Thai Cooking

Today I did a full-day Thai cooking course in Chiang Mai. It was good fun all around, and was truly an international crowd with people from Brazil, Italy, Canada, Israel, Ireland, Spain, US (me!), Venezuela, France, and New Zealand all mincing, chopping, frying, flipping, mashing, and eating everything in sight. I made Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Red Curry Chicken, Morning Glory stir-fry, Tom Yum Soup, and Mango Sticky Rice throughout the day and it was great. We first stopped at the local market to pick up all the many many ingredients (so many spices!), and head to our kitchen equipped with personal work stations and Woks for all! I am now an expert Thai chef as my graduate certificate indicates. And don't worry, I have my recipe book, so I shall cook Thai for whomever is interested upon my return stateside.

Last night I went over to Chiang Mai University and mixed it up with the local University students at this chilled out bar/lounge with a live Thai band. I played pool and bought drinks for my new friends and was the life of the party. Chiang Mai is a fairly laid back city and my guesthouse (which costs $5/night is awesome with a very cool sitting area to lounge and swap tales with fellow travelers). There are so many people that just travel for months on end without a job, but also without a care or worry in the world. These are the type of people that I admire most.

Tomorrow is a very important day. It is the King's birthday and everybody should wear yellow in honor of his eightieth. So, I plan on hanging around Chiang Mai in the morning to take it all in, and then hop a bus to get out to Pai, about 3 hours west for some laid back relaxation followed by some hardcore trekking involving elephant rides, bamboo rafts, and an overnight in a hilltribe village.

Just letting the good times roll...

Vegetables in the market



Moments after tossing my stir-fry into the Wok. The flames weren't captured in this photo by the video is much better!

Behind the driver's seat of a tuk-tuk just moments ago right outside this internet cafe!