Chiang Mai

Just written this entry and then managed to lose it! ARGH so annoying!!!!

so try again.....

Am now back in Thailand, took the slowboat from Luang Prabang to the border town to Huay Xai in Laos and it did what it said on the tin really. After two 9 hour days on the boat though everyone was ready to get off! The Mekong runs along a picturesque valley but the scenery is quite similar all the way, luckily i had a couple of books and my ipod to keep me amused.

I am currently in Chiang Mai the largest town in Northern Thailand and is like a metropolis compared with any of the cities in Laos!!

Chiang Mai is a base for trekking throughout the province but as its rainy season there are lots of leeches so i didnt fancy that too much! There are also a lot of other activities to choose from- courses include yoga, massage, jewelery making, batik making, Thai language classes, the choice is impressive!

I decided to take a one day Thai cooking class of which there are many to choose from! I signed up with the family run A Lot of Thai who had brilliant reviews on Trip Advisor. I was picked up from my guesthouse by Kwan (husband of Yui who teaches the class) in a sky blue VW camper van! Nestled in the back on one of the two vintage leather sofas was Kwans mother who was on babysitting duty for Jun, Kwan and Yui's 22month old daughter. Jun handed me a recipe book with the dishes we were going to cook, along with many others and lots of top tips from Yui. Kwan and Yui designed the cookbook and it looks great as Kwan is a graphic designer. On the way to their house we picked up Mel and Rob from Barnsley who were my fellow pupils for the day. Usually classes can be up to 8 people but Yui later explained her usual assistant was ill and Kwan was filling in so they were holding smaller classes as a result. We arrived at their house and met Yui, we chatted, put on our aprons and then it was down to business. Yui demonstrated our first dish, Pad Thai, a national favourite, noodles with vegetables and egg and topped with peanuts. All too soon it was our turn! We all had out own workspace and gas ring and all our utensils were laid out for us. It was like ready steady cook!! All the dishes were quick and fun to prepare and everyone managed to turn out something resembling Yui's! Then it was time for the tasting... not bad even if i do say so myself (but lets face it there wasnt too much i could have done to mess it up!)

We made 5 other dishes, spring rolls, green coconut curry, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts, hot and sour soup with prawns and sticky rice with mango. After tasting all the dishes we practically had to be rolled out!! Halfway through the day we also visited the local market where Yui pointed out all the weird and wonderful ingredients used in Thai cooking.

Yui's enthusiasm for cooking and as she admitted- eating (not that you would know as she is tiny!) is truly amazing, she has such a passion. She was so interesting, knowledgeable and was great at suggesting alternatives for ingredients we might not be able to find in the UK. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable day and i would highly recommend Yui's classes if you are ever in Chiang Mai!!

Yesterday i did an outdoor adventure experience called Flight of the Gibbon (no actual gibbons!) during which you zipline and abseil through the rainforest canopy. Got picked up at 6.30 and we drove about an hour out of Chiang Mai into the forest up some of the steepest roads i have seen so far on my trip! Getting to a higher altitude was nice though as Chiang Mai is very hot. We arrived at the main office and were strapped into harnesses, given helmets and sent off to the first zipline with our two guides. We were clipped on and sent zipping our way through the treetops, it was great fun. On some of the lines you had to brake with the aid of a bit of wood shaped like a V which you hooked over the top of the line to slow you down. It required a bit of co-ordination and three of us got the hang of it but the other three in the group flew smack into the guides (little thai guys) and the trees at the end of the lines! Ouch!!! There'll be a few bruises there i think! The abseiling was fun too, you didnt have any control over your descent and the guides would let you drop so fast only stopping you just before you hit the ground!! They showed off on the ziplines too, coming across upside down and all sorts!! All too soon we reached our last abseil and we were gibbons no longer! We visited a local waterfall, had lunch and then it was back to Chiang Mai.

Am off to Pitsanulok tomorrow, one of Thailands old capitals with lots of history. Am off for a massage now though! Its a hard life!!! hehehehe