Wat Phra Thai Doi Suthep

Happy New Year!! Well, 2010 is almost here in Thailand. We had a wonderful time in Chiang Mai. What a party!! They closed down the main street in Chiang Mai and had a huge street market with live music. I think what we enjoyed the most was lighting the paper balloons (fire balls as Emma would call it). They were the next best thing to fireworks for Jim. Hope everyone has a great 2010.

Chiang Mai Thai Cooking Class

Thai Food Market
Thai cooking school
All the different types of rice at the Thai Food Market
Sticky rice with mango
Jim cooking spring rolls
Emma cooking Pad Thai
Emma, Ben and Jim at the Thai food market
Emma's Pad Thai
All the food Emma made for lunch: Yellow curry with chicken, Thai vegetable soup, and Chicken with Basil. After lunch she also made Pad Thai and sticky rice with mangos. She did a great job!!
Emma making yellow curry paste
Baby elephant on the streets in Chiang Mai

Today we completed a Thai cooking class at the Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School (www.thaifarmcooking.com). We spent the morning going to the local Thai Food Market and learned about the curry pastes; the different types of rice (i.e. sticky rice versus normal rice); and all the different spices and ingredients that go into Thai cooking. Then we went out to their organic farm about 17 km from Chiang Mai. It was a beautiful setting and we learned about all the spices that are used in Thai cooking. Between Emma, Jim and I cooking we made yellow and green curry paste and dishes; Tom Yam soup; Vegetable Thai soup; Chicken with Cashew Nuts; Chicken with Basil; Spring Rolls; Pad Thai; Stir-Fry big noodles; and Sticky Rice with Mangos. My favorite foods were the Tom Yam soup, the green curry and the sticky rice with mangos. I will definitely have to try making them when we get home. We were stuffed after that day and we even brought home dogie bags with the food we couldn't eat. I highly recommend going to this cooking class if you are ever in Chiang Mai. It was a lot of fun. They even gave us a recipe book with all the recipes that we made to bring home with us.

This morning when we got up Emma needed a jacket to wear because it was a little cool so the weather is not quite so hot here as it was in Bangkok.

Night train to Chiang Mai

Train breakfast (not wonderful, but edible)
Chiang Mai train station
Guest house in Chiang Mai
1st class sleeper car on train
Train toilet: challenging to use when moving.
Fruit bought on the train.
Ben and Emma's sleeper car that adjoined our sleeper car.
Spring Rolls
Jim's fried rice with pineapple, chicken and cashews.
Emma's Pad Thai at the train station.
Deb's green curry at the train station (the round green pea looking things are baby eggplants). The eggplants that they have over here are very small and white in comparison to the eggplants in the U.S. The baby eggplants are small and green and have a bitter flavor.

Well, as you can see we didn't do a lot of sight seeing this day. The big event for the kids was riding the overnight train to Chiang Mai. We had some engine problems which resulted in being three hours late to Chiang Mai, but no worries we are on vacation. We got to Chiang Mai and the hotel driver was waiting on us to give us a ride to the guest house. I think Chiang Mai is more our speed. According to the tour book Chiang Mai has only 204,000 people instead of the 10 million that Bangkok has. I think we will be able to pretty much walk everywhere we need to. I got to the hotel and they said that the rate for our room had been reduced since making the reservation so our hotel is only $38 per night. The guest house is centrally located and has a real nice pool that the kids love. This is definitely the most inexpensive place of our trip.

Tomorrow we are going to take a Thai cooking class at an organic farm outside of Chiang Mai. Emma can't wait to learn how to make Pad Thai (her favorite dish). I must admit we are all looking forward to the class. We have lined up tours for the rest of our stay in Chiang Mai as well. The tours are so inexpensive that it does not seem right to not take advantage of them. I hope everyone is enjoying my blog. I know that when I am in Fairbanks during the dark, cold winters, it helps me to see what other people are experiencing.

Waiting for the train to Chiang Mai

Bangkok Train Station



-- Post From My iPhone

The Grand Palace in Bangkok

Jim's BBQ Thai Spare Ribs
One of the many demon statues protecting the Buddha at the Grand Palace.

Kids in front of the Golden Stupa and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (on the right).
Monkey statue at the Grand Palace (good mythological character).
Another demon statue.
Chinese soldier statue that used by chinese as ballast in their trading ships.
One of the thousands of street vendors in Bangkok.

Tonight we leave Bangkok on the train for Chiang Mai. We sure have had a wonderful time in Bangkok.

Yesterday we went to the Grand Palace which is where the King use to live. It is also where the Emerald Buddah is located. It sure is beautiful with lots of gold.

We have had some wonderful food over here, but have not been brave enough to try the street food except for some grill meat and fruit. There are street vendors everywhere selling Thai food. I bought a couple of bags of Pad Thai in the grocery store last night for $0.30 each. You can eat pretty cheap. The most that we have paid for Thai food in a restaurant for all of us is $20. It is a lot cheaper than eating Thai food in Fairbanks.

We love walking the streets and seeing all the people and street stalls. It is so different than the U.S. I think the kids have learned to appreciate all that they have especially when they see the people begging. It is such a different way of life over here.

The Chatuchak Weekend Market

We are sorry that we have not been able to call anyone. I am able to post to the blog at an Internet Cafe that we found down the road, but we have not been able to find any place to get WiFi. I am hoping that we will have better luck in Chiang Mai.

Yesterday we went to the huge weekend market which the tour book states has over 15,000 vendor stalls. I believe it. What an amazing experience. I don't think I have ever been so hot and sweaty in my life. On top of that there were thousands of people. There were so many things to buy. What I found the most interesting were the pet squirrels (I assume "pet") that they were selling. There is a picture of them in cages and they all had strings tied to their legs. We also saw snakes and lot of live animals.

I felt brave after eating the "spicy" food the day before in Ayutthaya so I order my food a little spicy at the market. I sure did learn my lesson. Wow, was it hot.

We will be catching the train to Chiang Mai tomorrow night. We have had a wonderful trip in Bangkok, but I must admit I am ready for a smaller town. I still can't get over how friendly everyone is in Thailand. I don't think we have met an unfriendly person yet.

Today, we are going to visit the Grand Palace and some of the last places that we want to see in Bangkok before heading north.