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Coming back to Thailand was somewhat of a difficult task as explained in the last travelblog. However, now that I am used to being transported not only for hours but also with all different kinds of transportation means I have developed a rough skin. I would compare it with a Koala Bear, who sleeps 80%!o(MISSING)f its life time. Grh.....
The north of Thailand, were I crossed the boarder is a lot more hilly and green than the opposite site in the south. However, coming from Laos a strict line from a third world country to a touristy country was visible. Thailands north is well populated, families have stone houses, shop after shop passed our view and local people looked a lot more westernised.
Cashew Plant On the way on the minibus to Chiang Mai we stopped close to Chiang Rai at a Cashew plant. Imagine how imazed I was, when I slowly forced to wake up out of my travelling dreams (I had two seats to make myself comfortable as well - that was a luxury).
There it was a big shop offering cashew nuts, dried fruit and other thai exotic dried things like shrimp and
Cashew opening
My first mini van stop on the ride towards Chiang Mai involved a Cashew farm and small factory. What a straneous work it is to open the Cashew Nut. anchovies brh. The cashews however were fantastic - each back stack had a small tupper wear box in front to try the different flavours. Garlic, honey roast, coated with black or white sesame seads... but the more exotic ones where tom yam (hu my taste buds jumped ot the chili and lime spice), coffee (did not go near it as I am not too keen on it anyway) etc. Yes Zeina, I have collected their details and will in time send it over to you.
Even more interesting I found the labour work on opening the nuts, seeing the fruit in reality and looking at their machinery in the back of the store. It seems they roast and salt and than coat all their cashews first with honey, before applying any flavour - making the tastes always sweet but salty also. This is what one of the workers tried to explain in his little English.
After 20min or so I was asked to leave 😞 as the minibus had to move on. You should have seen the other travellers faces when I talked about nuts..... they thought I am nuts myself.
Chiang Mai I liked Chiang Mai
a lot. It is a mini Bangkok, meaning that it offers all shops, seights and comfort of a city you might expect but in an environment that I prefered to Bangkok. Trees of all kinds were offering a shadow wherever you go, small streets and passageways gives the city a character of Barcelona, were around every corner you might find another unexpected alley with pretty houses. That was another positive feature of Chiang Mai - houses were low and build with thought, so that they offered a welcoming and warm feel of a small town but yet offered city conveniences.
Oh and do not forget the traffic, which consistent predominantely of red taxis (which is similar to an animal transporter) and lots of motorbikes. This is were I fell in love with the Yamaha Fino, which is not sold in Europe (I looked it up already). I know that a vesper is the real thing but this new design and that it is automatic made me excited about it. Anyway... I think that also has to do with the fact that I constantly use scooters over here as it is cheaper and more flexible to use than arranging day trips
Wooden statues
Chiang Mai is famous for its night market of all goods the tourist heart might want. or using a taxi.
Chiang Mai is also famous for its arts and crafts (especially for wood) and markets. If I have some money in the future and a house to decorate it is a good idea to return to Chiang Mai. Even shop owners from all over the world visit Chiang Mais arts villages for new furniture to be imported from Thailand. They actually build for you everything for your own measurement, for a part of the price you would pay in a store in Europe for a machine made piece.
Thai Cooking After arriving in Chiang Mai I realised that I will not have time to go to a whole week of cooking. As I found out on my first day of cooking, that was not a hinderence as I would not have 'survived' a whole week. You probably question why.... well if you imagine that you are cooking 6 meals a day, which are all very spicy and besides outcome of burning hands and body from cooking with chilli and other spices - eating 6 meals a day was just too much for my Laos adjusted digestion system.
Imagine after just one day
Friendship Bands
In one restaurant, the staff was soooo friendly and welcoming they even gave us friendship bands... 3 of my friends who joined me for a day had bad stomachs for 2 days and one for almost 5!
However besides the side effects of high volume and spicy food it was exactly what I was hoping for.
Every day, besides the cooking itself we learned a certain topic such as how to make a curry powder or going on a local market to learn about the different vegetables, sauces (ouster, soya etc.) and fruit. After the morning session, we were taken by a minivan outside the city to the chefs kitchen, which was situated in a green luxury village resort. The environment and the airconditioned lecture room helped to cook quiet comfortably in the heat.
The class was structured in a simple but effective way. Every guest had their own working table and stove. Staff prepared all ingredients and helped when a guest had problems cooking. First a lecture, presented by different chefs showed us the upcoming meal to be prepared, such as a curry, fried vegetables, soup or salad.
Than we had to do it ourselves, which was great as the practise of doing it yourself really made stick some good tips. The one
Black Sticky rice in coconut milk
After a spicy day of dishes, this was my favourite, which I will definetely try as a desert or even breakfast. Jam! I will definetely always use is: to crush a garlic by either slamming the knive on the clove piece or putting the knife flat on the clove and hammer with the fist on the knife (the knife was wide, do not try with a normal houseknife please) and than the skin comes off easily. I remember evenings after work when I was standing and trying to peel of the garlics skin, leaving me with smelly fingers. That is over now!
After partly recovering from Laos and doing something for my housewife education it was time to leave to Pai - my Yogic retreat.
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Uta
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Knofi
Hey, das mit dem Knoblauch hätte ich (oder auch Tim Mälzer) dir auch sagen können ;-) Du kannst das übrigens auch mit dem Handballen machen (riecht auch nicht unbedingt). Da bin ich jetzt mal gespannt, ob du mal was Feines für mich kochen wirst - Oh ja, ich bin ganz schön unddankbar...hehe ;-) Anyway, hab noch eine schöne Zeit und bleib gesund! Grüßle aus Notts