Culinary Delights

Chiang Mai is lovely: It is the place where travelers can find the kind of quintessential travel experience they are searching for. In fact, of all of the places that we've been to so far, it is the only one that both Matt and I said that we could live in. It is laid back and very friendly. It feels very safe and it is only just touristy enough that I feel comfortable moving around without being so touristy that it has lost it's soul.
We have not done a lot here... other than shopping and eating. The market experience itself is something to come for. Among markets that still remain a mystery to me, there is a nightly market that sets up from 6pm-12am everyday and it runs down a 1km stretch. There are also Saturday and Sunday markets, of which we caught the closing minutes of the Sunday market upon arrival. Tomorrow we are going to make our way out to a Wat (temple) that is on a hill overlooking the city, with 306 steps leading up to it.

Matt and I decided to split up today. He went on a tour through the national park that lies just out of the city. There are a number of waterfalls in the park that we wanted to see. Though I would be happy to see waterfalls and beautiful forests, I really wanted to take a cooking class (which Matt had little interest in). So we decided to each go our own way. I will let him write about the national park experience later (he is still not back), but here is an overview of my day:

I was picked up at my hotel and was transported to the cooking school on the back of a motor bike. This was super fun! There are about a million motor bikes here, and I want to rent one but would not feel comfortable driving it in Thai traffic. But riding one with a Thai driver was perfect. So fun! I was sad that the school was not farther away from the hotel. To begin the day, we were taken on market tour and introduced to the different ingredients that construct the culinary arts here in Thailand. Some of the key ingredients: fish sauce, palm sugar, garlic, ginger (four different kinds), lemongrass, chillies, chillies, chillies, lime, basil, rice, and chillies.

There are two different kinds of spicy here: Thai spicy and foreigner spicy. Thai spicy is something that I cannot describe because I cannot bring myself to experience it. I find foreigner spicy perfectly adequate, so any hotter than that would be unbearable. There were five dishes that we made, of which you could choose one of three things for each of the five. I chose: Fried Cashew Nut with Chicken, Papaya Salad, Green Curry Paste, Green Curry with Chicken, Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango. Everything was amazing... but unfortunately, ever since I had food poisoning in Phnom Penh, I have been unable to eat as much. However, I forced my way through and it was delicious!! I sent my camera with Matt to capture waterfalls and trees, but I can get some pictures from the company's website, so I will share those when they are up!

An update re: Matt's health - we are pretty sure that he had a parasite. But I, the valiant girlfriend that I am, made my way to a pharmacy to procure antibiotics. These seem to be working and he is making a full recovery. For four days, taken twice a day, the total cost was 40Baht or about $1.33. Crazy cheap!

Off to Phuket tomorrow for some well deserved and much needed beach time. Should be quite lovely!