Bye bye Chiang Mai

---

So thanks to a few late night-early morning combos, I didn’t manage to write entries for the past couple of days so we last left off just before our cookery course.

We were picked up from our hostel at 9 and drove around to pick up all the others who had booked the course. I was a little surprised when a family climbed aboard, with a 2 yr old and a 7 yr old. After selecting which dishes we each wanted to cook, our first trip was to a local market where our ingredients were sourced. Our teacher walked us around and introduced the main ingredients and explained the differences between local produce and produce available at home (e.g. garlic in Thailand is smaller and you can leave on the skin). We were then allowed to roam around for 20 minutes while the teacher bought the right amounts of all ingredients. We all stuck together pretty much and looked at buckets full of live frogs and tanks full of fish. As we walked further around there were chickens heads and feets, pigs trotters and testicles among other meat produce. Within the group, the mum bought her girls some jelly which she offered everyone to try. It was creamier tasting than jelly I have eaten previously. Then, Mike, a Canadian law student in KL, bought some durian and kindly offered it around for everyone to try. Having previously avoided trying durian at all times, I felt this was my time to try it – share the experience with others who hadn’t eaten it previously. Suffer together as it were. However I was pleasantly surprised by the notorious fruit. The smell, admittedly, is awful but the taste is not as pungent and could even be considered nice haha.

After this we went back to the school and began cooking the dishes we had selected. I picked to cook chicken fried rice, green curry (paste then the curry itself, chicken with cashew nuts and finally spring rolls. Len chose pad thai, panang curry (paste then the curry again), chicken with cashew nuts and papaya salad. It was a really great experience – well run and fun. You also get a recipe book at the end – which was great as I spent more time chatting to everyone than actually listening to my teacher… Things haven’t changed much since school to be honest.

In the evening we headed out to Wororot Market on the advice of a Thai who was visiting from Bangkok. I’m actually so glad that we did. It was different to the tourist night markets; much more food available and much cheaper. There weren’t the same souvenirs opportunities I guess but for clothes and things it was a much better option. We also saw for the first time a genuine stall selling insects for people to eat – not just one set up for people to take pictures of.

The next day we got picked up at 8.30 for our white-water rafting course. Over breakfast, we realised the couple in the room next to us had ended up booking the same course as us after deliberating over the all-inclusive hill tribe tours. We then got in the mini-van to find two of the girls from our cooking course yesterday. The final passenger in our mini-van was Deedee – a Thai lady who had moved to the US to study for a little while. Our first task of the day was to sign our lives away. Then we all got chatting and to know more about each other on the 2 hour drive up to the top of the course. On the way we stopped at a food market while the guides handed in paper work. We saw snake being sold at a meat stall which was something we hadn’t seen at the other stall. I walked around the cooked meat stalls looking for snake to try but couldn’t find it anywhere.

We arrived at the base, were introduced to three other guys from another bus and ate lunch together. Yellow curry, fried veg, chicken and ginger with rice and sticky rice with banana – yummy yummy. After a quick safety talk, it was on with the rafting. We were in a raft with Deedee and our two captains. The waters were calm – apparently they get more rapid and white around September. However we still had a fantastic experience – a great introduction to white-water rafting. The guides were playful splashing us, racing during the calmer sections and even capsizing the boats at one point (my reaction: panic – much to the delight of the safety kayaker!). It was certainly a highlight of the trip so far.

We decided to visit the Saturday Walking Street Market that evening – just to see what it was like... ended up spending just under 1000 baht (£20) on clothes, a bag, some gifts, sushi and drinks. A good deal nevertheless. It’s said the Saturday Market is a much better deal than the night bazaar – and I feel that we got good deals on the things we bought; much cheaper than Bangkok or the other tourist markets we visited. Word on the street is that the Sunday night market is even better but unfortunately I’m writing this on the train rather than shopping for bargains!

So that brings us up to today – our last day in Chiang Mai. I think it’s fair to say we were both a little upset to leave. Chiang Mai is such a lovely city and on top of that we had a lovely guesthouse. Certainly worth the hours on a train and slight lack of sleep! So we’re currently en route back to Bangkok (ugh!) but then moving swiftly into the rural area of Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) to visit Nok, Len’s sister. Should be completely different again =]

---