Upon arrival into Chiang Mai, we had to bid farewell to our French friend, as we'd already reserved rooms in our hostel. After some negotiation, we managed to persuade a 'taxi' driver to take us for 75baht each. Even then, I knew we'd been conned! The taxi's up North are certainly different to the ones they had in Bangkok. These were almost red pick-up trucks but according to other travellers and the encyclopaedia that is Lonely Planet, these were the cheapest method of transport. My hostel for starters was down a residential road and felt like miles away from anywhere! The owner, Kai, was very friendly and pleasant. It helped that his English was pretty good too. The front of the hostel had an almost bohemian vibe to it along with the Thai tradition of removing your shoes before entering. I was staying in the mixed dorm - German guy (Robert) and a British girl. The rooms were fairly basic but clean at least. What I hadn't realised was that they only had shared bathrooms on-site. This certainly was a first for the trip and hopefully my last. I'd shared with other people in my dorm and that was fine, but a whole hostel. I even had to get changed in the shower. I felt like I was at the public swimming baths!! Needless to say, I wasn't a fan!
That evening, I headed down into town with Robert and a Norwegian dude, who had been living in China. We had dinner in a Thai restaurant and although it was nice, it did make me realise that I really don't like rice noodles. I find them gooey and slimy. Yuk! We headed back for about 9.30pm and I was in bed for 10pm.
28 August
What I also forgot to mention was that I'd booked a cooking class for today. Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School is the oldest school in CM. Their prices certainly weren't cheap (1400 baht £28) but just going off the reviews off Trip Advisor alone, it should be money worth spent...and it was!
The driver picked me up at 9.30am sharp and after a few other collections, we arrived at their Head Office in the centre of the town. Even from the get-go, I knew it was going to be a good day. I was greeted with a warm smile, short introduction and a paperback cookery book so that we not only knew what we were making (that's always a benefit) but that we could make them at home. It was only a small group- an American and Pilipino couple (Danny and Dellyn), a British/Mexican couple (Anna and Antonio) and a Canadian lady called Alicia. The group was the perfect size and we all clicked. Our first stop was the local market to pick up our ingredients. At first I thought it would be a quick 15 min wander round with no guidance, but to my surprise, it was an escorted 45 min tour providing insight into traditional Thai ingredients and even some taste testing! From the moment we arrived at the school it was down to work. They had a beautiful set up of 20 workbenches, an area to eat and a classroom. They also had an orchard out the back. We made 6 dishes: stirfry, sticky rice, banana cake, red curry, papaya salad and chicken in coconut milk soup. Yummy! All in all the day lasted about 8 hours, so by the end, none of us wanted to even think about food!
In the evening, I met Danny and Dellyn for drinks before attempting to get a taxi back. What I forget here is that they don't like single travellers, so much so that they penalise them, I.e charge you double the fair. This isn't just in this part of Thailand but in most of Asia and I'm finding it a little tiresome.
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