Ao Nang

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Well we arrived safely after a very short flight from KL. No sooner are you up then its time to land. We caught the airport shuttle into town not knowing where our hotel was it was a surprise when we got there. Its a very small place but the rooms are huge.Of course our room had to be on the top floor (4th) and i got the lovely young man to carry my case up the steep steps. Everything is very new in this place so we are very lucky. Its only a short walk to the beach and down hill and if we are feeling very lazy its a 40bhat (R8.00) taxi ride home. Some of our old haunts are still around but its hard to recognise them and where they are. Its been 4 years since we were last here and boy has it grown. New hotels have sprung up everywhere and shops galore all over the place. Lots of restaurants catering to the tourists but you can still find authentic Thai food. For example yesterday we had a delicious Som Tom salad - green papaya with chilli and dried shrimp tomato tamarind and limes are the basic ingredients on the side of the road. The Thais are so ingenious their motorbikes (three wheelers which would do me just fine for a runaround)are shops on wheels are equipped with bbq's and salad bars or noodles shops its incredible.

We have spent the last couple of days on the beach, reading, strolling and watching the monkeys. I have even had a geko crawl over me whilst reading my book- well it was really unexpected but i surprised even myself and did not skrik and it was so cute really i was just in the way like a tree stump. So today it was a get up and do something day for me and i signed up for a cooking course with Mrs Ya (who is 3 years younger than me!) i got picked up at 8.30 and was the first one but to my good fortune we only picked up one more - a german guy by the name of mike and had a very pleasant journey through the back roads past rubber plantations, a bit of jungle, a bit of rural life to a very pleasant cooking school with open sides and views onto the local rural scenery. we were first introduced to the ingredients and then shown how to chop and prepare them. the most time consuming part in thai cooking is the preperation as cooking rarely takes a long time at all. After that came the preparing of these ingredients for the curry pastes bashing away in our motar and pestles. The kitchen fairies cleaned away for us as we went along and also put out the main ingredients we would need in dishes so it was just add and stir fry - very easy. after making a few dishes we got to sit down and eat them yummy and then we made some more. my favourites pad thai, som tom, massaman curry. and i am only going to make these at home if i get some kitchen fairies to help ok!!!! i even got some pad kos to bring home (no thats not a new thai dish its colloquial for food for the road or food to take home!!)
Tel boy has got himself a motorbike for the day and now my blog is up to date so i think i will have to go out and do the right thing - have a look at some shops - till later xx

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Photos

my spot on the beach
i was camped for the day with my mat brolley (that goes everywhere with me good for sun or rain) and of course my book

geko/lizard
my friend who jumped on me and gave me a fright

the monkeys
had no idea they loved swimming but you can see by the colour of the water its foul at this time of the year and yes it runs out into the sea we all swim in!!!

Ao Nang
this mountain defines this area jungle and limestone cliffs full of caves and birds nests and a rock climbers delight

Mrs Ya's Kitchen
our delightful kitchen for the morning - breezy and spacious

our mornings work
delicious meal cooked by mike me mrs ya and the ktichen fairies!!!

Comments

[Roy & Elinor]

Mmmmmm....
The food looks great, Bangkok was on Top Billing this week and we thought of you slacking it up!

[Mark S]

Mrs Ya's class
Gosh!...I'd have enjoyed being there too...especially with the kitchen fairies! Yummmmmmmm...

[Simone]

Hi Lee How are you ? enjoying your holiday ? Loved reading your blog so much that I shall be setting up my own at the weekend. Who is looking after the baby while you are gone ? Loads of love Simone xxx