A Perfect Day in Chiang Mai

In front of Sawasdee Chiang Mai Guesthouse

MONDAY

We had such a great day in Chiang Mai. To start off, let me say that the weather is soooo much more pleasant here than in Bangkok. It is still warmish, but not nearly as hot and humid as in Bangkok. We like that.

We got up and headed down to the little cafe attached to our guesthouse for the complimentary breakfast. There was coffee, tea, toast, and a great assortment of tropical fruits - pineapple, little bananas, papaya and star fruit (which I tried and liked). Then they also hesitantly added that we could have the rice soup. YES - we want to try that! It was awesome. Chicken-y, garlic-y and a little spicy. Perfect breakfast food. Nice and light before our cooking class.

Kwan and Yui from "A Lot of Thai" cooking school come to pick us up in their VW Microbus - cool. We pick up a few other people and end up at Yui's home which has a beautiful outdoor kitchen/school area. We chose this particular school (out of many, many in Chiang Mai) for the homey atmosphere, intimate setting and wonderful teacher (Yui) - all according to TripAdvisor (my bible for travel advice). It looks perfect!

A Lot of Thai Cooking School

Chatin' it up with Yui

We are going to cook 3 dishes today and get right to work. Yui demonstrates the first dish - Pad Thai - and then we all head to our stations where our ingredients are laid out just like on a cooking show. We chop, dice and fire up our woks. Of course when the Torks are involved there is a little edge of competition and Janel and I finish first (brown - nosers) so we "win!" Then we all go to the table with our own Pad Thai and sample our work.

Yui demonstrates

Here we go!

Janel cannot wait

We move on to Tom Yam Kong (Hot & Sour Prawn Soup). Yui discusses the ingredients and shows us how we can tailor to our own tastes. Once again, Janel and I are the first to finish and as usual Rich brings up the rear. He is trying to make his perfect and chops his lemongrass into tiny pieces (which later turns out to be a BIG mistake). We sit and taste our soup and declare it delicious. However, since you are not supposed to eat the lemongrass (it is only there to extract the flavor) Rich has a problem "fishing" his tiny, perfect lemongrass pieces from his sample. Too bad.

Rich bringing up the rear

The last dish we make is Gang Keow Wan Gai - Green Curry with Chicken. It has very complex flavors with coconut cream, kaffir lime leaves, palm sugar, fish sauce, basil and eggplant. We make it as spicy as we each like. Super delicious!

Red and Green Curries

Cooking is finished and we pile into the microbus to head to the market. This market is much quieter than the ones we have seen in Bangkok. Yui guides us through the beautiful produce and explains many unusual ingredients. It is a beautiful display.

Market time

The others in the class head back to school for another 3 dishes. We had decided that we only wanted to stay for the morning session and we are happy about that decision. No way do we want to cook and eat any more right now! We are full, happy and in a sort of food coma. Time to head back to the guest house for a nap and re-grouping.

After a bit of a rest we try to get up the stamina to visit the most important temple in Chiang Mai - Doi Suthep. We asked Sam (the proprietor at our guesthouse) if it is too late to go and he says he thinks we can make it. He tells us where to walk to catch a songthaew - a sort of open truck-like cab - and also tells us that is should cost 50bht one way per person. We flag down a songthaew and the driver asks for 800bht round trip. No way! I tell her no and she comes down to 400. Janel steps in speaking some Thai and tells her 300bht. She finally agrees. She will take us up the mountain to the temple and wait for us. I am already thinking this sounds shady. She will probably dump us at the temple and take off leaving us stranded. . . We hope in the back of the open air vehicle and take off.

The ride goes through town and then heads up a huge mountain on one of the most winding roads I have ever seen. We keep going up and up. Around every curve we think we are at the top but then we keep going. We notice several bicyclists pedalling up and can't imagine why. Finally we reach the summit. Suprisingly, the driver does not ask for any money and tells us she will meet us in an hour (my fears are put aside since we haven't paid her anything yet). Time to walk up the 300 steps to the temple.

Up we go

Since it is late in the afternoon (around 5pm), the sun is not so bright and it is much cooler up here. A pleasant climb later we are finally at the top. We have to take our shoes off to enter the actual temple. It is a quiet, beautiful and reverent place. We are in awe.

One of the many rooms inside the temple

Beautiful displays everywhere (scaffolding where they are working on the center of the temple)

You have to kneel in these rooms

Young boys painting with gold leaf

You have to find your shoes when you exit

Looks just like MOM

We loved the bells

Our Songthaew heading home

When we left the temple and headed back down the steps, our driver was there waiting for us! She took us back to town and we made a brief stop at our guesthouse before heading out for happy hour. Sam suggested a place down on the river and summoned a tuk-tuk for us. We go zooming through the city and arrive at The Riverside bar/restaurant.

The ubiquitous Tuk-Tuk

At the Riverside we quaf a couple of beers and nibble on a Chiang Mai appetizer platter with various crunchy, salty things. Nice, peaceful setting for a relaxing time. We had originally planned to go somewhere for dinner, but reconsider and decide to "graze" once again at the Night Bazaar. We then summon our own tuk-tuk and attempt to bargain a price. Janel's Thai speaking abilities come in handy again and even though we feel like we are not getting the "local" price, we are satisfied with our fare.

The Night Bazaar is similar to the Sunday Walking Market we went to, but not quite as frantic. We wander aimlessly shopping and eating along the way. This is where we finally find the Roti that Janel has been wanting us to try. Roti is a sort of crepe/pancake that you can get filled with different ingredients. Janel insists that we get the egg/banana variety. It is cooked, folded, cut into pieces and then has sweetened condensed milk poured over the top - decadent! It is yummy and we sit on some steps and eat it up.

Overseeing the making of our Roti

More shoppin' (earrings are cheap and beautiful!)

We shop a little more and wind up our evening at "Food Road" in an open-air Thai restaurant where we share a plate of grilled chicken and catfish with eggplant along with a couple more beers. It is fantastic! (so far we haven't eaten anything we haven't liked. . .). We catch another Tuk-Tuk back to Sawasdee House and crash for the night.

This morning Janel and I are up in the cafe blogging and eating while Rich sleeps in.

Eatin' and bloggin'

So far everything has gone swimmingly and we feel like we have been lucky. We are sure to get some kind of cog in the machinery and I am waiting for the axe to fall! (not really, just being realistic). We are off to Chiang Dao today - north of Chiang Mai. Are we ready for 3 hours on a hot bus???