It wasn’t easy to get up this morning. Those few drinks last night taking their tole. We got picked up for the smile organic cooking class at exactly 8am, intact they were waiting for us when we went down. We were the first pick up for a change! There was about six other pick ups. The guide, Te was funny, super enthusiastic and reminded me a lot of the jungle trekking guide in phong Nha.
The first stop was a local market where she showed us Thai fast food in the little blown up plastic bags, all different types of rice, she kept saying ‘its the same same but different’ which is a typical Thai thing to say so much so that they even print it on t-shirts. The market tour was a bit of a whistle stop tour bit we have seen hundreds of markets now so we weren’t too bothered. Te bought bags of deep fried sweet potato, taro, and banana for us all to try. The only nice one was the banana. There was a young boy who was only four on our tour, he was absolutely hyper and he was travelling with his mum alone. She must have been exhausted! He was pulling on the guide, trying to reach items on the stalls.
It was a half hour journey to the organic farm out of the city. It really was a true farm, before we started cooking we were taken around to see and taste different ingredients that they were growing that we would be using later. They had every type of eggplant, marrow, basil, ginger, tumeric…. The list went on. As Te was picking different things to show us, Finn the little lady also took it upon himself to start pulling up plants. The staff were brilliant with him but his mum turned a blind eye. He was also getting very close to her huge knife, with. Few close moments.
W
e were the pink team and surprisingly we had a choice of 4options for each of the three courses, and all of these options could be vegetarian… Even better. As Te asked us our options she wrote all of our names in Thai from us saying it in English which was pretty fascinating. Even people’s names from different nationalities were ‘the same same but different’. David chose to cook the pad Thai, massaman curry as he has been after this since we arrived and the spicy chicken soup. I chose the tofu and cashew nut stir-fry, the paenang curry, and the hot and creamy soup. The idea was that we would cook different dishes and share them but as soon as David chose massaman I was out of this plan because this had lots of star anise and cinnamon.
All options could be either very spicy or mild expect they don’t call it spicy they call it sexy. Thai sexy is the hottest option followed by just sexy and finally baby spice was the mildest. I was shocked how similar all the curries were to make, just one different ingredient complete my changed the taste. Same same.but different.
We all made the spring roll option together, I stirred, whilst everyone else added the ingredients. Finn again was so close to the flames it was difficult not to move him back but his mum didn’t share the same concerns. He soon got bored though and after the first course he disappeared, even his mum wasnt sure where he had gone to but it turned out that the minibus driver was sat with him watching cartoons 😂.
After eating the first course and our spring rolls( which were fried in Palm oil because it’s cheap… Much to my horror!!) We were really full..how we would manage 2more courses!!!
After a quick break it was time to make the curry paste for each of our chosen curries from scratch, this meant using a pessle and mortar to grind all of the spices, chillies into a paste….. It was a group effort, but the different colours each curry made was quite interesting!
We didn’t manage to eat all of the food!! There was just too much. As it approaches 1pm things were wrapped up and we were given a recipe book each with each of our names in Thai and loads of recipes.
As soon as we got back we needed a snooze we were so full! At about 4pm we got up, feeling a bit healthier and headed out for a stroll before we got ready for the evening. We had a walk around the park where people were doing yoga in groups. The park was really nice, there was a fish pond, and All gym equipment including a free weights sections around the perimeter of the park. We sat for a little while and watched a yoga class, a Chinese woman was an absolute pro I’ve not seen positions like it!
We went into the old town for a stroll, I had to get a coke with coffee just to try and it didn’t disappoint. David tucked into his haribo and as he did the lens fell out of his glasses! Good job it was the last evening! Off they went into the bin!
Before we went out for tea we packed our bags for leaving, all of 10minutes and a mass throw out of stuff. Our bags were only half full. This meant we could buy more of what we wanted from the stalls tonight.
We really didn’t need a big meal at night, we went to the market, again…3rd night in a row! And got some street food, pancakes and gyoza to share enough to fill the spot. O still haven’t tried durian but I’m really not sure if I can stomach even the thought, it’s the fruit that’s banned in a lot of places for its awful smell, you really can smell it a mile off and it doesn’t look much better either, a bit like bulls testicles of you were to ask me!
If we tried really hard the money we had out of the bank could have stretched for the evening. But in true holiday style we said f@#k it and took some more out the atm which meant we could pick up a few more souvenirs including the new rucksack that I wanted, of course a cheap knock off of the real deal but it needed to replace my one that I had traveled with which was absolutely disgusting!!
At 930 the cabaret started. We couldn’t have Thailand and not visit the cabaret just one more time, much to David’s distress as he certainly was not a fan. I had just become fascinated with the ladyboy idea, with how accepted it is and just how many there are in Thailand if you look around, usually having to look closely!
The cabaret was a little different to the last, slightly more reserved in their outfits but just as impressive all the same! They still didn’t sing though David noticed. Once again they got guys up from the crowd. David thankfully didn’t get chosen but just the look on his face was probably enough for them to avoid his sense of humour failure. The poor guy that’s was pulled up for the Rihanna tune had ass pushed into his face 🤣.
At the end of the show I wanted a photo with thembut if course this doesn’t come for free and they started demanding a tip, saying it over and over again with no time for us to get a wallet out. I told them to hang on and give us 2 seconds and they finally gave us a break. The only note we had was a 100 baht. Great. To be fair it only worked out at £2.50 and photos are priceless memories!
We had one last drink in a bar playing live music, allbeit live rock music!!!! I hated it. David was just watching the guitarists ready for him learning when we got back.
Off to bed for our long day travelling tomorrow!
South East Asia 2019 