Chiang Mai, Thailand

We flew into Chiang Mai ready for relaxation, culture, and cooking school. From the moment we were picked up from the airport by our friendly (female!) cabbie, we knew this would be a great place to hang our backpacks for a few days.

We ended up staying at Julie's Guesthouse, a mainstay in the CM backpacker scene. For the first time... well, almost ever, we found ourselves in a mostly singles, buzzing backpacker scene. Probably a good thing for us, as we'd been getting a little lazy about the nightlife lately. Julie's has lots of funky decor- hammocks and multi-colored cushions, bright, flowery wall-murals, golden and bronze Buddha images, and a "help yourself!" beer cooler. We spent our first few days hanging out in the common area playing Gin Rummy, and scouting new traveler friends. We sure enough found them our third night, when Ricky (another American guy) introduced us to a whole international crew of fellow travelers from Poland to Brazil. Enter Gabriela Werner, or Gabi, from southern Brazil, who would become our travel buddy and adventure confidante for the next few weeks. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

We started out by taking a leisurely stroll through Chiang Mai to check out some of the temples and architecture. Chiang Mai is famous as the most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and the temples did not disappoint. Here are some pictures:

Wat Phan Tao

in front of the Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural Center

Wat Chiang Man

sometimes it's "no" to the ladies at the wats...

Wat Chiang Man Interior

As usual in Thailand, many of the wats are home to a menagerie of dogs, cats, monkeys, etc. The monks take care of all.

One of our other favorite things about Chiang Mai was the food. Street food in Thailand is great to begin with; in Chiang Mai it's so good that it's almost other-worldly. Green curry, pad thai, satay, anything you want is available cheaply, freshly, and most importantly, conveniently.

eating at the night market

satay skewers at the night markets of Chiang Mai

hungry for some fried insects, anyone?

random sign

All of the street food prepared us for the ultimate culinary adventure, cooking school! Ever since Catt's cousin, Jenni, raved to us about her culinary experience in Chiang Mai, we couldn't wait to take a country-side cooking course. Our explosively cheerful, pint-sized, encouraging teacher took us to markets first, and then to the countryside to explore her farm's organic garden and roll up our sleeves. We spent the afternoon up to our elbows in green curry, tom yam soup, spring rolls, coconut milk with bananas, and other delicious dishes. When we finished, we enjoyed our creations on the farm. Bonus? Opportunity to take pictures of Catt in a sombrero-like chef's hat.

Pictures:

at the Chiang Mai market

raw chickens at the market

different kinds of rice for sale

learning about the differences between different kinds of curry paste

learning about string beans in the cooking school garden

Megan rocking the cooking school couture

Catt in the hat

Here are some pictures of us attempting to re-create some Thai classics:

the victim

afterwards... on the way to becoming green curry

finished product

slicing and dicing

we could almost be on food network...

tom yam soup

frying up spring rolls

Catt with his completed meal

our group, eating

During our time at the cooking school, we got to meet Washington state-cum-Hawaiian couple, Josh and Irena. Irena was six months pregnant and travelling through Thailand like an old pro! Congrats on the soon arrival, guys! Josh and Irena also referred us to Elephant Nature Park (more to come on that), which turned out to be one of our favorite experiences in all of Thailand. See next entry.