Chiang Mai March 2013
Day 3
For my final day in Chiang Mai I decided to complete a Thai cooking course. At 900 baht/£20/$30 you get picked up from your accommodation, taken to a local market, shown the herbs and spices that will be used in your cooking and to choose from 6 different dishes to cook including a curry paste for the curry of your choice, starter, dessert, soup and stir fry dish. There are usually 2-8 people in the class but there was only 1 other girl in this class which was nice. You can choose from a morning or afternoon class, the morning class is from 9am-2pm and includes 6 dishes. The afternoon class is a little shorter at 4:30pm-8:30pm and consists of 4 dishes chosen by the group majority due to time constrains and a bit cheaper at 700 baht/£15/$23. The morning class is usually more popular and there are several companies that offer this same service,it simply depends on their availability on who you choose as prices are usually similar or the same also.
At 8:40 a car came and picked me up, then another girl. We were taken to a market where we met our cooking teacher. She took us around the market and told us about the vegetables and other ingredients we would be using. We then went to the cooking school where we were talked through and shown several herbs and spices growing in their garden. Next the cooking begun, we started with the fried noodle, we were given the vegetables, herbs, chicken and noodles and cooked it with the teacher in the kitchen. Next was the spring rolls, the filling was pre made so I had to put the filling in the spring roll paper and fold it.
Next I heated up some oil and fried the springs rolls for about 5 minutes whilst continuing to turn the rolls. We then sat and ate our starter and main course, after that we moved on to our curries and noodle soup. Making the curry paste included a pestle and mortar, chillies and a considerable amount of elbow grease to say the least. We then put coconut oil, curry paste, chicken and vegetables in our wok and kept stirring.
Next was the sticky rice and mango, a popular dish in Thailand which I'm pretty sceptical of as I don't think these things go together. The rice she gave me was already sticky, I just had to stir it in with coconut milk over heat and a sugarynpaste type thing. After that I took it out, put it in a bowl and left it while I made my noodle soup.
The soup was pretty easy, it involved heating boiling water with chicken stock, adding a pickled onion, onions and radishes, then chicken and finally noodles. I covered it up for a few minutes then poured it into a bowl.
We then ate all the dishes together, I'm still not a fan of the sticky rice with the mango so I just ate the mango.
After we had eaten again and was feeling pretty full, we were dropped off home. I changed into my standard tank top and leggings combo for travelling, took a nap and headed to the bus station to get my bus to Bangkok before my flight to Shanghai the following day.
My bus a was at 7pm and I got to the station at 5:30 just to be on the safe side. At about 6:30 the bus pulled up to the booth and as I stepped onto the bus I felt as if I had entered a different world. This bus was without a doubt the nicest and plushest bus I've been on. Get ready for this.
A plasma tv screen at the front of the bus, a steward helping people with luggage and showing them to their seats, in a pretty plush uniform I have to admit, mini tv screens in the back of the seats, amazing amount of legroom, large seats, blanket and neck pillow. I was stunned to say the least, not only is this bus better than my previous bus to Krabi and my flight here but better than any other form of transportation I have ever received in England, supposedly a European powerhouse or any other country in the Western world. Don't get me wrong every country has their problems but it baffles me that this 3rd world country is trumping my own in transport quality when England and several other Western ones are much richer than Thailand. Nevertheless I knew I was going to have an enjoyable 9 hour journey back to Bangkok.
After we left the station the steward started handing out treats after treats, starting with bottled water, a selection of cakes, a hand towel and orange juice. Between my blanket, neck pillow, iPad and water I was beginning to lose space as to where all these items were going to go.
This 9 hour 500 mile journey costs a whopping 900 baht. Incredible! The only thing I would change is the that the steward made a few announcements but only in Thai so I was confused a few times but that wasn't a major issue. About half way through the journey we stopped, I asked the person sitting next to me why. He said we were going to eat, so I got off the bus and went to the bathroom then made my way to this building which looked like a canteen. I handed in my ticket and was shown into the VIP section where there was a buffet of Thai food. I wasn't really hungry at 12:30am but it was free to so what the hell. After my meal I headed back onto the bus until I arrived at Bangkok at 4:30 am proceeded to my guesthouse for some well needed sleep.
For my final day in Chiang Mai I decided to complete a Thai cooking course. At 900 baht/£20/$30 you get picked up from your accommodation, taken to a local market, shown the herbs and spices that will be used in your cooking and to choose from 6 different dishes to cook including a curry paste for the curry of your choice, starter, dessert, soup and stir fry dish. There are usually 2-8 people in the class but there was only 1 other girl in this class which was nice. You can choose from a morning or afternoon class, the morning class is from 9am-2pm and includes 6 dishes. The afternoon class is a little shorter at 4:30pm-8:30pm and consists of 4 dishes chosen by the group majority due to time constrains and a bit cheaper at 700 baht/£15/$23. The morning class is usually more popular and there are several companies that offer this same service,it simply depends on their availability on who you choose as prices are usually similar or the same also.
At 8:40 a car came and picked me up, then another girl. We were taken to a market where we met our cooking teacher. She took us around the market and told us about the vegetables and other ingredients we would be using. We then went to the cooking school where we were talked through and shown several herbs and spices growing in their garden. Next the cooking begun, we started with the fried noodle, we were given the vegetables, herbs, chicken and noodles and cooked it with the teacher in the kitchen. Next was the spring rolls, the filling was pre made so I had to put the filling in the spring roll paper and fold it.
Next I heated up some oil and fried the springs rolls for about 5 minutes whilst continuing to turn the rolls. We then sat and ate our starter and main course, after that we moved on to our curries and noodle soup. Making the curry paste included a pestle and mortar, chillies and a considerable amount of elbow grease to say the least. We then put coconut oil, curry paste, chicken and vegetables in our wok and kept stirring.
Next was the sticky rice and mango, a popular dish in Thailand which I'm pretty sceptical of as I don't think these things go together. The rice she gave me was already sticky, I just had to stir it in with coconut milk over heat and a sugarynpaste type thing. After that I took it out, put it in a bowl and left it while I made my noodle soup.
The soup was pretty easy, it involved heating boiling water with chicken stock, adding a pickled onion, onions and radishes, then chicken and finally noodles. I covered it up for a few minutes then poured it into a bowl.
We then ate all the dishes together, I'm still not a fan of the sticky rice with the mango so I just ate the mango.
After we had eaten again and was feeling pretty full, we were dropped off home. I changed into my standard tank top and leggings combo for travelling, took a nap and headed to the bus station to get my bus to Bangkok before my flight to Shanghai the following day.
My bus a was at 7pm and I got to the station at 5:30 just to be on the safe side. At about 6:30 the bus pulled up to the booth and as I stepped onto the bus I felt as if I had entered a different world. This bus was without a doubt the nicest and plushest bus I've been on. Get ready for this.
A plasma tv screen at the front of the bus, a steward helping people with luggage and showing them to their seats, in a pretty plush uniform I have to admit, mini tv screens in the back of the seats, amazing amount of legroom, large seats, blanket and neck pillow. I was stunned to say the least, not only is this bus better than my previous bus to Krabi and my flight here but better than any other form of transportation I have ever received in England, supposedly a European powerhouse or any other country in the Western world. Don't get me wrong every country has their problems but it baffles me that this 3rd world country is trumping my own in transport quality when England and several other Western ones are much richer than Thailand. Nevertheless I knew I was going to have an enjoyable 9 hour journey back to Bangkok.
After we left the station the steward started handing out treats after treats, starting with bottled water, a selection of cakes, a hand towel and orange juice. Between my blanket, neck pillow, iPad and water I was beginning to lose space as to where all these items were going to go.
This 9 hour 500 mile journey costs a whopping 900 baht. Incredible! The only thing I would change is the that the steward made a few announcements but only in Thai so I was confused a few times but that wasn't a major issue. About half way through the journey we stopped, I asked the person sitting next to me why. He said we were going to eat, so I got off the bus and went to the bathroom then made my way to this building which looked like a canteen. I handed in my ticket and was shown into the VIP section where there was a buffet of Thai food. I wasn't really hungry at 12:30am but it was free to so what the hell. After my meal I headed back onto the bus until I arrived at Bangkok at 4:30 am proceeded to my guesthouse for some well needed sleep.
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