THAI COOKING

(Sunday) Last night was the first night I slept straight through the night. It felt great. I woke up so refreshed this morning. We had a continental breakfast before we split into four groups. Two groups were going on an Amazing Race Tour of Chiang Mai while the other groups were taking a cooking class. In the afternoon we switched activities. My group did the race first. It took us throughout Chiang Mai. We had to utilize different forms of transportation and communication. The tasks were of a variety. Some were education while others were fun. One part was to get passport photos taken. Just as we suspected Hillary needed passport photos for our visas, and it was a clever way to get everyones! The race was a lot of fun. The first group beat us by only two minutes!!! We would have been there faster, but we saved our photos for last not realizing it would take 25 minutes to develop them.

In the afternoon we did the cooking class. It was phenomenal! Sui is an internationally recognized chef. Her and her husband picked us up in their VW van and took us to their home. There were eight cooking stations set up outside. First she demonstrated a meal, and then we replicated the recipe. We cooked three different meals. The first was Pad Thai because we were all starving at that point. We made them to our liking spicewise and sat down and enjoyed. Next was a Tom Kha Soup. It was absolutely delicious! She taught us how to tell whether or not a chille is spicy. I used three :) Last but not least was our green curry. It was absolutely delicious! It was the best curry I have ever had! She taught us a huge secret. When making the coconut oil, it's important to use 100% coconut milk. It was so rich and creamy. We all got a copy of her cookbook, and I cannot wait to have my own apartment and cook a Thai meal for my family and friends. Oh the joy of having my own kitchen :) After the cooking class we were all in a food coma! Great way to spend the afternoon. Sui took us to the market afterwards and taught us a lot about the local foods.

The rest of the evening was equably enjoyable. We went to the city market. The Sunday Market is the biggest market and at the city gate. Normally the night market is by the river on the opposite side of town. There were so many arts and crafts. This city is full of artisans. I couldn't resist temptations anymore. I ended up buying two dresses, two bracelets and a pair of earrings. I got all of that for about $30! How could any girl resist?

I found these beautiful dishes made of mango wood. I have the girl's number so I can order them in bulk. They are a piece of art. The stand next to hers had a man making beautiful flowers out of soap as well. Everything is so full of color and beauty. I tried a cakeball which was literally a ball of cake on a stick. Who could resist something like that!? Not me... not with my sweet tooth. Much to my surprise there was a mini sausage in the very center. I took one bite and decided against it. Thankfully I could enjoy the cake and eat around it :)

The market went on forever. We all found small treasures. Afterwards some of decided to get a drink. We went to this upstairs bar while is literally called the upstairs bar. There were about six different flights of stairs that led you to crazy rooms with psychadelic paintings. When we were towards the top we saw a guy peeing. Apparently it's not appropriate to close the door when urinating. I must have missed the memo. My bad. We had to take our shoes off which is very common in the Thai culture. There were pillows on the floors, low tables, black light paintings and Christmas lights. I think all that was missing was the LSD. Where exactly am I again? Where's Alice when you need her? ANyways we had a beer and then walked back to our hotel where I got some much needed sleep. Chiang Mai :)