Two Beers and a Pretzel

Yesterday I started a tour of the countryside on a dual-sport (on road / off road) motorbike.  It was really just a glorified moped, but it did have off road tires and a beefy suspension.  My guide, Ped, took me on the busy streets of Chiang Mai where I became one of the thousands of mopeds weaving thru traffic.  Then we went about 40 kilometers on paved roads, and another 60 on dirt tracks.

The dirt quickly became very slippery mud with a brief monsoon.  I laid the bike over a few times when the wheels got caught in a rut going the opposite direction of my momentum.  A few cuts and scrapes, and I’m no worse for the wear.  The only scary one was a rut that sent me down a very steep 10 meter mud slide.  I jumped off before the bike rolled over me.  The mirrors came off the bike, but I was fine.

I did regain my composure enough to cross a tree over a river…

Then we made it to a village near the border with Myanmar/Burma (or whatever they want to call it now).  This wasn’t the long neck women, but tht’s OK with me, because they kinda freak me out anyway.

We stayed with Suchat, his wife Kaecher, their daughters Fai (14), Pachi (8), and Tidee (2).  Ped and Kaecher cooked dinner while I took a nap and the girls played with Ped’s camera.

Here’s Pachi, Tidee, Kaecher, Suchat, Ped, and me.  Fai was the photographer.

An interesting thing about Fai…  she’s 14, recently divorced, and has a new 31 year old boyfriend (her parents are 32).

Regardless of things hill tribe people do differently, they were a very welcoming and exceedingly happy family.  And the food was something else… Sweet and sour chicken, some kind of chicken curry (red, but not red curry or panang), a variety of cantaloupe, fresh banana (they live on a banana farm), small steamed crabs that Pachi caught that afternoon in the creek, hand thrashed rice, spicy mushrooms and bamboo.  Wow, it was good!!  We ate together sitting on the floor of the 1 year old addition to their bamboo hut.

The next day (this morning) we left early, but not before I bought some handmade souvenirs from Kaecher and Pachi.  Asking why, I showed them pictures of my twin nieces. Which led to the bunny becoming friends with Pachi…

Then off to the countryside again…

Where I rode an Elephant thru the jungle…

And then went mud-water rafting on a pile of sticks…  (ok, a real bamboo raft)

After getting back into town, I booked an early flight back to Bangkok tomorrow so I can go to the massive weekend market, then get my visa for India on Monday before heading to the islands in the south for a week…

I’ve been in Chiang Mai for 2 days now, and I really like this town.  The “Same Same Guesthouse” is really laid back, clean, cheap, and the staff is super friendly (like insisting you try the food they just cooked for free).  No AC, but large rooms with ceiling fans for $7/night – and free wifi.

The first night I walked around the old town, across the stone wall, and to the open street market.  Along the way I stopped for some street food and had spicy fish soup – sharing a table with a local.  The guy must have gotten a kick out of me turning red and crying as I ate the delicious, but extra spicy concoction, so unbeknownst to me, he paid for my meal.  As you can imagine, people in Chiang Mai are really friendly and laid back.

Later, at the night bazaar, among all the fake sunglasses, fake North Face backpacks, fake jemstones, real artwork, funny t-shirts, and shoe kiosks along the street, I found a place making large, fresh fruit juice smoothies for over $1…

I went with a yummy Pineapple / Strawberry.

Yesterday was a good chance for me to catchup on all kinds of things – especially with a fast and free internet connection.

Today I just completed my 1 day Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai.  It was actually only about 5 hours since we only had 4 students and the peak season class size is 18.

We started with a tour of a local food market where chef/owner Permpoon Nabnian taught us about the different fruits, veggies, eggs, and rice, how to chek if their ripe or good, and compared alternate ingredients.

Making coconut cream

Kafir Lime:

Plain and sticky rice:

After driving to his house in the countryside about 13km outside of Chiang Mai, the chef started by showing us how to prepare Spicy Papaya Salad, Spring Rolls with Plum Sauce, and Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango.

One important lesson he gave us was that when tasting someone else’s cooking, you taste, close your eyes, savor for a few seconds, swallow, give a slight smile, and say “unbelievable”.  Never say “mmmm”, “good”, “yummy”, “yuck”, or “eeeeww”…  Just say “un-be-liev-able” in a slow and meaningless way…

Then we each got to chose 4 out of 12 possible which the chef giudes us as we prepare them ourselves.  I elected to learn how to make spicy Tom Yam soup with Prawns (delicious):

Chicken Pad Thai, Panang Tofu, and Sweet and Sour Chicken.

I still can’t decide if it was more fun to eat the food, or to make it.  I think I’m going to take a nap after eating all of that at once…

The Sweet and Sour Chicken was really great, and a blast (literally) to make.  The Pad Thai Chicken and Panang Tofu were both wonderful, but after having similar meals for most of the last few days, some of the food with different flavors and textures topped my list.  My favorites were the Spicy Tom Yam Soup with Prawns, Papaya Salad with Sticky Rice, and Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango.

The best part is that we get to keep a copy of the cook book and get a certificate saying that we did not singe our eyebrows too terribly.

Tomorrow I start a 2 day motorbike tour of the countryside.  I should get to do the popular things like riding elephants, bamboo river rafting, seeing the Long Neck ladies in the Karen tribe, campfires, and waterfalls – also riding about 200 kilometers on a 250cc dual-sport bike.