days 12 and 13 - Lampang to Chiang Mai and a bit of a cook up

Wednesday, 6 November 2013

We arrived yesterday in Chiang Mai after the 100km cycle from Lampang. We took the highway the whole way in order to try cut down the distance and it made for pretty unpleasant riding with all the fumes and dirt. Our legs felt very heavy when we set off and thankfully there were only a couple of hills to tackle along the way. We were very, very happy to get off the saddles once we arrived in Chiang Mai.

(Setting off at sunrise from Lampang)

(Arriving into Chiang Mai)

We're currently staying at Vanilla Place guest house, a little place we found on another cyclist's blog. The owners, Mr Kem and Mrs Kat, have been extremely welcoming. Mr Kem loves cycling and within 5 minutes of meeting us, he was already showing us his new bike. He had some great advice for us on local bike stores and a place to buy maps. We had an excellent Thai meal that night and wandered the Night Bazaar to see what was on offer.

Today we decided to do a Thai cooking class. It seems to be the thing to do in Chiang Mai as there were plenty of schools to choose from. On Mr Kem's recommendation, we chose Asia Scenic and had a brilliant day. They collected us from our accommodation at 8.30am and took us to their city school for a quick induction. We met our teacher for the day, Sue, who was a real character. Her motto was "more spicy, more sexy", and every dish we cooked that required chilli, she would ask "how sexy you like?". She also mentioned something about the toilet not being very sexy tomorrow but let's leave it at that.

(Our instructor, Sue, giving us a tour of the food market)

After the induction, we walked to a nearby food market where Sue showed us a variety of typical ingredients for Thai cooking, explaining how they could be used. Following that, we were taken to the school at the farm which was about a 30 minute drive from the city. It was a lovely get away and a great facility. We cooked 5 courses, and could choose what we wanted to cook from a selection of 3 dishes, per course. We finished up at 3.30pm and haven't been able to eat since!! We were given a recipe book to take home and we're looking forward to using it.

(A tour of the gardens at the farm)

(Nicky's papaya salad)

(Beautiful gardens at the farm)

(Paul earning his lunch)

We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through parts of the city. There really is something for everyone here. Tomorrow we move to some accommodation in the old part of the city for a change of scenery and will say goodbye to our lovely hosts, Mr Kem and Mrs Kat.