Cooking course and a few days in Pai

A few of the dishes I learned to make.

It's been a fantastic week.  I took a cooking class on my last full day in Chiang Mai, which was wonderful.  We started out in their organic garden, learning about several herbs, roots and vegetables, then moved on to the market for an explanation of which kinds of rice and noodles are best for which dishes. We spent the rest of the day cooking and eating... Fantastic!  I left with a recipe book - that is certain to be used until the pages are falling out - and a few favorite dishes: tom yum (a fantastic lemongrass soup), sticky rice with mango, and made-from-scratch red curry paste - which was the base for khao soi (Chiang Mai's curry), red curry and panang.

Lod Cave. Huge and beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice.

I stayed one more night in Chiang Mai and then grabbed a bus north to Pai, a cute little hippie town in northern Thailand.  The bus was old and rickity, and seemed near collapse every time we started up a hill.  The 135 km ride took four hours, thanks to the ancient bus and the 762 curves through mountain roads.  On the ride, I met a couple - Crystal and Jordan - who were also heading to Pai for a few days.  We ended up spending the next few days together, and all liked the area so much that we ended up adding a day to the time we'd planned to stay. We rented motorbikes and wandered around to waterfalls, past hot springs and down to the impressive Lod Cave.  We went on a bamboo raft through several caves, and got out to explore on foot as well.  The caves were HUGE, gorgeous and full of bats.  At the end of our tour, we walked outside the cave to wait for the birds. Depending on who you ask, there are anywhere from 50,000 to 300,000 birds that live in the cave and around sunset, all of them circle overhead and loop down into the mouth of the cave, flying to their nests inside. It was fascinating to see; one instant the sky was empty and quiet, and the next, it was filled with THOUSANDS of birds. The only down side to the day was the 45 km drive back to the room: the winding mountain road was a bit scarier at night, it was COLD, and since our helmets didn't have face shields (and it was too dark for sunglasses) our eyes took a beating from the wind. When we got back to Pai, I ordered soup and tea with dinner to try to defrost, we all got a massage (not sure my new pals agree with me on the awesomeness of the Thai massage) and enjoyed a bit of live music (gotta love the Eagles, the Beatles, and Santana with a Thai accent). When we got back to the room, Jordan saw the gecko we'd heard the night before - he ran up the wall from my bed to the ceiling (which was made of bamboo poles, so he snuck between them and out of sight pretty easily) and hung out there for a bit, singing to us. I never knew geckos made noise... it's a fun chirping sound!

Pai Canyon - and look! Mountains!

Cruising around Pai on motorbikes was an adventure at times. On one short road we saw: water buffalo, horses, chickens/chicks, a pig, and a woman who walked into the middle of the road to ask if we'd like to buy some ganja.  We stopped later along the same road at a piranha pond where you could do some fishing.  We opted not to fish, but did see a piranha that was caught (and released) by someone else.  Another stop was Pai Canyon; we walked along a very narrow walkway with 20 meter dropoffs on either side, down into the canyon and made our own path on the way back up in time to see the sun set over the canyon. Gorgeous.
After a few days enjoying the food, sights and walking street/market in Pai, we headed back down to Chiang Mai.  We were all a bit nervous about finding somewhere to stay this weekend, as it's Chinese Lunar New Year on the 14th (and Valentine's Day), so many people are traveling and celebrating.  Luckily, we found a place to stay. (I feel the need to plug Bed and Terrace guesthouse for anyone who comes to Chiang Mai. Let me know if you'd like details, but the service was incredible. They offered more assistance than I even knew to ask for. Sadly, they were booked for tonight, but they found me another place right down the street, and even walked me over and interpreted for me while I booked the room.)  Tonight: one last trip to the night bazaar to buy the backpack I should have brought in the first place (which will replace my entirely-too-full suitcase that I'll store [full] in Bangkok until I go home) and perhaps a quick stop at the go-go bars to see some ladyboys (a very accepted part of the culture in Chiang Mai). Tomorrow, I'll go pet some tigers (and perhaps snakes), say farewell to Crystal and Jordan, and enjoy another bowl of khao soi before hopping on an overnight train to the old Siam capital city of Ayuthaya.