January 13th: Thai cooking class…Umbrella Factory…Hot Springs…Walking Street…McDonalds

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Today started off with an amazing Thai cooking class. We met a lady who took us to the local market to buy ingredients to make Pad Thai, green curry, mango sticky rice, and papaya salad. The market was very interesting as there was a lot of raw meats that looked like they had just been killed. Gross! Then we went to the woman’s house and she had a complete cooking class set up. We each had our own cutting board station where we minced garlic and chopped veggies. We each had our own electric burner with woks that we cooked most of the food on. She went through each step of the process to make the different foods and then we shared the food together! It was absolutely delicious, and it was so fun to be able to make some authentic Thai food and to see the work that goes into making these different dishes. I hope to make some of them when I go home. She also gave us a Thai food cook book that had the recipes we had made in it which was really cool! It felt surreal getting to attend a cooking class under an open air pavilion in the middle of Thailand. One of my favorite moments from the trip thus far. After the cooking class we visited the umbrella factory with our buddies and I got my elephant bag hand painted. I also picked up some other souvenirs including a lantern which I have been wanting throughout the trip. My buddies enjoyed seeing the umbrellas as well and had fun playing with the different trinkets at the store. After the umbrella factory we went to the hot springs which was a surprise stop! We bought some baskets of eggs which we placed into the hot water and let it boil while we tried to stick our feet in the hot springs water. The water was wayyy too hot for me to stick any more than my heel in. People did however have their whole foot in the hot water and they would come out with what looked like first degree burns on their legs and feet. This just reiterated the fact that Thais have a very strong pain tolerance. I did not find the hot springs enjoyable! Too hot! After we left the hot springs we went to the walking street to shop and get some food. My buddies and I walked up and down the street and I got to see all the vendors with their unique foods and clothing. I tried a few Thai foods including a shrimp and cheese donut and a cheese ball. Both very interesting. It was fun to get to spend some time with both my buddies again and we enjoyed talking and laughing together. After the walking street, we made a stop at McDonalds on the way home which gave us all a taste of home. ?

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