After such an incredible and exhausting time in the village we decided to take a the rest of our time in Northern Thailand easy.
Over the next few days we focused on relaxing, fruit smoothies, eating tasty foods, and small day trips. The three highlights of Chiang Mai being A lot of Thai cooking class, the Sunday market, and the Bua Thong sticky water falls.
There are countless cooking classes in Thailand and Debra's research paid off again. She booked us with A Lot Of Thai in Chiang Mai. We were picked up by an energetic and talkative Yui at 9:30 am. A quick drive and we arrived at Yui's parents house where the cooking classes were held.
The class was made up of Debra and I along with 6 Taiwanese women, one of which spoke english. We were given a station and all the ingredients to cook pad thai, and after watching Yui go through the process attempted our own.
All out ingredients laid our for the next dish.
Our ride to the market.
The cooking went well and we continued with a spicy curry and a lemongrass soup. We took a break and ran to the market where Yui showed us the different ingredients and foods at her local market.
Red curry made by Debra
Green curry made by Roy
Incredible lemongrass soup (perfect for Debra's cold right now)
Roy was pretty good at cutting these springrolls while Debra only managed to crush her's with a knife.
Roy's new favorite drink ever. Lime juice blended with a little sugar served in a plastic bag.
At the market and during the cooking we learned that there are eight kinds of eggplant in Thailand!
Roy looking at some bananas and pomelo.
The Thai garlic was so small and flavorful.
We finished up by cooking some mango sticky rice before being dropped back off at our hostel in a classic VW Bus.
Our class for the day!
The next day we decided to try our hand at Thai style driving by renting a scooter and driving an hour and a half north to the sticky waterfalls. The waterfalls are unlike anything we had experienced before. Due to the rock composition they are sticky despite the water flowing over them. This allows you to actually walk up them. We had about an hour to play around in the water before needing to head back before sunset. Our first time on the roads went well and we continued with the "follow the herd" mantra. The driving around the city was terrifying but once we were outside it was great.
We hit up the Sunday market which was our favorite market so far. It was easy to walk around and the vendors were catered more to tourists and sold many knickknacks. We also caught a Ladyboy cabaret....which was....interesting.
Sea full of people at the Chiang Mai Sunday night market.
After a few temple visits we booked Minibus tickets to the small town of Pai to the north of Chiang Mai. Everyone we have been meeting in Thailand has told us to go the the small relaxed town so we pushed back our trip south and added 2 days in Pai.
