Spent the day at Sammy's Cooking School some distance outside Chiang Mai on Sammy's farm. First we stopped at the market and his wife showed us around and explained the things that we saw. There were no very unusual things at the market except frogs and snails. But mostly it was herbs, spices, and vegetables. Most of the vendors were almost ready to pack up when we got there at nine having opened their stalls at 3am.
We made some great dishes such as a red jungle curry, a green curry, various soups, some appetizers, and dessert such as mango with sticky rice (like rice pudding) and banana in cocunut. It was well worth the time and money. I was there with the Slovakian guy I met a few days ago, one other Canadian, an English fellow who has been in Thailand for several years now, a few Americans, a Dutch couple, and an Argentinian woman.
Sammy was a very humourous fellow speaking with a mixture of a Thai/English accent having spent five years in Birmingham. He picked all kinds of plants straight out of the ground and explained them to us. I suppose the Thai people will never go hungry because so much grows here in great abundance. We cooked outdoors under bamboo and iron roofs with gas powered stove tops under the instruction of his wife. At one point the half the world's water fell out of the sky as we were stirring our saucepans. It was a very memorable day. I ate far more than I should have. And the food was fantastic. We got a cook book to take with us, so I hope I can find the ingredients back home.
Tomorrow I will extend my stay at Sixty House to take me to Wednesday afternoon before flying back to Bangkok. It feels like I've been in Thailand for weeks; I cannot belive that my plane landed just last Monday.
