Up North in Thailand

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Hi all!

Long time no blog. We have just been having so much fun, we haven't taken the time to stop and keep y'all updated. But we'll try to catch back up. Sorry no photos again- devices just don't always want to communicate with each other. Damn Windows! Anyhow...

After a night in Ayutthaya and a day viewing the ruins, we took Doug's (wise) advice, we opted for an overnight train out of Ayutthaya heading north. This proved quite efficient as we were able to travel 12 hours while sleeping, allowing
us to save a night's accommodation and not waste any days. As we'd had a late night playing pool the night before, we (surprisingly!) didn't hit the bar car which was full of Germans newly on break. They were singing and having a
grand time, packed in w/ only lights and bad techno. Seemed like fun, but rest was in order. Ayutthaya had been very, very hot, and once the air conditioning from the train hit us, we wanted nothing more than rest. Waking up would be quite a change of pace.

The next morning, we woke up to beautiful, lush mountains and much cooler air. We were a couple hours outside of Chiang Mai, and the hot, flat plains had given way to rice paddies, papaya trees and bamboo as far as the eye could see. We headed to the bar car for breakfast, chatted with some Englanders in the cool morning breeze coming through the open windows, and made our plans for Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is a farily large city- not on the scale of Bangkok, but the largest city in northern Thailand. We set up base camp at a hotel overlooking the Night Bazaar. We made an honest effort at exploring the bazaar and picking up a couple of gifts but found that we could only take so much before being completely fed up with the crowds and the salespeople. Everything is so cheap and looks so good, but after a while it just becomes like walking around a WalMart- just too much. We decided on a little stress relief the Thai way- massages. We got what we both concede were the best massages of our life- 90 minutes, with herbs, hot stones, muscle work, and some hot tea to round it out. Not bad for about $10 each. It was well worth it to skip the many, many budget massage places you see and instead consult the "bible" (aka Lonely Planet).

And now for the part our SF friends will be particularly happy about...

Our first full day in Chiang Mai we took a cooking class at run by Gap's Guesthouse. They picked us up and showed us the ingredients we'd be using at a farmer's market in town. This was fascinating as there were many items that escaped us, even using both cooking and botanical knowledge. We only wished we could have had some time w/
someone completely bilingual to explain the full range of amazing fruits, vegetables and animal products at the market. Live fish over here, meat over there, fruits and vegetables of strange shapes and colors, things that kind of look like you recognize them, but they are longer, fatter, rounder....just different than we get in the states. You see ginger which you recognize, then galangal next to it, which is similar, then two other roots....who knows what they are? The farmers selling at the markets rarely speak english, but you can see a certain delight in their faces when "farang" (a Thai term for westerners of any sort) show an interest.

There were about 12 super friendly Westerners in our class, which was set up in a garden just outside the city. Each cooking station had a wok with a burner, the only pan we would be using. We had been looking forward to doing some chopping but the fact that they had done all the prep work allowed us to cover many more dishes. Here was the menu:
tom yum soup, a snapper souffle baked in a banana leaf bowl, green curry w/ shrimp, chicken w/ cashews, fried spring
rolls, pad thai, and a coconut pudding baked in a pumpkin. The class's staff worked like a well-oiled machine, arranging stations and carefully explaining what we were to do. There was a demonstration for each dish and then there
was basically a period of about 2 minutes where we actually cooked each thing. They would shout,
"Oil in--1/2 spatula", "Garlic in", "Vegetables in", "Season it!" etc. and at the end we would have this delicious dish. Not only did we learn each dish, but the techniques used for many were similar, and as such gave us a better understanding of cooking Asian food in general. Yes, there will be dinner parties when we return. Oh, and the whole day cost about $20/each, including eating all the food we cooked, and having leftovers for two days. Yum!

Following this, we decided to explore the countryside around Chiang Mai, and for two days we rented a scooter (yes, kind of lame, but a good way to see things and they are pretty much the national vehicle of Thailand) and went exploring. Spent one day trekking in beautiful bamboo forest to a Hmong Village and watching the sunset from the top of Doi Suthep, the highest peak in the Chiang Mai area. We thoroughly enjoyed Chiang Mai, but after a few days it was time to move on. Next stop was Chiang Rai....more to come.

Alex & China

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Comments

[Keith and Beth]

Jealous....
You guys are making us jealous! Great to hear you are having a good time. Look forward to hearing more :-) Talk to you soon, Keith and Beth