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Published: November 8th 2010
Moped
Asia in a motorised nutshellAs we were wandering along to and from our amazing veggie troughing session last evening we noticed a chalk board peeking out from the end of an alleyway advertising yoga classes. This had us interested because it was both cheaper than yesterday’s class and considerably closer to our hostel. Oh, and it actually had a class this morning, which the other place did not.
So, we set the alarm for the supremely early time of 8:30am to give us time to have our breakfast and find our way to the class. Having started slipping towards hippiness, we were discovered that we were over keen on continuing that particular trend. Even though we stopped for a smoothie on the way, we arrived nearly half an hour early for the class!
This yoga class was on the first floor of an old wooden building which would, but for the building site next door, have been extremely tranquil. Since Chiang Mai has such a transient population, yoga classes are conducted on a drop in basis which means that they tend to fill up in the last few moments before they started. So we spent the time waiting shuffling
????
We walk past this sign every time we leave our hotel and I just can't quite work it out on our mats so that other people could find a space.
Today, our teacher was called Vadi. Young and particularly easy on the eye. He also has a mass of curly hair and, for some reason, I am always fascinated by others who carry that particular affliction through life. Everyone else just seems to manage it with so much more panache than I do. Or should I say, considerably less frizz.
Today’s class was mainly beginners which suited us just fine. The lady next to me said that she was also a teacher which meant that I kept sneaking a peek at what she was doing if I was concerned I wasn’t getting it quite right. It was a particularly energetic class and I think I am beginning to understand why it is rare to find a tubby yoga person - any additional “baggage” would get in the way and after a class you feel like nothing would be more tasty than a plate of salad. No really, it is like that.
After our classe, we drifted back to our hostel and spent an afternoon reading by the pool feeling beautifully relaxed and calm.
We made
Our teacher
I think showing us mushrooms a brief escape from tranquillity for our third Mexican of our trip at a place called El Diablo. The food was incredibly fresh and the portions were enormous. Save for the chicken in the burrito, it was almost meat free too. The yoga must be rubbing off on us.
5 November 2010 You guessed it, the morning started with another yoga class with Vadi. Today, we had a special treat because we were the only people who turned up for the class. This meant that we (Gregg) could ask lots of questions as we went along and the class was tailored towards our needs - more specifically my lower back which, after 3 days of Yoga, is very much improved. Vadi really seemed to take to Gregg’s abilities and kept throwing in harder poses because he was sure Gregg could do them. At one point, having told Gregg that he knew he could do it, he looked at me and very nicely said “and you just work on your balance”. It seems that Gregg is the potential Yogi in the family but, then, at least if he gets good at it, I can have classes for
The pool
Just so you can see that it isn't as glamorous as it sounds! free.
After the class, we did a little bit of aimless wondering, lunched and then headed back to the hostel for more lazing around the pool, reading and admin.
Shortly before 4:30pm, we were collected for our Thai cookery course. This time, we were in a group of 8. 1 other Brit, 4 Canadians and a South African. When we joined the group, making it six, it looked like Gregg was going to be the only man (I so wanted to type boy then but, at 32, I guess he really isn’t) in the group which caused us girls hilarity. We then headed off to pick up the last two - another couple - before being taken to the school. Embarrassingly, this place was down a lane (Soi) no more than 5 minutes walk from our hostel!
There followed, what is by now, the obligatory visit to the market. The company was called Baan Thai and this was a much bigger operation than those we had participated in in either Vietnam or Cambodia and therefore was, for my money, a bit slicker. We were given a tour around many of the vegetables, herbs and spices that we
would be using to cook with and then
8 minutes precisely to look around the market but not to touch or prod anything!
Back at the school, the cook off began. We had already picked our dishes (from a choice of 3) and for each course, there were three separate cooking areas depending on which dish you were cooking. That meant that we mixed with the other folk also on the course but came back together in our group of 8 to sample our wares. During the evening I developed a paranoia that I might have somehow damaged my taste buds as all of the other girls were putting tiny amounts of chilli in their food and complaining that it was too hot whist, having put in three or four of them, I was concerned that I had under-calculated. I blame Mr P…he must put far too much chilli in everything he cooks for me.
Gregg must be on a roll at the moment because, again, one of the teachers took a shine to him and, on this occasion, his culinary skills. And now you know why I have been more than happy to frequently delegate that particular
daily task to Gregg. Don’t tell anyone I said so, but he’s actually quite a good cook.
Following the course, we headed out for a few drinks with our group and ended up in a bar a few Sois away from our hotel. There was nothing of particular note about this bar save for the resident handbag sized dog. No word of a lie, this dog was dressed in a miniature Father Christmas outfit (and yes, before you ask, this is Buddhist country). The photographic evidence is below. The Canadian contingent found the English contingent’s use of the name ‘Father Christmas’ highly amusing. Of course, Gregg was happy to explain to them that Santa Claus is merely the creation of a well known soft drinks company.
We may not see shops filled with Christmas paraphernalia this year but we have already seen Father Christmas, Pumpkins and fireworks so we aren’t missing Autumn and Winter festivities altogether.
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