Shout-out to Keith for turning 23 today!! Happy Birthday from your siblings!
Thai Cooking Class
K & I decided to try to do something productive while we’re here and maybe learn to cook a bit. I ought to give Boston Market a couple nights off. Ok, I cook a little, but a lot of it is a variation on basic spaghetti with meat sauce. I was pretty excited as the food has been so crazy good, and now I would know what the secret was! We did a half day course with Asia Scenic Thai Cooking School with 2 Aussies, 2 Brits, 2 Dutch, and an American who lived in Japan. They took us to a market and their organic garden to learn more about all the spices, noodles, and rice used in most dishes. There were many live things there including a lot of different fish in buckets and cockroaches (everywhere!). The bug situation was a little distracting (especially after I had to shake a 3-4 inch sucker off my foot) from what our teacher was explaining. So if you have any questions about what we learned there, you should probably ask Kavita.
Later we went back to the outdoor school and created curry pastes together as a group. There are quite a few ingredients in these. The pace was a little slow for our taste as everyone was cooking different things, and you have to wait a while in between your steps. I chose to make Spicy Red Curry Chicken with Basil, Spring Rolls, and Mango Sticky Rice. Once finished it was pretty good – not bad for a first timer (who was directed every step of the way)!
Scootering
Afterwards it was time to face our fears and get on scooters. I’ve never driven one before, but Boston gave me inflated confidence saying it was really easy. He was still gone whitewater rafting when we wanted to go, but I was determined to try it on our own anyway. They brought us the scooters, and when we told them we had never driven, they had panic stricken looks on their faces. (“I thought B said this was easy?!”) They had us test it out, and I did fine after a few seconds. Kavita was a bit more nervous Nellie on it, and after a couple of tries they told her no. What to do?! To add to our already long list of ‘things we do together that make people wonder about us’, she hopped on the back of mine, and we took off. I love this pic as we truly look like Dumb and Dumber here as Kavita is wearing her helmet backwards.
I can’t say there weren’t sweaty palms, nervous jokes and chatter, and a couple of swear words here and there from me for the first 10 minutes or so, but K was really great and calmed me down saying, “You’re ok. You’re fine.” That is pretty impressive because riding in the back feels a lot less secure than driving. I got pretty comfortable after just a little while – maybe because I was only going 25 km/hr. We needed a destination after a while, so we decided to try to find the ‘BEST STICKY RICE’ in Chiang Mai. We were told to head to the Holiday Inn and look for the hanging mangos on the stall. So off we go (into rush hour traffic – no less; probably not the smartest move, but whatever!) on our search. After studying the map several times, doing several turn arounds, getting honked at for going too slow in the fast lane (not usually my problem), and pulling several Bangkoks (a term I will use whenever I maneuver around traffic, drive on a sidewalk or into another lane to pass, or ignore any traffic sign/light), we found it! And it was glorious! Driving a scooter is so fun! Once I got used to it, I loved how small I was and could move around things so easily. I want to get a Vespa when I get home and start a gang with Laura’s parents (who already own some, not because they are so gangsta).
Whitewater Rafting - I'll have B write about this in Day 7 as we had a boring day of airports.
Night Market
After getting cleaned up and doing some work for a couple of hours (yes, I am working some!), Boston and I went out in search of food, souvenirs, and what else? – massage around 9 pm. K had passed OUT and decided she was too tired to join, so we decided to use the scooter since we still had it. Riding on the back was more nerve racking actually, and I yelled at Boston like my mother would yell at me to slow down several times. (Nevermind that I would drive just as fast when I was in control.)
We found a small market first and had some really good food (recurring theme) – Tom Yum spicy soup and Spicy Basil Chicken. The soup even came out with a flame underneath with an opening in the center to shoot out. (This is what I'm trying to point to in the pic.) Afterwards we went to the really big bazaar and found some good buys. Well – the first smaller purchases, I bargained a little and then accepted the price probably a little too easily (I got a bit out of practice.) Then I found some more expensive items, and Boston who was ashamed of my haggling so far that night took over. He went back and forth 4 or 5 times with her before we settled on a price that was half of what we started at. He’s turned out to be very useful!
Daily Massage Report
We found a massage place in the bazaar that would still take people at 11 pm. We both ordered a half foot and half head massage for 150 baht each ($5). I got a great foot massage – not too soft – not too hard for ½ hour, and then they took us into the bed area to lie down the rest of it. They did some regular Thai massage moves on us – just a few “I can’t breathe like this” moves, and then started on our heads. It was nice, but nothing spectacular so it will probably be my last one of those. I give Relax Massage in the night bazaar: 4 stars. Excellent foot – ok head (but I blame myself for asking for that) – and some bonus Thai massage.
Afterwards we loaded up all the stuff like a baby in between us on the bike and headed home. I’ve seen many entire families on the same size scooter: Dad driving, Mom behind, older child in front of Dad standing, and baby in between the parents – nobody with helmets. I was actually cold on the drive home, and it was a nice ride with no traffic out at midnight. I would expect more scootering in our future!
More Chiang Mai Pics - start with #65
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