DAY TWO:
The next day, we woke up and had a nice leisurely breakfast
downstairs. It was nice to not have to rush and we just enjoyed each other’s
company as we watched the other guests stare in confusion out the window: it
was cold and rainy! And by cold, I mean I was wearing a long sleeve and pants
and still clutching my arms. Some people were wearing winter coats which kind
of made me laugh because we were in Thailand!
Since it was cold and rainy and rather stupid outside, I
thought what a perfect morning for a massage. Our cooking class wasn’t until
late afternoon, so we headed out to this place called Lila Massage. We went the
previous evening because it was hopping, but it was fully booked. Luckily, the
mornings were a lot quieter (everyone gets an evening massage).
Lila Massage was advertised as a women’s rehabilitation
center for ex-prisoners. Women in prison would learn the art of massage and
then come back and work at Lila – cool! We thought that was a really cool
concept. Because of this, the masseuses were extremely attentive and
professional and the price was right! When we walked in, the aromas of lavender
and lemon grass hugged my nostrils and I instantly felt relaxed. Two sweet
ladies shuffled over and bowed. “Sawasdee ka” (Sa-wa-dee-kah) I said and they
smiled and gave us clothes to change into for our Thai massages. Then they
washed our feet (I love this part because having clean feet is a treat to me!
Please don’t think that my feet are always dirty, but when you’re traipsing
around Thailand in flip-flops, you are bound to flip and flop some dirt and
sludge, and scrubbing your feet in a cold and stupid shower just didn’t cut
it!). Anyway, after the warm foot bath, we were offered tea before we lied down
and had arguably the best experience known to man. A Thai massage is when the
masseuse uses her entire damn body to press pressure points on yours. It feels
amazing. From foot all the way to head, we were pampered and pressed. It was
incredible. I felt absolutely amazing the whole time. At one point, she grabbed
my leg and twisted it in a weird way and it popped which made her gasp. She
profusely apologized and I said not to worry and to continue, although it did
hurt a bit.
The only not perfect thing about this massage was that
beside me there was a man getting a massage and for some reason the curtain was
drawn (there were at least four people beside us and no curtains so it was a
little fishy). Every second I heard some clear exclamations of pleasure that I
assumed at first was a guy who was really stiff just enjoying a nice back rub.
Bernard said he heard nothing because he was so zened out, but I was right
beside what could only be described as a happy ending! Sigh… oh well, at least
he was enjoying his vacation.
Anyway, after the most incredible massage, we glided back to
the hotel to put on another layer and await the pick up for the cooking class.
(Another amazing thing about the massage was I was warm and comfortable! I
swear, it was THAT cold!)
We were picked up outside our hotel around 1pm and brought
to a Thai market along with a handful of other couples. We got to learn about a
few different kinds of Thai vegetables and herbs and bought some ingredients
for the cooking class. The coolest part of this class (there were dozens of
cooking classes to choose from in Chiang Mai) was that you could customize your
menu uniquely to yourself. For example, my menu was completely different than
Bernard’s. Each of us got to pick 3 courses with a few different options. No
one had the same menu! I thought this was really nice and made our experience
unique and more tailored to ourselves. My menu was spice-less and Bernard’s was
intense, haha.
We begin with a little treat that wasn’t advertised in the
brochure – deep fried spring rolls. Hell yes, I can taste them now as I think
of them!! We all got to chop fresh ingredients and one by one drop the roll
into piping hot oil and watch it dance as it crisped up, which actually took no
time at all!
We inhaled the spring rolls in a nearby room and exchanged
names, countries, and stories for a bit before starting to cook our menus.
Our chef brought out a bunch of silver platters, each with
our unique ingredients in in for each course. I was at a station with other
people who wanted to cook Pad Thai and Bernard was at an adjacent station for
the people who liked all the spice! We began by chopping up ingredients and
asking loads of questions about substitutions and such seeing as none of us
actually lived in Thailand and access to the ingredients was harder – one guy
was Russian and had never eaten half of the things we were making. We are lucky
enough to live in Asia so most of the ingredients are accessible.
Then we moved over to the cooking stations and started
mixing our bases in cute little pots. Bernard and I giggled as we took pictures
of each other stirring – I maintain that doing a cooking class is arguably one
of the best date ideas. I felt like I was on a group date and it was adorably
cute.
Anyway, after stirring and mixing (and having the chef fix
some stuff – I mixed my Pad Thai perfectly but the guy beside me clearly didn’t
have my cuisinal expertise so his looked very different… still tasted fabulous
though!)
After completion of the cooking, we went back to that nearby
room and feasted. My lord there was a lot of food on our table. We had five
people at our small table and three courses each. We were all stuffed by the
end of lunch!
One thing I really appreciated about this cooking class
which didn’t happen as much during our Shanghai cooking class, is the amount of
time we got to just chill and eat. We made friends with a Russian couple and
they told us about Russian food traditions. They were from New York so they
gave us some insight into being Russian-American. They loved that we were from
Canada but lived in China, which is another unique food story!
All in all, the cooking class was perfect (minus the
freezing ass weather). We were plenty stuffed and each got a Thai cookbook
filled with the recipes we had just made. What a wonderful end to a beautiful
afternoon. Now, I don’t want to brag, but as a Pad Thai connoisseur, I feel I
have the credibility to say that MY Pad Thai was the best Pad Thai I had ever
eaten. Granted I had a lot of help and the chef literally walked us through it
so it was bulletproof and we were guaranteed delicious food at the end.
We got back to the hotel and it was still cold and rainy. We
didn’t really know what to do because most of the activities offered to us
required warm and dry weather. We decided that this was a vacation, damn it,
and therefore doing nothing was perfect! We grabbed our eBooks and hit a
downtown café for hours. After hours of pleasant, cozy reading and a pot of tea
(with little cookies on the side!), we wandered a few shops down to a little
restaurant where we set up camp on the very chilly patio and enjoyed pineapple
fried rice and papaya salad. That food though… man I love Thailand!
No comments:
Post a Comment