Choose another map, showing:

• China
• South East Asia
• Asia
• Eurasia
• Eurasia, Africa & Pacific
• The World

Other entries in Chiang Mai

A taste of northern thailand

Well after our relaxing week on the islands, we decided it was about time we got back into tourist mode and see some more of the culture of thailand beyond the beaches, bars and clubs.  So off to Northern Thailand to Chiang Mai, via another night in Bangkok.

Chiang Mai is a gorgeous town tucked away in the highlands of Northern Thailand, really nice atmosphere here and totally different from the islands and Bangkok, much more laid back.  Chiang Mai is reknowned for all its Buddhist temples, of which there are hundreds, (please note of which we have only admired from the distance to date....well theres a surprise!!), there are lots of Buddha monks of all ages about the town in their lovely bright orange robes, all very picturesque!

You may notice from the photos attached there is a bit of a recurring theme going on here.......FOOD!!! (.....and of course, directly linked is the increasing waist band, planning on working on that next week when we leave thailand!!) ....it is just so good we have been unable to resist...... so of course what do you do when you fall in love with such a good thing....oh yeah head off on a days thai cookery course to learn how to master such an art yourself!!! Had a great day here, booked on to a course on a farm about half an hours drive outside Chiang Mai.  We got picked up early in the morning from our hotel and drove to an early morning market where we got a tour of all the local produce and picked our ingredients for the day.  On arriving at the farm we were given a tour of the farm, and a guide through all the organic herbs and vegetables that they grew on the farm.  We then picked what fresh herbs we needed for our days cooking. 

.........then the fun started!! We had selected the evening before what thai dishes we had wanted to cook, thankfully we were able to select all our fav's!! Over the course of the day we learnt how to cook thai green curry (my fav!!) , pad thai (fried noodles, with beansprouts, spring onions, herbs, egg, shrimp...big competition for fav spot actually!!), stir fried chicken with basil and vegetables, spring rolls (fabulous!!) and bananna in coconut milk. The hardest bit of the day was that we actually had to sit down and eat all our cooking......this life is soooo terribly difficult!!  Without sounding big headed or anything i do actually think i would be some catch to any man.......what i can do with a few simple ingredients at this stage would melt any heart....where art  thou my hells angel???  Ok i guess you can probably sense from my excitement a good day was had by all!!  Was very funny actually watching an american couple, probably in their early 30's standing peering over a row of spring rolls arguing about which one was their favourite......they had got slightly over excited about them as well!!

The night before our cookery course we had (shock horror) visited the local Irish pub, aptly named 'The Irish Pub'....participated in a quiz here and proudly came last!! Considering the random topics of some of the rounds were a) suicide, b) pornography etc etc.....we were delighted that our lack of knowledge resulted in us being last!!!  Met two couples at the quiz, as in proper couples, and spent the night with them .......so hence at the end of the night when they were buying each other rose.....we felt a bit left out, so we bought a rose between us.....how rosmantic!!!

Add to del.icio.us Add to reddit

Photos / videos of "A taste of northern thailand":