My My Pai

Nestled in the mountains several hours north of Chiang Mai is the beautiful village Pai. On Saturday I decided to take part in a cooking course and work out why Thai food is so good! I chose a little course by the name of 'Tase of Pai' that was taken by Pinpaa (most likely I have spelt that wrong, apologies). There were four of us enrolled in the course and spent the first few hours at the market, where Pinpaa showed us all the different vegetables, herbs and spices that are used in Thai cooking. Then we were off back to the school to cook 6 (yes 6!!) meals. I cooked Pad Thai, Spicey Tom Yum prawn soup, stirfried vegetables with ginger, sticky rice with mango, penang curry paste, and penang curry. It was really cool to be able to learn how to make the curry paste from scratch. Oh yes and Papaya salad, which was definitely my favourite. We used the coolest mortar and pestle I have ever seen. It was made of wood and it was used to crush the young papaya, chilli, tomato and beans. Spicy, fresh and delicious!!!! (Photos to come, now I have misplaced my sd thingamejig). All in all the day was a huge success and I left feeling extremely full and optimistic about my thai cooking skills.

On Sunday me and our little Pai pack all took off on our mopeds to visit some waterfalls. The gang consisted of Cherise and Tracey are South African girls who were kind enough to befriend me on my first day. Chris who is English and traveling with them. And Bengi, a kiwi/Australian/London lad who arrived in Pai a couple of days before me and liked it so much he got himself a job at a resort for a couple of months. Score. All wonderful companions to have. The first waterfall we went to was called Pam Bok and was incredible. We all had a little dip and then headed off again on our bikes through the rice fields and amazing countryside. I have never seen green this shade. It is really quite magical. Mountains all around and cute little bamboo bungalows, in a way it reminded me of being in the Wairarapa, only greener Thai style. The second waterfall was fantastic and you could see it was a popular swimming spot for the locals. Very picturesque indeed.

Pai is such a nice little town and again I have been blown away by the friendly people that live in the town. Many, like Phi Phi, seem to have come and not wanted to leave. Sign of a good town. At this point I decided I had better book my ticket out of there or I would never leave my new friends and relaxing atmosphere.

As a result I am currently sitting in Vientiane, Laos, after traveling on an overnight bus from Pai. I have had very little sleep and am on my way to Vang Vieng to see what is in store for me next.

Will post photos soon. People are yelling at me in Thai. Got to Go!!!