Learning to cook Thai-Style

Looking for a perfect way to spend a rainy day in Chiang Mai?

Take a cooking class.

From Karen - Chiang Mai

Dana and I signed up for a class at Taste From Heaven, an all-vegetarian restaurant in Chiang Mai that also offers cooking classes. The restaurant donates some of its proceeds to the Elephant Nature Park.

Since we were the first people to sign up for the Saturday class, we were able to choose 9 dishes that we wanted to learn. It turned out that we were the only people in the class, so Dana and I got a private 4-hour Thai cooking lesson! An amazing experience.

1. Fresh Spring Rolls with Garlic Dipping Sauce

From Karen - Chiang Mai

2. Spicy Green Papaya Salad (Som Tham)

From Karen - Chiang Mai

3. Phad Thai

From Karen - Chiang Mai

4. Green Curry Paste

From Karen - Chiang Mai

5. Green Curry served in a fresh coconut

From Karen - Chiang Mai

6. Chili Basil Stir Fry

From Karen - Chiang Mai

7. Kao Soi: A northern Thai specialty. Combination of Panang and Massaman curry base, with fresh egg noodles (shows the influence of Chinese cuisine in northern Thailand).

From Karen - Chiang Mai

8. Tom Kha soup

From Karen - Chiang Mai

9. Sticky rice with Mango

From Karen - Chiang Mai

Quintessentially Thai

Since Chiang Mai is a cultural center of Thailand, we have not had any difficulty finding interesting activities.

1. Traditional: Thai massage

We met a Thai woman at a local cafe who swears by the older Thai massage ladies who work at a nearby temple. Thai massage is all over Chiang Mai, and it's cheap, but the quality varies widely. Going to a temple and getting Thai massage from the massage schools there is the best way to find an authentic, high-quality massage. Dana and I met up with our Thai friend, who took us to the temple for a 2-hour massage in the morning. Amazing.

2. Not-so-traditional: White water rafting on the Ping River

A local adventure outfitter picked us up from our guesthouse, and drove us 80km away to a section of the Ping River with class III and IV rapids. Amazing. It reminded me of rafting on the McKenzie River in Oregon, except on the Ping River we saw elephants, jungle foliage, and local farmers. Absolutely beautiful (and thrilling!)

3. Traditional: Muay Thai

Dana and I ran into a Polish expat at a local cafe who makes a living as a boxer, but he also trains in Muay Thai. He told us about a local gym that has afternoon training sessions that we could attend. For about $7, Dana and I had a 2-hour long Muay Thai lesson with our own instructors. We were surrounded by Thai fighters and other expats training for competition or for fun. Some of the boxers at our gym fight professionally. The gym owner runs another business as well: cockfighting. During our lessons, roosters were constantly crowing. When I took a water break, I saw one of the instructors grab a bird, forcing its mouth open, and pouring food down its throat. Doesn't get much more real than that. The Muay Thai lesson was incredible though - it was really fun and challenging. Afterward we were instructed to do agility drills like jumping over large tires for "five thousand minutes". I'm still not really sure if the agility instructor was joking or if he got his English mixed up, but it sure felt like five thousand minutes.

From Karen - Chiang Mai

Never been so sweaty in my entire life.

4. Not-so-traditional: Quiz night at the local British pub

Near our guesthouse, Dana and I kept seeing signs for a Thursday night quiz competition. We walked in and were able to join a team of 4 other young travelers - a Canadian, an American, a Brit, and a Scot. Although most of the other teams were comprised of 60-something expats, we came in a decent 4th place despite a fair amount of questions referring to things that happened in the 1960s and 70s, well before any of us were born. It was really fun although I think Dana and I kind of scared our other teammates with our random knowledge. Apparently the word "quorum" and the capital of North Korea (Pyongyang) are not common knowlege for people in their early 20s.

From Karen - Chiang Mai

5. Traditional: Being blessed by a Buddhist monk at Doi Suthep

From Karen - Chiang Mai

Definitely a highlight of the trip so far.

Chiang Mai: Cheap Cheap

After spending an entire day in the Phuket airport waiting for our flight, Dana and I finally made it to Chiang Mai.

From She Flies With Her Own Wings

From She Flies With Her Own Wings

Spending 8 hours in an airport wouldn't be my top choice of activity, but I have to say that spending it in the Phuket International Airport is more interesting than any American airport. For one thing, overpriced water only costs 30 baht (US $1) rather than the $5 it would cost at home. In addition, people watching in Phuket is excellent. From completely veiled women and their husband flying to Qatar, to a group of exuberant British gap-year boys toting around a soccer ball, the mix of travelers is interesting to watch.

From She Flies With Her Own Wings

Although we've only explored Chiang Mai by foot for one day, the town has made a superb first impression.

From She Flies With Her Own Wings

Chiang Mai is much cheaper than the other areas of Thailand I've visited so far. I base this observation on a market basket including

-1 hour traditional Thai massage (150 THB here, 300+ elsewhere)
-Large bottle of Minere water (10 THB, normally 15-30)
-Guesthouse dorm for 1 night (80 THB, normally 150+)
-Large Singha beer (50 THB, normally 80-100)

Granted, Dana and I must have stumbled upon the deal of the year when we found a nice clean dorm guesthouse for 80 baht (USD $2.59 per night). It's above a coffee shop called Quick Bite. Most of the guesthouses here aren't hotels, they are just buildings owned by families who can supplement their income by installing bunk beds and renting them out to travelers.

We're going to see if our impression of Chiang Mai as an inexpensive place still stands after visiting the famous Night Bazaar.

From She Flies With Her Own Wings

Paradise Found

After arriving in Phuket, we drove through Patong around midnight and were so thankful we decided to stay in Kata, a smaller beach with decent surfing and less of a tourist circus. We stayed at a small but comfortable hotel just 5-10 minutes walking distance from the beach.




Since it's rainy season in Thailand from May-October, it is the low season for tourism. This wasn't very apparent when we were staying in the tourist mecca Khao San Road in Bangkok, but it became quite clear in Kata Beach. Although most of the businesses, restaurants, and hotels cater to tourists, everything was empty. Employees and shop owners sat by the side of the road and yelled at us as we walked to the beach, hoping we would buy something and be their only customers of the day.




We relaxed on the beautiful beach and rented surfboards on the first afternoon. The water was the perfect temperature, although the surf wasn't great because it was so windy.




Next to the beach was a vendor selling the best phad thai I've ever had. I sat on a ledge overlooking the beach, surrounded by picnicking locals.




After 2 days of relaxing and swimming in Kata Beach, we took a speedboad to Koh Yao Noi, a small and less-developed island. People told us Koh Yao Noi is similar to Phuket 10 years ago. It was absolutely gorgeous, but searing hot and humid. We stayed at Sabai Corner, which was essentially a bunch of treehouses in the jungle. It was really pretty, but there were mosquitoes and frogs everywhere.






When Dana woke up with a black fuzzy bug crawling on her leg, we decided to move on to Krabi, via longtail boat and "songtheaw", or open-air public bus.

Learning About Thai/Western Culture in the Airport Bookstore

After the chaos of Bangkok, I was really excited to escape south to the Thai beaches and islands.




We flew on Air Asia (Asia's low-cost carrier, similar to RyanAir or EasyJet) from Bangkok to Phuket. It was one of the easiest airport experiences ever (apart from Dana getting her second pocketknife confiscated. I'm surprised they haven't put us on a no-fly list yet).

We entertained ourselves in the airport at the bookstore by perusing books such as "So Many Girls! So Little Time! Your Guide to Romantic Adventures in Thailand". This book was a guide for Western men searching for Thai girlfriends and wives, and it included advice such as "make sure to learn Thai but prevent your wife from learning English at all costs because Western women could corrupt her and turn her against you".

Dana and I read through this book in disbelief, although later, on the small island called Koh Yao Noi, we found a book in our guesthouse's lending library that provided an interesting counterpoint. It was a book aimed towards women that contained love letter templates in English and Thai. It was mean to teach Thai women how to write letters to their Western boyfriends/husbands and included key phrases like "my hut was destroyed due to too much rainfall, please send money" and "Darling, when are you going to send me the French perfume you promised? I would very much like to experience its beautiful scent".

I think these two books highlight the fascinating interplay between Thai women and Western men. There is an enormous amount that could be written on this topic, but the existence of these books alone gave me a lot to think about.

Coming soon: Photos of our beautiful adventures at the beaches!