Thailand - Day Seven - Chiang Mai

Time to cook.

Baan Thai Cookery School ... but first I ate French Toast even though many people told me not to bother since I would be having six courses during the cooking classes. Lisa has yogurt and fresh fruit. Pepsi was still doing great.

As we are driving around, picking people up for the class, we meet Ben, who currently lives in Sydney, is originally from Philadelphia and has lived in L.A., Boston, Seattle, London and probably a few other places... needless to say, he had a number of impressive stories. The best probably was Tiger land, outside of Bangkok, where monks raised injured wild animals. He played with full-size tigers and black bears. Lisa and I were tempted to investigate for a second, but the idea of being eaten alive didn't sit well.

We also met Fintan and Mark, two Irish men who were completely and utterly hungover from the night before. They seemed sober after 10 minutes. F-bombs, cigarettes and Irish accents, I couldn't have been happier.

Lisa and I never cooked in the same room because we made different dishes. First we went to a local market and checked out fruits (mangosteen, jackfruit and lychee) and fish, then we cooked. I burned my first dish (just the garlic). Everything but the fish cakes (slightly different than crab cakes) were amazing. Lisa and I made: fresh curry paste, hot and sour prawn (shrimp) soup, green curry with chicken, chiang mai noodle, spring rolls, papaya salad, fried noodle thai style, deep-fried banana and mango with sticky rice. Again, caps -- DO A COOKING CLASS. There are many to choose from and it seems like you can't go wrong.

Then we went back to get a massage from the women's prison. Lisa got a foot, I got an oil massage, but asked for a strong one. Best ever. I was immediately hooked. It was the best of a standard massage plus thai, with none of the pain.

We didn't eat a thing that night.

We met Joann and Susan, along with Fintan and Mark at the UN Irish Pub (cause it was close) and then went out. Drinking beer constantly. We hit up Heaven Beach, sand for a floor and an amazing cover band that probably didn't speak a lick of English, but that didn't stop them from nailing AC/DC, Nirvana, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. The sound quality of this clip isn't great, but trust me, they were dead-on.

This was the night of Man-U versus Chelsea. Game time - 2:00 a.m. and Mark was a HUGE Manchester fan. I know about soccer because of video games and my friend John, so I wasn't too excited.

Mark went to a bar to make sure he could get in and watch the game. Fintan took the rest of us to a Thai club. We were the only white people. No, I was never worried about anything... except Fintan. At this stage, I should have been done drinking. Fintan goes to the bar and comes back with an entire bottle of whiskey and cokes. I think it cost less than $10. As soon as we start drinking the bar begins to close. We somehow get through half the whiskey, and have to go. Fintan pockets the rest.

We go back to the bar, which appears closed (but that's only on the outside). Mark gets us in and Fintan and I join him at the bar. Lisa and the girls grab a booth. Mark's drinking whiskey and coke from a bucket, an actual bucket. I continue to try and keep up... no logic here. The bartender brings out some sort of tuna thing and potato thing and eat. Fintan is still going strong, telling me Man-U winning is just like the Cubs (he spent a summer in Chicago back in 2005).

Once the game goes into overtime, Lisa is done, and I am done. We say good-bye to Fintan, but not Mark... he's throwing up in the back room.

We get back to our place around 5 a.m. and I watch the shoot-out (Ronaldo's miss, Terry's slip, then the save) on the TV, then fall asleep. It was amazing.

1 comment:

Locey said...

Looking forward to cooking Thai food with you sometime ... but not to drinking with you.