January 12, 2010 - Cooking day!

Today was my cooking course day. I had a lot of fun cooking and eating various Thai dishes, learning a lot about the ingredients and preparation, and pretty much ate for the day in one spread out meal. I also met a bunch of fellow travellers; coincidentally, 3 of them had been at Garden House in Sukhothai!

We all ate a lot - I skipped breakfast and only had a light snack that evening, and felt completely full. We started off with a tour of the maarket and an introduction to the various fresh ingredients, finally getting to try the fresh fruit, including long kang, dragonfruit, guava, and more. Then, we made the food.

I started with a savoury dish (cashew tofu), then we went through various other dishes, sampling each others' dishes and sharing tips we had learned in our separate sections. We made spring rolls, mango sticky rice, hot and sour soup, and curry paste from scratch, which involved a LOT of chopping and pounding. Finally, I made some Kaow Soi - the Chiang Mai Noodles, which are really yummy.

After the class ended, I still had some time in the afternoon to ramble around Chiang Mai. I went around the Southeast quadrant of the city inside the moat. Mainly, I checked out the moat itself and a few of the wats, but I also stopped by Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures to find out more about rides to the crag, pick up a new water bottle (the old one having been left somewhere in the old city at Sukhothai, fleeing from an insect swarm... The true loss of the old water bottle was the locking biner attached to it), and grab a copy of the guide book for Crazy Horse.

When I got back to VIP house, I met a couple from New Mexico who also have a house in Pattaya, along with a young man from California who had been in India for 2 weks, and commented on how Thailand meant that he had a lot more personal space now.

I met up with Anton and Vanessa for dessert, then we caught a bit of a jazz show at a hotel bar around the corner from us. I retired to my room early that night to prepare for my 3-day trek the next day, and sent a couple of e-mails off to people who are important to me, letting them know I would not be in contact for a bit.