Yoga ~ Travel ~ Joy: "Faster, faster! Use your muscle!"

I found this nice swing chair in our hotel this morning. :)

Today we went to Asia Scenic Thai Cooking School for a half day cooking class. Our teacher Aye first took us into the school’s kitchen garden to smell the different fresh herbs used in Thai cooking, like Thai basil, lemongrass, three different kinds of ginger, etc. Then he took us to a nearby market to tell us about other ingredients like the kinds of rice, and he also bought the ingredients for our class. In only 5 hours we learned to make “good luck snack,” spring rolls, a stir fry, a curry paste and curry, and a dessert. It was really surprising how fast we could make all the dishes, but the curry paste was pretty labor intensive. Gavin volunteered to use the mortar and pestle while three other people cut up the herbs, etc for him. He definitely got his workout in, especially with Aye calling out “Faster, faster! Use your muscle!” :) The panang curry I made was just as good as the curry from some of my favorite meals of the trip! Though I can’t imagine I will make Thai food that often now that I have seen how many calories it is, plus the herbs and spices are very Thai-specific; I doubt I will be able to find all of them where we live. But we have a cookbook from the class, so I will probably try!

Ready to go to market! They made us wear these hats
so they didn't lose us in the market. :)

Aye and class at the market, and Aye is explaining the different types of
rice you can find in Thailand.

Cooking our first dish!

Proudly posing with my spicy Thai basil chicken. :)

I was one of two who volunteered to stir fry the ingredients for the inside
of everybody's spring rolls. No pressure. :)

Making curry paste. Gavin was in charge of the mortar and pestle for the
"red curry" team.

The finished curry pastes. Top left is green curry, top right is panang,
bottom right is massaman, bottom left is red.

Gavin is ready to make his massaman curry.

Cooking deep fried bananas.

Time to eat our curries!

After cooking and eating all that food, we were both pretty tired and full, so we headed back to our hotel for a nap. :) After the nap, we rented some mopeds. I got a manual transmission this time, but it was still more like riding a moped than a motorcycle, plus the shifting was in the opposite direction: tap down to shift up! We drove the mopeds to go see the temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple high on one of the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai, and definitely the most beautiful we have seen yet on the trip.

The steps up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

Entrance to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

Inside Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

Lots of gold plating. :)

Temple detail.

The view of Chiang Mai from Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

After walking around the temple for a bit, we drove our mopeds back into Chiang Mai, dropped them at the hotel, then went to the Night Market. The Night Market is HUGE! Blocks full of stalls selling tourist crap, souvenirs, etc. We had dinner at a little street food stall and I got to try Kow Soy, according to Lonely Planet is northern Thailand’s signature dish, and it was really tasty! We wandered through the stalls and bought some souvenirs and Christmas gifts for various people. I don’t think we even made our way through half of it in 3-4 hours! We may have to go back tomorrow!