AmyHuang
Thai flavours and the first impressions of Chiang Mai
In Will and Amy's travel tradition we took a cooking class to learn the flavours of Thai cooking. The day started with a visit to the markets, then back to the cooking school to be put to work. We helped with washing up the vegetables and cutting up the meat bought at the markets, and getting told off for throwing away the coriander roots and the odd end bits of other types of vegetable. The roots are used as soup base and this simple fact made me realise just how much we waste food in the western world!
Our menu consist of tom yum gong, yellow curry, pad thai, laarb gai and rubies in coconut milk as dessert. We learned the different herb base in Thai cooking as well as the absolute essential sauces and spices that goes into each dish, sampling our own creations along the way. It was a delicious way to spend a day, not to mention we are not armed with another cook book for our culinary collection!
The rest of yesterday we spent at the grand palace basking in the King's glamour, ending the day with a traditional Thai massage that eased our tiring walking muscles.
We have since then checked out of Bangkok and flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand's northern capital. So far it has been a complete chaos. While Chiang Mai is a smaller city than Bangkok, the amount of cars and tourists make it feel equally, if not more, crowded. Dinner at the night bazaar was an interesting ordeal, and the markets were crammed with tourists. However there were a few very interesting stalls which we might go back to when we return to Chiang Mai in three days time.
Tomorrow we begin a 2 night trek through the hilltribe villages in the hills and will get to ride an elephant, get on a bamboo raft and visit the different indigenous tribes along the way. This means in five days time there will be lots of stories!
Learning our way through herbs and spices....
...then applying theory to practice!
Our menu consist of tom yum gong, yellow curry, pad thai, laarb gai and rubies in coconut milk as dessert. We learned the different herb base in Thai cooking as well as the absolute essential sauces and spices that goes into each dish, sampling our own creations along the way. It was a delicious way to spend a day, not to mention we are not armed with another cook book for our culinary collection!
The rest of yesterday we spent at the grand palace basking in the King's glamour, ending the day with a traditional Thai massage that eased our tiring walking muscles.
I think.... all those European palaces might have some competition in grandness.
We have since then checked out of Bangkok and flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand's northern capital. So far it has been a complete chaos. While Chiang Mai is a smaller city than Bangkok, the amount of cars and tourists make it feel equally, if not more, crowded. Dinner at the night bazaar was an interesting ordeal, and the markets were crammed with tourists. However there were a few very interesting stalls which we might go back to when we return to Chiang Mai in three days time.
Tomorrow we begin a 2 night trek through the hilltribe villages in the hills and will get to ride an elephant, get on a bamboo raft and visit the different indigenous tribes along the way. This means in five days time there will be lots of stories!
