Giants, fake hippies & Thai chefs

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[youtube=RhEy5OShUgQ]

by Polona

Leaving, or better yet escaping, the flooded Mae Sot we headed straight to Chiang Mai. Uncharacteristically for us we checked, prior to getting there, what hostels are good and cheap and we decided to go for Giant Guest House- a funky hostel with a huge advantage: they picked us up from the bus station 😊.

Arriving to Chiang Mai we called up the hostel and 15 minutes later a big black jeep stopped next to us at the station, driving it was Joe, the hostel's owner. He is the coolest guy – imagine Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with hard core hippy meets glam rock - that's Joe.

There are two Giant hostels in Chiang Mai, one occupied by young English people, wanting nothing more than to party hard, and the other, ran by Joe, full of (fake) hippies/rasta people, who pretty much just “hang”. So we chose the second one and we got sucked in the “just hanging” mode in a flash. Our days in Chiang Mai consisted of getting up, strolling 5 minutes to the food market to get our daily dose of fresh fruit shakes (almost half a litre cost about 75cents), breakfast and then reading, surfing the net... 😊. I was doing some research about going trekking (the main reason people even come to Chiang Mai) but all the treks were either expensive or included elephant riding, which we were saving for Pai, so I decided to do my trek in Pai as well.

We weren't just chilling, while in Chiang Mai. We took a Thai cooking course - half day as we thought that with our attention span of late a full day would be too much. It was an amazing experience. We went to Thai cottage, where our instructor was a big, burly man called Zee, the kind you want to take lessons from as he apparently likes his food. It cost us 600Baht (£12), with the full day course costing 800Baht (£16). Before you begin you choose from the list 4 courses (6 if you are doing a full day) you want to learn how to make. We both chose different dishes (I used the opportunity to learn how to make Pad Thaiiii!!!) and Jan took the opportunity to declare a “cook- off”, of which he was a self-declared winner at the end of the day, though I still don't really know why, could be because he can now make spring rolls and I can't 😊. The course was really cool - first they take you to the local food market and show you all the herbs and vegetables typically used in Thai cuisine. Then they tell you step by step what goes into each individual dish, how to cut your veggies and what herbs to use. Every person has their own cooking station (oh and yeah, the most important thing: no washing up or cleaning after yourself, after you finish cooking everything magically disappears and all is clean again and ready for your next dish😊) and as you prepare one dish you sit down and eat and continue to the next dish. It is surprising how he food is simple to make yet it is so full of flavours. After the final, 4th dish, Jan and I could hardly breathe - we were so full, so much so we were glad we could leave and didn't have to prepare and eat 2 more dishes.

In the evening, after pestering Jan for the whole day and getting discounted tickets (compliments of the hotel staff) we went to see Muay Thai - traditional thai boxing. It was surprising how tiny all the boxers were, although they were all quite young. To make it more interesting, Jan and I chose our favourites in each fight (there were 7 and I won in the end! 😊). You do get into it, but was expecting a lot more kicking and not so much “hugging” next to the fence, trying to hit the opponent with the knee as hard as possible. There are 5 rounds in each match and unless there is a knock-out, the winner is the one who causes the most hits and gets their opponent on the floor more often (as you can see I am a master in Thai boxing- actually I don't have a clue how the scoring system works, but I would imagine my logics is fairly right 😊).One of the fights was between 2 girls, which looked a bit weird, but boy did they know hot to punch. Jan's girl, looking just a little bit psychotic, kicked my girl's ass, although my girl was stubborn and didn't quit for a second. To entertain the masses and to break the fights a bit, they staged a fight between 4 blindfolded stooges. People were laughing their heads off as they were watching these guys punching round the ring aimlessly and when hitting something just going crazy. Jan found it hilarious. One of the fights which stuck in Jan's mind was between a really tall and skinny guy, called Obama (and no, I am not making this up), and this cheeky, muscular guy, who got knocked out hard, as Obama kicked him right into the area below the chest line. The guy could hardly pick himself up. After I kicked Jan's little butt in Muay Thai we needed a couple of days to recover.

On Sunday evening we decided it is high time to do some shopping, well I decided, so we went and saw one of the biggest walking markets, which stretches itself for about 3 km around central Chiang Mai. We bought a couple of things - Jan got himself 2 pairs of trousers, which he now proudly wears and I am privileged enough to hand wash 😊.

To give Jan a bit of a breather and a bit of “Jan time” I booked myself a Thai massage course. Not the arm bending, back breaking one, but the oil massage. I took a class in one of the massage salons down the road, and I loved it. As I was the only one doing the oil massage training, I was tutored by the owner herself, and to have someone focus all of their attention to teach you something is priceless. We would do each muscle, each part of the body separately – watching the video first, then Jane massaging me, to know what it should feel like and then me practising on her. It took a full day and when coming back to the hostel I was actually shattered and I ached all over. It is not as easy as it looks and the whole massage takes about an hour and a half. Jan isn't very happy to be the guinea pig, but I need to practise somehow right? I promise I will give out massages when I get back home, and you can all shower me with presents you will find suitable in return 😊.

As Joe, the owner of Giant hostel was opening another hostel in Pai, our next destination, we hitched a ride to Pai with him on Wednesday. The road is really steep and curvy and I think we were all happy arriving to Giant 3 in Pai, a place that I think is by far our favourite of our trip so far. But Jan will tell you more about how we got sucked in by Pai.

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Photos

Cook off
By Polona: Coconat soup, Pad Tai, Red Curry and Mango with Sticky rice;
By Jan (the winner of the cook off): Tom Yam, Chicken with Basil, Green Curry and Spring rolls

Chefs
There were two, now there are four. All certified :)

Comments

[liliram]

You're cooking now!
hi there, you two. Been busy lately and not much time sneaking in here to read up others' blogs. You guys are doing well-- cooking and all. I'd be going to Bangkok in December on my way to, and from Bhutan. Excited to eat my pad Thai! Polona shd teach me how to do it. Hey, take care---safe travels!

[anonymous]

I'll take a massage :-) and Jan i hope the cooking lasts...you owe me!