Hello all. Back in Bangkok now waiting for our flight to Cambodia. We got an overnight train from Chang Mai last night, and are a bit sleep deprived at the moment, so apologies if this is even less coherent than the journals normally are. We had a great time in Chang Mai though.
Spent a day on a Thai cooking course... they took us to a food market first of all so we could see the raw products to buy (as well as lots of crazy stuff like skinned pigs heads, bags of live toads and deep fried cockroaches..shudder). Then onto the cookery school based on a small farm. We walked round the farm for our second lesson in the various herbs and veggies growing there and how to use them. Then the serious stuff of preparing fresh curry paste in mortar and pestle and once we'd proved that we were semi responsible with these implements we were allowed onto the real thing - a saucepan and a gas hob. We made amazing red curry, followed by ridiculously spicy papya salad (who ever heard of a salad being spicier than a curry?!) and a pudding of sweet sticky rice with mango. Naturally we were our own critics as we sat down and feasted on our efforts for lunch, but I can honestly say that everything I made was sooo tasty - And Mum, you'd be so proud of me, I didn't even set fire to the wok!
That afternoon we were back in the kitchen to learn how to make Pad Thai and Chicken (or tofu) with Cashew nuts. All utterly gorgeous, and the quiet little farm setting made it a great day - hope you're all ready to sample this on our return! That night we decided we'd better do something radical to avoid becoming the next Delia Smiths, and so sought out some Thai Boxing. It was held in a seedy warehouse with a big crowd of Thai men going crazy and shouting at the fighters while exchanging bets as to who would win, as well as lots of farangs like us drinking beer and taking photos. The fighting itself was impressive - no bloodshed, and instead fairly skilled and orchestrated high kicks and punches. There were 8 fights in all, and it started with young kids and worked up to the big fight of the night which was between a Thai guy and French newcomer. The French guy looked as if he was going to walk away with it to be honest, then in the last round twisted his ankle or something and couldn't go on...we quietly celebrated his crushing defeat with more beer.
Next day we hired a motorbike and climbed the very steep hill up to Doi Suthep temple, although we had to conquer the last 300 or so steps without motor power unfortuately. Worth the climb as there was a fantastic giant chedi in the centre, buddha statues and monks to ogle as well as lots of visitors offering up prayers and rinigng the bells on the terraces for good luck. The views of Chang Mai would have been amazing were it not for the combination of smog and hazy cloud. Still, no time left so we headed back to the train station, and that brings us more or less back to here, via a semi-sleepless night on a fold down bed in a noisy, smelly train carriage driven by a speed maniac (we suspected). All good experiences though! Hope you're all well, will update you from Cambodia soon!
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