Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Chiang Mai Escapade! - 28 Mar 4th Day
Today is the final day of our Chiang Mai trip. The only major event would be the cooking class in the morning. Thankfully, this time pickup was more decent, 10am local time. That gave DC and I enough time to recover from yesterday's rafting. With arms and legs aching we hobbled down for our final Continental breakfast. Their special for the day was some curry chicken noodles. You do it yourself by putting the amount of noodles (a thinner mee pok version) you want in a bowl, put in all the condiments (onions, garlic, lime, sugar, fish sauce, crackers, coconut milk etc) and you pour the curry over. Simple but oh so good!!! Though a tad oily, the curry was fragrant, the spiciness just right, and the taste just out of this world. Nothing like the kind of the curries back home in SG. Maybe it had something to do being simmered in earthern pots? Whatever it was, I went back for 3 servings!!! yum yum!
Pick up was slightly higher class this time. It came in the form of a Honda CRV. There was already 2 passengers in the car, both caucasian. One was called Tamara, the other called John. Both were Americans teaching in schools for families of employees of US oil companies based in Saudi Arabia. Tamara was a nice person. John was not. In fact, he was an obnoxious arrogant American. I was really wondering how they get along... (they are not a couple btw)
A bit of background and info on John:
he's a divorcee with a son who is in high school (so his age is about early 40 I guess?). Teaches music in school. He talks in a really condescending tone and to top it all off his mannerisms are a bit... "broken wristed" (I was wondering if his son was an accident.. like in TransAmerica). He talks like this: "Oh... so you're from Singapore? Where's that?" In fact.. he looks a little like George Bush.. He's thin, probably about 6"2, has light brown hair that's tied up in a pony tail.
A bit of background and info on Tamara:
Teaches English in the school. Has taught in other countries like Sudan and Mexico. A bit on the plump side, she's my height with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. Has a friendly tone of voice.
Upon introduction, John was asking where we are from. We said Singapore. He asked where's that and we told him. Then he commented that we spoke good English. I replied saying that most people speak English in Singapore. My reply wasn't meant to be a barb, I was just speaking the honest to goodness truth! But I think he took it that I was making a sarcastic remark and his replies to me took a caustic turn after. oh well... let's just say that I spoke really little to him after.
We reached our cooking school, Kao Hom after an uncomfortable 40 mins. The place was really nice! Think cottage style with only one level, terracotta roof, granite path ways, stone carvings, lush greenery, it's own mini vegetable garden... Beautiful. There was a long table in the garden for outdoor eating too. It had an outdoor patio with multiple cooking stations around the perimeter (for us to cook) and an island in the centre (so that our teacher can demonstrate). Indoors, there were 6 long benches (3 by 2). Each bench could sit 2 and had a sink in the centre (with handwash no less). All the necessary equipment was stored under the benches in shelves. It brought me back to my Home Economics days. But of course this was more cosy!
Kao Hom means Fragrant Rice and is one of the cooking schools recommended by Lonely Planet. And our teacher was Ms Kanchana Ubolsootvanich (we called her Tim for short). Looking to be in her early 40's, she's a real sprite! She also has her own restaurant which she tends to as well. So her day begins early at 4am to do marketing for her restaurant, go to the restaurant to cook up some of the dishes, then return to the cooking school to start teaching from 11 - 7pm (there are 2 classes per day).. and this includes handling enquiries, arranging transport for the guests etc. I looked at this petite lady in wonder where she gets all her energy from. But Tim was nice and friendly, not to mention encouraging!
So our lessons began for the 8 of us: Tamara, John, the Williams family, DC and I. The Williams family consisted mum and dad and their 2 daughters. Similar to Tamara & John, the Williams family are based in Dubai by the Canadian government to work in a Canadian built hospital there.
So the menu for the day was (in order of appearance - by appearance, I mean when they are served... not how ugly they look. Gimme some credit here!!!)
1) Corn fritters with cucumber relish.
2) Fried fish with mango salad
3) Phad Thai
4) Pumpkin custard
With Tim's instructions, it was pretty easy to do up the dishes. All the ingredients were already prepared, to the exact measurement. All you had to do was to put it in in sequence. And there were many helpers at hand to help out as well. They cleared away the saucers once we were done with them and helped us to keep in check the heat etc, stirring the food occasionally. Piece of cake! And after we did each dish, we went to the long table in the garden to sit and sample what we made. Thankfully, the food I cooked came out decent and edible! If not it would have been a very pathetic lunch. I was particularly proud of my mango salad (Tim had commented that mine looked very professional and presentable).
Though my Phad Thai came out slightly burnt because my heat setting was too high... damn, it still tasted ok, nonetheless. And we washed it down with nice ice cold lemon tea. And did I mention that the coffee was fantastic? I found it hard to believe that it was instant coffee!!!
here's the website for those interested: www.kaohom.com
But more importantly, the cooking lesson gave a sliver of insight to cultures. I somehow felt that the Americans were very competitive. Tamara and John did things very very quickly. They were always ahead. But it really made me wonder if they are really appreciating the whole thing? This wasn't a competition! As for the Canadian Williams family, they took things at a slower pace. Each parent was working with a daughter and they were very encouraging. They prodded their daughters on, reminding them to add what etc. 2 countries so close to each other but yet so different. But perhaps it was an unfair comparison?
Well, the cooking lesson ended and once again the 4 of us were packed in the Honda CRV while the Williams family were in another vehicle headed to the Airport. And once again the uncomfortable silence ensued. But yet the ride back was not without certain entertainment from dear John:
Act 1: When we were on our way to Kao Hom, near the entrance was a street football compound. At the nets, a dog was tangled there and it looked as if it was trying it's best to get out, trashing about and barking. Dear John was whining, "Oh the poor dog.. whose is it? Why is it tangled? it looks hurt" blah blah blah. But since we had to keep time, we went ahead. On the way out the same dog was still there. This time, it looked worn out from struggling and just lay there, seemingly exhausted. Dear John went "On no, we really have to save it! It looks like it's dead! It looks like it's suffocated! The poor thing" blah blah blah. So our driver stopped the car and we got out, attempting to do OPERATION TANGLED DOG, with Dear John leading. But guess what? As we were approaching the dog, it got up and started growling. And I do mean GROWLING. And that is when dear john chickened out. "Oh, it doesn't seem friendly, and it looks ok and doesn't need our help. Let's go back to the car".... Wuss. So we bundled back into the car again.
Act 2: As we were travelling about in Chiang Mai, dear John suddenly made this comment: "Who is this guy I keep seeing around the whole place in these huge posters?". This "guy" that dear john was mentioning, so happens to be the KING of Thailand (yes.. do I hear "OH MY GOD???"). As if the silence in the car wasn't oppressive enough, dear john's comment just made it more suffocating. After a period of awkward silence, DC spoke up and said that that "guy" was the King of Thailand. And dear john's response? "Oh... he's the king? He looks like a regular joe to me". The silence in the car became so thick that if I had a knife, I could've cut right through it. And I was imagining the headlines in the papers the next day: Woman driver kills foreigners who slander Thai King. Oh God...The Thai's love their King and revere him at an even higher level than god! And just the day before, the headlines told of a mad man who was clubbered to death because he wrecked the famous Erawan Shrine in Bangkok... Yeah... I just wanted to kick dear john out of the car.. while it was till moving!
Thankfully, we managed to reach our hotel in one piece. Since we had 2 hours to spare before checkout, we decided to indulge in a massage. This time, no Thai massage. Instead, we decided to get ourselves slathered in coffee! Yeah.. it was a coffee scrub massage treatment. The coffee smelled so good, I was so tempted to lick some off myself. And to a certain extent, I felt like some sort of... cake.. ha ha ha. But that was the final pampering we were going to get. Back in SG, such a treatment will set you back S$50 - S$100, depending on where you went. But in Chiang Mai, it was less than S$30. Final moments of being treated like a king..
For the next few hours, details were a bit hazy. Largely because we had to checkout in 10 mins. AND we discovered that we still had Baileys in the fridge. So... DC and I finished the last 1/3 of Baileys in 5 mins flat! Oh my god.. I dun think I have drunk anything that fast before. Hence.. everything became hazy after that. Ha ha ha. I vaguely remember checking out, then leaving our belongings with the bellboy. And I believe that we ventured to a nearby shop to buy a cheap haversack for DC. I left the bargaining to DC since I was feeling really zoned out. Unfortunately, he can't haggle... so I don't think he got the best deal. Dinner was at a nearby hotel restaurant since we didn't have enough cash (so had to pay by credit). I didn't eat much and the food really wasn't fantastic (it was german food cooked by Thais). Pretty soon, we were back at our hotel, waiting for the airport pickup.
The trip to the airport kinda sobered me up a bit. Our flight was supposed to be at 10.30pm. When we got to the airport, we were astounded by the length of the queue! There were 2 rows and both had snaked to the entrance of the airport! But we didn't have much of a choice. That wasn't the punchline. As we were finally inching closer to the counter, I was feeling elated, thinking that I could be on the plane and zonked out soon. Then I noticed a sign on the counter. I rubbed my eyes and wished it was a bad dream. The sign read: 10.30pm flight delayed till 11.50pm... I was just struck speechless.
If it had been Changi airport, maybe I wouldn't have minded so much. But the airport in Chiang Mai had NOTHING open at 10.30pm. No Shopping, No entertainment, No Bars... zip.. nada.. So the only thing was to sit, twiddle your thumbs and wait. Ours wasn't the only flight delayed: another Thai Airways flight was delayed due to bad weather in Bangkok. So the whole waiting area was packed, people complaining, snoring, irate kids screaming, frazzled parents also screaming. Then when the plane finally landed at 12 midnight, the kiasu syndrome kicked in once again. I very nearly just wanted to mao some people...
The flight back wasn't smooth. It had quite a few turbulent moments. By the time we reached back Singapore, it was already past 4am. The novelty of being in the new Budget terminal didn't even appeal to me. I just wanted to get back home. Clearing immigration was pretty fast. And seeing that DFS was open, i decided to grab a few duty free liquor. Unfortunately, so did many others. And there was only 1 person on duty. Needless to say, even more waiting was in order. Many gave up and left the shop. But I surprisingly perservered. Maybe because I was just resigned to the fact that since it is already this late, why not even later? Or it could be the alcohol.. heh heh.
Then there was the fact that the budget terminal didn't have a POSB atm at all. DC and I were penniless!!! Oh gosh. The nearest ATM was at Terminal 2. Fed up, I just decided to try my luck and asked the taxi uncles if they accepted credit card. Thankfully, 2 taxi's did and DC and I went our seperate ways.
I finally reached home at 6am in the morning! Needless to say.. i just crashed in a heap on my bed. Zzzzz......
And that concludes my Chiang Mai adventures :)
Pick up was slightly higher class this time. It came in the form of a Honda CRV. There was already 2 passengers in the car, both caucasian. One was called Tamara, the other called John. Both were Americans teaching in schools for families of employees of US oil companies based in Saudi Arabia. Tamara was a nice person. John was not. In fact, he was an obnoxious arrogant American. I was really wondering how they get along... (they are not a couple btw)
A bit of background and info on John:
he's a divorcee with a son who is in high school (so his age is about early 40 I guess?). Teaches music in school. He talks in a really condescending tone and to top it all off his mannerisms are a bit... "broken wristed" (I was wondering if his son was an accident.. like in TransAmerica). He talks like this: "Oh... so you're from Singapore? Where's that?" In fact.. he looks a little like George Bush.. He's thin, probably about 6"2, has light brown hair that's tied up in a pony tail.
A bit of background and info on Tamara:
Teaches English in the school. Has taught in other countries like Sudan and Mexico. A bit on the plump side, she's my height with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. Has a friendly tone of voice.
Upon introduction, John was asking where we are from. We said Singapore. He asked where's that and we told him. Then he commented that we spoke good English. I replied saying that most people speak English in Singapore. My reply wasn't meant to be a barb, I was just speaking the honest to goodness truth! But I think he took it that I was making a sarcastic remark and his replies to me took a caustic turn after. oh well... let's just say that I spoke really little to him after.
We reached our cooking school, Kao Hom after an uncomfortable 40 mins. The place was really nice! Think cottage style with only one level, terracotta roof, granite path ways, stone carvings, lush greenery, it's own mini vegetable garden... Beautiful. There was a long table in the garden for outdoor eating too. It had an outdoor patio with multiple cooking stations around the perimeter (for us to cook) and an island in the centre (so that our teacher can demonstrate). Indoors, there were 6 long benches (3 by 2). Each bench could sit 2 and had a sink in the centre (with handwash no less). All the necessary equipment was stored under the benches in shelves. It brought me back to my Home Economics days. But of course this was more cosy!
Kao Hom means Fragrant Rice and is one of the cooking schools recommended by Lonely Planet. And our teacher was Ms Kanchana Ubolsootvanich (we called her Tim for short). Looking to be in her early 40's, she's a real sprite! She also has her own restaurant which she tends to as well. So her day begins early at 4am to do marketing for her restaurant, go to the restaurant to cook up some of the dishes, then return to the cooking school to start teaching from 11 - 7pm (there are 2 classes per day).. and this includes handling enquiries, arranging transport for the guests etc. I looked at this petite lady in wonder where she gets all her energy from. But Tim was nice and friendly, not to mention encouraging!
So our lessons began for the 8 of us: Tamara, John, the Williams family, DC and I. The Williams family consisted mum and dad and their 2 daughters. Similar to Tamara & John, the Williams family are based in Dubai by the Canadian government to work in a Canadian built hospital there.
So the menu for the day was (in order of appearance - by appearance, I mean when they are served... not how ugly they look. Gimme some credit here!!!)
1) Corn fritters with cucumber relish.
2) Fried fish with mango salad
3) Phad Thai
4) Pumpkin custard
With Tim's instructions, it was pretty easy to do up the dishes. All the ingredients were already prepared, to the exact measurement. All you had to do was to put it in in sequence. And there were many helpers at hand to help out as well. They cleared away the saucers once we were done with them and helped us to keep in check the heat etc, stirring the food occasionally. Piece of cake! And after we did each dish, we went to the long table in the garden to sit and sample what we made. Thankfully, the food I cooked came out decent and edible! If not it would have been a very pathetic lunch. I was particularly proud of my mango salad (Tim had commented that mine looked very professional and presentable).
Though my Phad Thai came out slightly burnt because my heat setting was too high... damn, it still tasted ok, nonetheless. And we washed it down with nice ice cold lemon tea. And did I mention that the coffee was fantastic? I found it hard to believe that it was instant coffee!!!here's the website for those interested: www.kaohom.com
But more importantly, the cooking lesson gave a sliver of insight to cultures. I somehow felt that the Americans were very competitive. Tamara and John did things very very quickly. They were always ahead. But it really made me wonder if they are really appreciating the whole thing? This wasn't a competition! As for the Canadian Williams family, they took things at a slower pace. Each parent was working with a daughter and they were very encouraging. They prodded their daughters on, reminding them to add what etc. 2 countries so close to each other but yet so different. But perhaps it was an unfair comparison?Well, the cooking lesson ended and once again the 4 of us were packed in the Honda CRV while the Williams family were in another vehicle headed to the Airport. And once again the uncomfortable silence ensued. But yet the ride back was not without certain entertainment from dear John:
Act 1: When we were on our way to Kao Hom, near the entrance was a street football compound. At the nets, a dog was tangled there and it looked as if it was trying it's best to get out, trashing about and barking. Dear John was whining, "Oh the poor dog.. whose is it? Why is it tangled? it looks hurt" blah blah blah. But since we had to keep time, we went ahead. On the way out the same dog was still there. This time, it looked worn out from struggling and just lay there, seemingly exhausted. Dear John went "On no, we really have to save it! It looks like it's dead! It looks like it's suffocated! The poor thing" blah blah blah. So our driver stopped the car and we got out, attempting to do OPERATION TANGLED DOG, with Dear John leading. But guess what? As we were approaching the dog, it got up and started growling. And I do mean GROWLING. And that is when dear john chickened out. "Oh, it doesn't seem friendly, and it looks ok and doesn't need our help. Let's go back to the car".... Wuss. So we bundled back into the car again.
Act 2: As we were travelling about in Chiang Mai, dear John suddenly made this comment: "Who is this guy I keep seeing around the whole place in these huge posters?". This "guy" that dear john was mentioning, so happens to be the KING of Thailand (yes.. do I hear "OH MY GOD???"). As if the silence in the car wasn't oppressive enough, dear john's comment just made it more suffocating. After a period of awkward silence, DC spoke up and said that that "guy" was the King of Thailand. And dear john's response? "Oh... he's the king? He looks like a regular joe to me". The silence in the car became so thick that if I had a knife, I could've cut right through it. And I was imagining the headlines in the papers the next day: Woman driver kills foreigners who slander Thai King. Oh God...The Thai's love their King and revere him at an even higher level than god! And just the day before, the headlines told of a mad man who was clubbered to death because he wrecked the famous Erawan Shrine in Bangkok... Yeah... I just wanted to kick dear john out of the car.. while it was till moving!
Thankfully, we managed to reach our hotel in one piece. Since we had 2 hours to spare before checkout, we decided to indulge in a massage. This time, no Thai massage. Instead, we decided to get ourselves slathered in coffee! Yeah.. it was a coffee scrub massage treatment. The coffee smelled so good, I was so tempted to lick some off myself. And to a certain extent, I felt like some sort of... cake.. ha ha ha. But that was the final pampering we were going to get. Back in SG, such a treatment will set you back S$50 - S$100, depending on where you went. But in Chiang Mai, it was less than S$30. Final moments of being treated like a king..
For the next few hours, details were a bit hazy. Largely because we had to checkout in 10 mins. AND we discovered that we still had Baileys in the fridge. So... DC and I finished the last 1/3 of Baileys in 5 mins flat! Oh my god.. I dun think I have drunk anything that fast before. Hence.. everything became hazy after that. Ha ha ha. I vaguely remember checking out, then leaving our belongings with the bellboy. And I believe that we ventured to a nearby shop to buy a cheap haversack for DC. I left the bargaining to DC since I was feeling really zoned out. Unfortunately, he can't haggle... so I don't think he got the best deal. Dinner was at a nearby hotel restaurant since we didn't have enough cash (so had to pay by credit). I didn't eat much and the food really wasn't fantastic (it was german food cooked by Thais). Pretty soon, we were back at our hotel, waiting for the airport pickup.
The trip to the airport kinda sobered me up a bit. Our flight was supposed to be at 10.30pm. When we got to the airport, we were astounded by the length of the queue! There were 2 rows and both had snaked to the entrance of the airport! But we didn't have much of a choice. That wasn't the punchline. As we were finally inching closer to the counter, I was feeling elated, thinking that I could be on the plane and zonked out soon. Then I noticed a sign on the counter. I rubbed my eyes and wished it was a bad dream. The sign read: 10.30pm flight delayed till 11.50pm... I was just struck speechless.
If it had been Changi airport, maybe I wouldn't have minded so much. But the airport in Chiang Mai had NOTHING open at 10.30pm. No Shopping, No entertainment, No Bars... zip.. nada.. So the only thing was to sit, twiddle your thumbs and wait. Ours wasn't the only flight delayed: another Thai Airways flight was delayed due to bad weather in Bangkok. So the whole waiting area was packed, people complaining, snoring, irate kids screaming, frazzled parents also screaming. Then when the plane finally landed at 12 midnight, the kiasu syndrome kicked in once again. I very nearly just wanted to mao some people...
The flight back wasn't smooth. It had quite a few turbulent moments. By the time we reached back Singapore, it was already past 4am. The novelty of being in the new Budget terminal didn't even appeal to me. I just wanted to get back home. Clearing immigration was pretty fast. And seeing that DFS was open, i decided to grab a few duty free liquor. Unfortunately, so did many others. And there was only 1 person on duty. Needless to say, even more waiting was in order. Many gave up and left the shop. But I surprisingly perservered. Maybe because I was just resigned to the fact that since it is already this late, why not even later? Or it could be the alcohol.. heh heh.
Then there was the fact that the budget terminal didn't have a POSB atm at all. DC and I were penniless!!! Oh gosh. The nearest ATM was at Terminal 2. Fed up, I just decided to try my luck and asked the taxi uncles if they accepted credit card. Thankfully, 2 taxi's did and DC and I went our seperate ways.
I finally reached home at 6am in the morning! Needless to say.. i just crashed in a heap on my bed. Zzzzz......
And that concludes my Chiang Mai adventures :)
# posted by Xallista @ 2:30 PM 
