cooking again

Thai Farm Cooking School

Menu:

yellow curry with chicken and rice

tom yam soup with shrimp

fried chicken with basil

pad thai

banana and coconut milk

 this is me at 9am

 This is a Thai equivalent of an A&P

 This is a Thai exercise set- using it was a workout.

 this is an example of my fine chopping skills

This is were I cook all Margaret's meals

This is 3rd lunch 

 This is when our guide explained to a Canadian man,
that she was not serious about buying her a beer at the market.
At the end, the guides boss came out and tourists and staff finished off 2 large bottles,
this made for an interesting ride home.

on the move again

This man is obviously not bothered by the highway traffic on his morning commute.

We are headed to Bangkok today and then on to India on the 30th.  

The Easter Bunny will have to look for us in Delhi.

Watch for Simon's airport posts.

really cooking

Simon and I took a Thai cooking course today on an organic farm just outside of Chiang Mai.  This post will have to be short as I am too full to type and I am hoping Simon will create a detailed post tomorrow.

It was cooler in the country than in the city, but we were actually grateful for the silly hats in the garden because the sun was brutal.  Simon thought that the fact that the hats were too small for our heads was proof that we have some defective fat-head gene, but I think we are just smart.

Simon claimed victory over me when his yellow curry looked and tasted better than mine, but I will only claim defeat if he manages to repeat the triumph back in Canada.

sightseeing

I searched the Internet for information on silk production in Chiang Mai and came up with two tourist traps: Thai Silk Village and Shinawatra Thai Silk.  I could have arranged with a travel agent to go to these facilities, but it  would be expensive and really touristy. I have pictures of real silk production from the last time I was here and wanted to take new digital photos on this trip.  After several weeks of red herrings I had a business card with the location of weaving demonstrations and a handwritten address for silk worm displays. 

Neither seemed to be real production facilities, so I turned to the Lonely Planet guide book where I found instructions to Bo Sang (the umbrella village) and San Kamphaeng where apparently "actual weaving is done in small factories down side streets".  Perfect.

I left the condo at 9:30 this morning and walked half way to the white Sǎwngthǎew stop as instructed in the book(about 20 min) before realizing that I didn't have my camera.  I had to tuk tuk (vehicle 1- 100 Bhat) home to get the camera and then tuk tuk to the Sǎwngthǎew stop where I caught a yellow (vehicle 2- 25 Bhat) truck to San Kamphaeng from a driver that spoke no English.   After about half an hour a nice Thai woman sitting across from me asked politely in perfect English what the hell I was doing on a yellow Sǎwngthǎew.   Good question- the guidebook specifically said white.  She listened to my story and promptly leaned out of the truck window to conference with the driver.  When she returned to her seat, she wrote a note explaining my search in Thai for me to show to non-English speakers.  With in a few minutes, our truck stopped and an arrangement was made with another yellow Sǎwngthǎew to take me (vehicle 3- 10 Bhat) back in the direction we had come from.

This is the note.  I think the is right-side-up, but am not sure.

I showed the new driver my note, got in, got off a few minutes later when instructed and walked in the direction indicated.  It quickly became obvious that I was not in the silk weaving centre of the universe, so I stopped to show my trusty note to a small group of ladies operating a laundry.  The boss kindly pulled a chair out on to the sidewalk and instructed me to sit and wait 5 minutes.  She did not explain what exactly I was waiting for, but I did not question her.  After deep reflection on why people book sightseeing trips from travel agents, a white Sǎwngthǎew pulled up and the laundry ladies stopped it and explained to the driver where I wanted to go (vehicle 4- 10 Baht).

This is the sign I saw when I turned the corner.  

So now I am on my third Sǎwngthǎew of the day.  Again, a passenger sitting across from me, this one wearing the hair spray and makeup of a professional lady, demanded to know where I was going in perfect English and I was obliged to explain myself. I was pleased to find we were driving through Bo Sang because the umbrella stalls are pretty and, according to the Lonely Planet, it is only 2 km from my destination.  I was less pleased when my new friend pushed the buzzer and told me to get off, turn the corner and take the next white Sǎwngthǎew. 

Again, I did as I was instructed.  I have included a picture of the sign that indicated that I had was only 6 km closer to my destination than when I started. 

(vehicle 5- 10 Baht) The soldier, the monk and the two school boys on the next Sǎwngthǎew were not curious about me in the least and did not seem to care where I was going.  I finally arrived-San Kamphaeng, where I found...NOTHING.  So, I presented my note once again, this time to a nice lady in a motorcycle repair shop.  She looked at me like I was crazy, arranged for me to take a side-car motorcycle taxi thingy (vehicle 6- 10 Baht), handed me a hand drawn map and recommended that I stay in tourist areas. 

  

This next leg of the trip was the most expensive because the senior selected to take me did not have a permit to drive on the highway and I made him miss lunch. Grandpa delivered me safely to the tourist traps Thai Silk Village and Shinawatra Thai Silk Factory Store (both within the Chiang Mai city limits) before flagging a white Sǎwngthǎew (vehicle 7- 20 Baht) to deliver me back to the city centre. I arrived back at the condo (by tuk tuk (vehicle 8- 50 Baht)) at 3:30 this afternoon with some nice photos of silk production and a new found appreciation for organized sightseeing tours.

 

hunting & collecting

I went to the Sunday market alone this evening to hunt for food.  Simon true to form would not leave the apartment.  

This market vendor had a plate of bamboo baskets each with 2 live birds in it.  She was charging people a fee for releasing the birds.  I didn't get close enough to see how much she was charging or talk to her because I was afraid she would charge me for taking her photo.  I really wanted to tell her that if she didn't trap the birds in the first place, she wouldn't have to release them.

This is one of the food stall areas of the market where I found dinner.

Simon obviously did not have a say in the menu, so I bought any item that interested me: an omelet cooked in banana leaf, skewers of funky mushroom slices and skewers of chicken, a serving of noodle soup, two packages of sticky rice cooked in banana leaf, a chocolate waffle and a chocolate banana roti.
 

The blue turned out well in the picture, but the photo does not do the green justice.  

Simon tried everything I brought home, except the sticky rice.  In his defense, one of the rice balls was electric blue and the other was neon green.   To clarify- both were excellent.  The two desert options were the only dishes to get the thumbs up from his highness.  Perhaps he should attend the hunt himself in the future. 

routine report

Once again we are not posting regularly because there is
generally nothing to report.  Simon is doing school work
and I have been painting a little.  Or perhaps I should say I have been doing really little paintings.


 

Simon has an alarm clock that he curses.  It sits outside our balcony and looks in at him.  It makes one hell of a noise and is remarkably effective.  I think you can find them in Canada- I will have to look in to it when we return.  I think it did not come this morning because it wanted to give him a Saturday off.

a really BIG day

So we went to an elephant rescue park for the day (despite Simon's objections) where we met a few babies and a lot of beautiful older ladies.  The girl on the left is quite disabled as the result of two logging camp accidents and her best friend on the right was blinded because of maltreatment in a logging camp.  Now they spend every minute together and help look after one another.

This is the oldest lady in the park at about 80 years old. I was told that she wears a flower in her ear "For beauty" when I was stupid enough to ask.

The old lady was a messy eater because she had to hold your hand still when she took the food from you- I think maybe because she was a little blind.  The picture above shows my hand covered with brown elephant slobber.  I could have posted a picture of my super sparkly left leg after one of the 150 rescued street dogs licked it clean.

This 5 month old is the newest addition to the park.  His mother is disabled from stepping on a landmine and cannot care for him completely.  He is leaning up against his nanny- a 70 year old local busybody who loves babies.   She kept hanging out around the enclosure after he was born until they let her in.  She has helped to care for the little guy ever since.  

Simon bathing one of the girls.

 

final pieces

 I had to photograph them separately because they were difficult to see otherwise.  The translucent blue stone is labrodite, from Labrador obviously.  The nice Indian man who sold it  to  me said that Canada has a lot of  minerals and little will to dig holes to get them. The other is turquoise.

My poor teacher had to stay late helping me finish the last piece.  One and a half days we were alone together.  I certainly did not wow him with hidden talents, but I am thrilled with the final 3 pieces..  

working dogs

Just in case you thought I was making it up.  As you can see they are too tired in the morning to have their photos taken properly.

busy work

I am taking a 5 day silver working course during the day while Simon is working on school.  So far I have made a made a ring, a pendant and two new friends.  One friend is a French man (in Thailand with his wife and 5 month old son) and the other is an older guy from Chile.  So far I have learned several metal techniques and that it is unlikely that I was any sort of metal craftsman in a past life.  It is hard work.


I am having a good time, but worry that Simon may miss me when we are not spending every minute of the day together.  I am glad that he doesn't walk to and from class with me because I  have to pass a box of puppies both ways and Simon never lets me pet them when we are together.  The man who owns them allows you to take a photo with them for 10 Baht.

The picture shows my two finished and the two stones I purchased for the next project.

details

Much to Simon's chagrin I booked an overnight 2nd class air con berth from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.  The route is popular, so I could only book upper beds a day later than I had hoped.  He was also a little testy with me before boarding because he wanted to get seated right away.  I wanted to wait as long as I could because 14 hour train trips are not really my thing (it ended up being a 17 hour trip).   I think he got over it though-The picture below shows how unhappy Simon was once he got settled and just before he closed the curtain on his own personal train fort. 

I unpacked first, so I got control of the remote again for the first few minutes in our new place.

I dragged Simon off of the sofa and out to the Chiang Mai  night market.  It was like a PG version of the markets in Bangkok with more jewelry and hill tribe crafts.  Not worry, there are a number of adult options in our neighbourhood to make Simon feel at home.

nesting

We are settled in a small apartment in Chiang Mai now for the next month-ish. Our visas will expire before the month is up, so we may need to do a visa run to Rangoon or Hanoi to finish the month. 
The Trip Advisor link for for our apartment is below:

 http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g293917-d3216108-Great_apartment_in_town_feels_like_home_1_2_bedr-Chiang_Mai.html


It is s a studio apartment with a full kitchen and the local supermarket is like a portal to Europe.  Much of the produce and dairy are organic and the meat even looks decent. The prices are a little high and many ingredients are more expensive than going out to eat (a small bag of pasta costs 3.00CDN), so I have had to be crafty with the shopping.

We have a washing machine and a place to hang clothing for the first time since we left Canada. That combined with hot water on demand means I may not smell for several weeks. There is also excellent Internet access and air conditioning, but our electricity is extra.  I am trying to be frugal with extra costs because 20.00 a night rent is a little expensive and we may need to rent a  moped to get around- Chiang Mai does not have a good public transit system and the taxis are expensive as a result.

Simon is to start on homework this morning, so I  need to give up the computer to him.  Will post again soon.

Thai treats

Here are the only two photos we took at the Chatuchak (the weekend market) because it was so hot and rainy that our camera was too steamed to see through.

 

I was so thrilled by the life-sized plastic fruit that I had to take a picture.  Simon was thrilled by the miniature plastic fruit.  We are very different people. 

The grounds of the temple are infested
with creatures that look like they were
designed by Maurice Sendak

Wat Po- where the wild things really are:


The Grand palace, which has totally different scary things.

We will post again soon.

4 nights in Bangkok

So on our first night in Bangkok Simon and I are taking a taxi back to the hotel and the cab driver confirms our destination:  "Blah blah blah Christian Hospital blah blah blah PATPONG" and it hits me- the reason why I am not familiar with this area of the city is because it is the red light district.  When I booked the hotel online I was thinking financial district-ish, which it is on weekdays.

Since we have been here Simon has not been doing homework, but Patpong is an education in itself.  He thought the area was called Ping Pong on the first night because of all of the men approaching me asking if I wanted to see a free ping pong show.  He then begged me not to explain ping pong to him and I don't need to be asked twice.  I think he has been traumatized by the sight of tour groups of seniors heading in to the market with stalls of sex toys and lined with clubs that have their doors hanging open.  We took an alternate street home on the second night only to come across hundreds of girls sitting on chairs on the sidewalk waiting for customers.  His version of events should be entertaining.

We have been to the weekend market, the night market obviously, a large temple, the Jim Thompson House and two shopping malls so far.  Today I want to do the Grand Palace and China Town, so I should go kick him out of bed.  We will post pictures soon.

we have arrived!

Simon wanted to reassure people that we have checked in to our hotel in Bangkok safely, but refused to have his photo taken as proof.  I took one for the team and posed on the bed in this photo of our small, but clean and cozy room.  You can see the safe and part of the fridge.

I am watching TV on the bed despite the fact that we are currently only getting two Thai channels.

I want to take a photo of the nice bathroom (without me in it obviously), but I need to consult a team of experts to help me figure out how to position the camera in the tiny space first.  Maybe there is a nice Japanese tourist here I can ask.

Our Hotel can be found online at:   http://www.smilesocietyhostel.com/

Passing Time

We have a one hour layover in Malaysia, then we will be getting on our flight to Thailand. I found making a blog post a good way to pass time, the Children running circles around me have also found a good way to pass time. As I write this they are using the escalator as a tred~mill, by running the wrong way on it. I tried to get a picture of them but they were too fast, so heres some shiny marble floors and blurry children.
~Simon

Thailand Bound

Posting this from Sri Lanka's international airport via free Wifi, which took me 20 minutes to get to blogger.com.

we are currently waiting for our flight to start boarding, we arrived 4 hours early. Thank god our flight was scheduled after the airing of Beverly hills cheuhahah (its 1 am i'm not going to bother googling howto spell Cheauahaha). we spent a great deal of time shopping for ties, my favorite was the one covered in baby elephants , but after a grueling 3 hours we decided to spend our last Sri Lankan rupees on Tea. we now own more tea than the tea store itself, not sure how much more our luggage can take. 

we will keep you posted over the course of our Journey, we have one stop-over in Malaysia, but we may not have internet until reaching Thailand
-Simon