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Published: December 31st 2005
Cooking Class
We learned to cook pad thai and green curry! Yum! Okay...since last writing, I've been in Chaing mai. Took a nice long, hot shower - yeah!!! Put on the clean clothes that I bought and met the group at the trekking store where we rented sleeping bags, mats, etc. for the hike. I'm renting a porter too to carry my bags. Is renting the right word?
Anyway...then we headed to the night market which was a teaming mass of people. Did some shopping for a few gifts, had fresh pad thai and wandered. Athena did all my negotiating for me so I was able to spend a little and get a lot. If my phrasiology is weird - blame the australians. We're starting to pick up things from each other... :-)
We went back to the guest house and had a beer. Athena and Rachel ate banana worms - the rest of the group watched - except me. I went to bed. Hey - my first day up past 11:00! I'm doing pretty well! :-)
Athena and I got up this morning and went to Starbucks. Yeah! Real coffee. Then we had breakfast at the guest house and went to Thai cooking school for a couple hours. We
Cooking Class Instructor
This is our instructor....she made it look easy! made pad thai, green curry chicken and some other things....We have the recipes too so we can make them at home.
We're going for massages this afternoon and then yet another temple tour. Temples, temples everywhere. Then, for New Year's Eve, we're planning to hit the Starbuck's grand opening celebration and see if we can find the rowdy ex-pat group. We're feeling a bit confined by our conservative group - and I'm finally feeling better - so we'll hit the town. :-)
I'm not sure if we'll have internet access for the next couple days so here's a breakdown of our plans...
Tomorrow morning, we get on a bus to Chaing Rai where we get a lecture on how not to offend the village people. We also go to a museum and eat with a family. We're staying at a local homestay complex for the night and then we set off on the hike. The first day is supposed to be brutal in places with "looks like a cliff but is not a cliff" climbs. I'm hiring a porter to carry my bag.
We hike for a couple hours to a village, stay there the night
Fish market
We went to the fish / ingredient market first....the fish smelled the worst! in huts. I'm not sure how many villages we see but we hike 3 days (about 4 hours each day and 2 nights. We end up back at the guest house in Chaing Rai for showers. Yeah! Then we take a boat to Laos or Burma (I can't remember which) and go to the Opium triangle. After a night in Chaing Rai, we come back to Chaing Mai, where I know I'll be able to access this internet cafe again!
We've saved our photos to a disk and will publish them later. The conection speed is too slow here. :-) But no complaints....internet access runs about 75 cents an hour.
Its been an adventure so far.....and overall, I've been pleased!
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Bob
non-member comment
2006
The trip sounds to be turning out just as you expected! Sumatra should certainly be on the menu at Starbucks there!! Happy New Year