Cooking up a storm in Bangkok

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Day 23

Rahim and I went to a cooking class this morning. The group was nice and small - only 5 people. We were all young too. Despite this though, the class wasn't overly chatty even with Rahim's great efforts to engage people in conversations. It was a full morning and we had been advised to not eat a heavy breakfast as we'd be eating all morning. It was very true and after the second course (of 5) we were quite full already. There was also a trip to the market to buy some of the items we'd be needing but the instructor was not overly informative or passionate so I think we missed something from the total experience. However, we learnt how to make 5 different dishes and were given a recipe book too. So now I shall be an expert chef in both Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. I think the toughest part will be gathering all the various ingredients. In Thai cooking, we were told, the most important are the spices to the recipe, everything else can be adjusted to your liking (i.e. meats and veggies).
In the afternoon, we took a super cheap boat ride north on the river to go check out the Royal Palace, Emerald Buddha and the Reclining Buddha. Forgetting about bringing pants instead of shorts, Rahim and I had to borrow pants. They were very stylish. I think my favourite was the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho as I wasn't expecting it to be so large and grand. Most Buddha statues up to that point were fairly small, but I suppose when they're being made out of emerald, jade and other precious stones they can't be too big.
After a walk through the city and a quick metro ride, we arrived at Lumphini Park to watch the locals do group cardio at 5pm. It was a sight that I was not expecting to be so fascinating. There were instructors leading the groups and music playing through sound systems. The movements often didn't correspond with the beat of the music which made it all the more enjoyable. While in the park we also met a guy from Manchester who lives in Patong Beach on Phuket for 6 months of the year. As Rahim and I would be headed there shortly we got the low down on places to eat/stay and things to do/see.
For the evening we returned to the same area as last night and thought that the economics of buying a 3L tower of beer was better than buying individual pitchers. We didn't think about the physics of us actually being able to finish that much beer though.

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Photos

Market shopping
Rahim and his trendy shopping basket

Food prep
Yes we made our meals on the floor. My standards for food preparation have lowered since traveling.

At the royal palace
We are wearing matching rental pants. This is the Summer 2009 look FYI.

Statues
We think this is a Thai massage in statue form

View in Lumphini Park
After the locals were done their workout, we watching the sun go down from Lumphini Park

Comments

[Megan]

You are the two cutest chefs!!! I love it that I've been where you've been! So much fun! And good work with keeping the blog up! Looking forward to seeing you when you're home Adam!