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Published: April 9th 2006
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"Adventure Cooking"
We opted to take the "adventure cooking" course, although I ended up pouring most of my wok into the cooker - Stu Well our three months in Asia have come to an end. We worked out we've spent over 16 months of our lives living in Asia - that is crazy!!! We've had an amazing, action packed 3 months in Asia. But truth be told, we're rather excited to be heading to an English speaking country.. (I was very excited to get to Australia, my first time ever! - Sarah)
So what will we miss?; Sunshine everyday... cheap food, cheap accommodation, cheap beer... the friendly natives (some people have been very kind)... nature - jungle, mountains, beaches, beautiful..
So what won't we miss?; Hearing the phrases 'Same same but different' & 'No money, no honey'... people spitting in the street... touristed out Thais... traffic and pollution... dirty travellers, hippy travellers (wash your hair... absolutely no reason for dirty unwashed dredlocks!... they have water in Asia!)
So here's how we spent our last week or so in Asia... After 12 hours and four buses, we arrived in the Northern City of Chiang Mai. After an hour of walking around (no room at the inn) we found a room at the T-Room guest house. A fab little guest house, just built, with TV,
Look what I made!
The results of our cooking course - Pad Thai, Green Curry and Penang Curry. We tried but couldn't finish! hot shower, furniture, all brand spanking new. Best of all just 300 baht a night. (4.10UK) People had tried putting us off Chiang Mai saying it was very touristy (typical snobby traveller comment - some girl even told us in all seriousness that she was dissapointed because the hilltribe village she visited had electricity from solar panels - so they should remain in povery because you want to visit should they?!?!) and the people weren't very friendly, but we haven't found that. It is like a smaller, more chilled out version of Bangkok in some ways. Full of expats and older Western men, plenty of girlie bars too. There are also lots of foreign restaurants, so you can satisfy any cravings from falafel to mexican, authentic Italian pasta to a Greek Mezze. We took full advantage and have been very bad, no Thai meal consumed in Chiang Mai apart from at our cooking lesson. We weren't put out off by it's touristy reputation, the people were really helpful and a bit of what you know every now and again is lovely!
We had trouble catching a sleeper train back to Bangkok, so we ended up staying in Chiang Mai
Big, Big, Prawn; Big Prawn!
Sarah finishing off our meal of Tiger Prawns at the night market in Chiang Mai - only four pounds for this giant meal. for a whole week. In that time we visited the mountain temple of Doi Suthep (Great views over the city, if it isn't cloudy) & Chiang Mai Zoo (Bit strange as it's set out over such a big area, cages were bigger than most we've seen in Asia). We also went on a days Thai cookery course. We decided that we couldn't leave Thailand without learning more about cooking their yummy food. Although Chiang Mai is famous for its outdoor activities we'd just copleted a gruelling 4 day trek in Umphang so opted for the rest.
We went to a school called 'The Master', run by two Thai brothers. The course started at a local Thai market where we were shown the difference between lots of veggies, fruit, rice and eggs. (All very important for cooking Thai dishes) We were also told what we could substitute for certain ingredients back home (especiall good for me because I'm so fussy! - Sarah) Then they let us loose in the kitchen. Throughout the day we made tons of food; Tom Yam Kung (Sweet and sour soup with prawns), papaya salad, mango with sticky rice, green curry, Penang curry, real pad Thai
Golden Tower!
The grand palace in Bangkok - look at the storm clouds just about to dump. wrapped in an omelet. We cut the veg with a huge meat cleaver and even managed his 'special adventure' which basically involves mixing water, oil and fire to cause a mini fire ball, great!! So we ate virtually all day and it was even edible, maybe even delicious!!! (especially as I briefed the teacher on all the vegetables I didn't like, so he kept coming up with substitutes I could use, though I think he thought I was a bit weird!!) So get ready for Sarah and Stu's Thai dinner party on our return, we're pros now.
Also while we were in Chiang Mai it was the Thai elections and the government had ordered that no alcohol was to be sold for 48hours over the election, this meant most bars were closed and the usually bar streets were like a ghost town, very strange and we're not sure quite why this happened? Also Stu's toothache finally got the better of him, so we spent a day at the local hospital getting his 'huge' cavity filled. (In the tooth! - Stu) First we made a mistake and sat down in the wrong place; the nurse was most confused why Stu
Golden Guardians.
These golden statues stretch right around the walls of one of the temples in the grand palace. wanted acupuncture for his toothache, hee hee. Needles narrowly averted, we finally made it to the right place and Stu had his tooth fixed for 580 baht (about 6 pound fifty) including an injection (which was optional as most Thais don't bother having them. They have higher pain tolerancy than us falangs (foreigners) so the dentist informed us). Stu was breaking into a nervous sweat by this time, but the dentist did a good job, though he may need a root canal on his return to England, ouch!
We got the sleeper train to Bangkok because we were unable to face another coach journey in Asia. We were recommended to try the New Merry V guest house, so we got a room there, 290 baht, cheap and pretty nice, minus the mini ants that populated the shower. (I'm much more blase about bugs these days - Sarah). It was just round the back from Khao San Road. We had saved all our Bangkok sightseeing until the end of our trip, so we were excited to get to see some of the main sights. We started off by visiting Jim Thompson's house. (The American who launched the Thai silk trade
Reclining Buddah
The massive golden buddah at Wat Po - head to toe. internationally, but mysteriously disappeared one day while out on a walk in the jungle). We got there by boat taxi and BTS Sky-train. Jim Thompson's house was really beautiful, but you could only go around it with a tour guide. She was most amused when she was showing us the 'potties' guests had used, as the toilet was outside in those days.
The next day we visited the Grand Palace and Wat Po. The sky was ominously grey when we set out. Again we caught the boat taxi - what a great invention, especially in a city with us much traffic as Bangkok - really relaxed!!! We had only just started exploring the place where there small emerald Buddha is kept when the heavens opened and everything was under an inch of water. Thankfully it didn't rain for too long, but it did increase the humidity to disgusting levels, lovely for sightseeing not!!. We liked the palace and all it's buildings, but it was very polished and perfectly preserved, which contrasted very much with the faded glory of Angkor's temples. Then it was off to Wat Po to visit the beautiful reclining Buddha. Our last day was spent visiting
Quick Else you'll miss it...
A boat taxi on Bangkok's river... they were very rapid on their pick-ups so you had to jump on quick! Muang Boran ancient city, 33km outside Bangkok. They say and we agree, that this would be a great place to go before you start your travels in Thailand. It's a man made park, shaped like the outline of Thailand. Inside, in corresponding places, all the famous buildings in Thailand are recreated. You can borrow a bicycle, golf buggy or drive your own car around the 20km of paths to visit temples, floating markets or villages all lovingly recreated in miniature (not tiny, but still normal house sizes) We managed to fry ourselves on the bikes, as we sweated off all our suncream on the way around. You would no believe how hot Bangkok is at the moment, 35 + humidity...
So now we're off to catch our plane to Australia 2.5 weeks. We arrive on the 8th April, our two year anniversary!!! Stu's mate, Scott, bless him, is putting us up, so we'll have a nice pad to borrow and a fridge!!!
We'll let you know about our Aussie adventure soon, but I do know Scott's taking us to visit the set of Summer bay, called Palm Beach in real life. So pics from us at the summer bay surf club to follow... (I'm sooooooooo excited!!! - Sarah) Oh yeah and we're off to our first Aussie barbie on Sunday night.
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Danny
non-member comment
Wow!
It's great to see you having a blast. Australia is lucky to have ya.