiang Mai (in the Mae Rim District) for a cooking class. We were taken to the Cooking School via golf cart. The Cooking School was built for the sole purpose of teaching people how to cook Thai cuisine. There are only two walls at each end; it is open to the outdoors and a trully beautiful kitchen. Before we entered the kitchen, we made wishes and lit some incense for the Spirit House of the Cooking School.
Our Chef, who we christened Tiger Chef, was fantastic. He demonstrated each dish for us, then let us taste it. Then it would be our turn to make it. We each had our own station and staff members would watch over us and help when needed. I love cooking, and Thai cuisine is something I have little, ok, no experience with, so it was great fun.
I did nick my finger with the knife, and you'd think I had hacked off my hand or something. They were so attentive and took great care of my finger. It really was a minor injury and no big deal. Most of the others didn't know until later that I had even cut myself even with the fuss the staff had made.
Our first dish was Thom Yum Kung (Spicy Prawn Soup with Lemongrass). It was delicious. I realized when I was eating it, though, that I could have actually made it a little hotter. To go with the soup, Tiger Chef gave some of us a shot of the cobra/scorpion whiskey that we had spied on the shelf earlier. It was surprisingly smooth and mild. Then we made Thom Yum Gai Muang (Northern Style Chicken Soup). This dish used one of the spice packets we got from the market and is a Northern Thailand specialty.
Ta Da!
Next we learned how to make Egg Net...not an easy thing to do, but it was fun. I wouldn't make it at home though, because it's rather messy. We found out that the egg nets would be wrapped around the Phad Thai Goong (Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Prawns) which we made following the soup. Tiger Chef also demonstrated how to make a couple of other amazing dishes.
We tasted everything along the way, so we had little room for the feast we were served after all the cooking. We sat at a long table and were served all the dishes we had made (with the exception of the first soup). Each of us ate our own creations. Tiger Chef joined us for another shot of whiskey, but this one was some other kind.
We had such a good time. Tiger Chef must have enjoyed it too, because he invited us for a vegetable and fruit carving class and also to stay for dinner. Sadly, we could not stay. We were presented with Certificates of Completion of Traditional Soups & Noodles, new aprons, the recipes of the dishes we had made and a dinner set. What a fantastic experience this was!
After we returned, we had a tour of our hotel, which included a look at the beautiful spa. I wish I'd had time to have a treatment there or take a yoga class in their teak yoga pavillion. When we were returning from the spa, there was a rainbow in the sky, which seemed especially appropriate considering we were in Shangri-La.
After our site inspection, we would have had dinner, but we were all too full from our megafeast at the Cooking School. I went back to my room to make final contact with some local TravelPodders who were interested in having a meetup. Unfortunately, our meetup just didn't happen.
So I met a couple of the writers at the Horizon Lounge and had a Gin & Tonic. We sat and talked and relaxed until our fourth muskateer showed up. We then went out to the Night Bazaar which was within walking distance from the hotel.
We shopped along the way and finally made it to the Paradise Bar. It turned out that this was their last night because Chang Beer had bought up the whole block of bars and stores to open up a beer garden. It was quite sad, because I'm sure it will lose all of its original charm. We had fun there, though, and played the longest pool game EVER. We finally said a fond farewell to the Paradise Bar.
However, before we left, Ally and I had to go to the little girls' room. Ally had asked at the bar, and they suggested going in the alley rather than using their facility. Hmm...scary. So we walked a couple blocks to a public restroom we saw on our way to the bar. Dang, it was closed! So we went to the bar across the street and asked them. They pointed down the way to another bathroom. The good news was that we didn't have to pay to get in, the bad news was that they were squat toilets. EEeeeeek! I had avoided them in France, I had avoided them in Japan, but it just wasn't going to happen in Thailand. So I had my first experience with a hole in the ground. You'll be happy to know everything turned out ok. TMI, I know.
We decided we were finally hungry, and we wanted street food. We finally came across a vendor, and we each ordered something different: chicken, beef, fish, and pork. Mine was the beef, and it was like little bits of jerky. Each dish came with a bag of rice. I liked mine, but it was a little strange to have beef jerky & rice for dinner, lol. We ate our "meals" and drank some Singha at the Kangaroo Bar. As is implied, it's owned by an Aussie who didn't even look old enough to legally drink.
Street Vendor--Bought Our Dinner Here
Loy Kathong was still being celebrated, so the Aussie lit some, well, I wouldn't call them fire crackers, more like fire bombs, off right in front of us. If I lose my hearing at some point in life, I'll know why. They'll light anything, anywhere in Thailand!
There was a Fish Spa next door...you know, you stick your feet in a fish tank and they nibble the dead skin off your feet. We had thought, "Hey, let's go do that!" but the last customers were there and they wouldn't let any more come in. The owner came over to our table and explained that it had been very busy because of the festival and the fish were tired. Heh heh.
So, no Fish Spa. Instead we walked down the street back to the hotel and went nighty night. Another fun, but very long day had slipped by.
