Cooking Lessons in Chiang Mai

My last day in Thailand (1st round) was spent learning how to cook Thai at Baan Thai's Cooking School. More about that later.

An Abundance of Vegetables at the Market

I am so glad that my itinerary affords me an opportunity to return to Thailand. Everyday I'm saying to myself (and others) how much I love this country. I'm sure it will feature as a prominant holiday destination in the years to come. There has not been a day where I have not gone 'wow, I am so happy to be here'. Everthing, including the food, the value for money, the nightlife, the nature of the buddhist faith, the friendliness of the people, the sights, things to do etc. has been rather spectacular. If I didn't have a fixed date for a tour through Vietnam, I'm sure I would have followed the guy on the Phi Phi tour who changed his 3 week visit into 4 months. I've been to many countries before and no other country has inflicted such emotion and enjoyment:) Now I can see why many other round the world travellers buy their air tickets as they go... at the back of my mind, I continue to remind myself that I have 3 rather large continents to cover in 12 months...

At the Market

Chiang Mai has turned out to be rather impressive... so many things to do. The town has many schools operating that offer courses in the Thai language, cooking, Thai massage etc. Other shops offer a multitude of tours through the region, including multi-day treks through the mountainous areas. You could easily spend a month living here. Last night, I met an English guy who has decided to settle and teach English here. But his income is rather pathetic... 25,000 baht/month whereas Aussie teachers get up to 180,000 baht/month (exchange rate 1 dollar = 30 baht). Readers... don't worry... I will not follow suite (at this stage anyway).

Back to the cooking course... and what a fantastic day we had in such a beautiful setting with another great group of people. This group has probably been one of my friendliest groups, with offers to stay with a girl in Manchester etc. For this course, we prepared 5 dishes:

Chiang Mai Market

1. Fried Noodle Thai Style

2. Green Curry with Chicken

3. Savoury Minced Chicken Salad

4. Water Chestnut in Coconut Milk; and

5. Tom Yum Soup

Email me if you want any recipes. Also check out www.cookingthai.com for further details about the course. The teacher was sensational, with a great sense of humour and very good English. Apparently, photos of the group and I will be on this site in a couple of days.

Last night's nightlife was very good... I met Daniel from Brisbane who is currently living in London doing IT. Like me, Daniel has also fallen for Thailand and can't wait to return. Daniel and I met up with a few locals who took us to a rather seedy nightclub, but nevertheless a lot of fun with a very mixed crowd including the infamous lady boys... As a traveller with no work commitments, it is very easy to become quite addicted to the freedom of the nightlife... one of my key challenges over the next few weeks will be to control my intake of beer:)

Cooking Lesson in Action

Wow... I have had an unbelievable time here in Thailand and loving every minute of it. But it's now time to go to Laos... for a pathetic 2 days and then Vietnam for my 3 week tour. It will be nice to switch off and have everything done for me by a tour guide, but the thought of having my freedom taken away from me worries me a bit. We'll see how it goes.

French Guy Hard at Work

Group Hard at Work

Joe Preparing the Currey Paste

Me at the Market with a Cucumber

My Green Chicken Curry

Salad and Soup

Shopping at the Market

Teacher, Koong, Cooking

Yum