Chiang Mai

Sawadee to everybody from Chiang Mai! The train ride was a good experience. It took me through the mountains of the northern part of Thailand and there was only on track through the whole area. So there is no options for trains crossing only at the stations of some smaller towns or villages. To Thai, Chiang Mai is a national treasure - a cultures symbol of nationhood. For visitors, it is a cool place to kick back and soak up some of the Thai-ness that may have been missed on the beaches of the south coast. The climate is much more comfortable than in Bangkok, at least less steamy and sweaty. The sky here is very overcast and hazy due to some big fires which happen during dry season. In addition to that lots of farmers burn their rice fields after harvesting the rice. So I cannot say that I am blessed with lots of fresh air at the moment. So Chiang Mai with a population of 1,6 Mio (Bangkok 6,0 Mio) is a great playground for classes in Thai language, cooking, meditations and massage. There is also lots to see and visit. It has more than 300 temples - almost as many as Bangkok. It is also one of the most popular places in Thailand to arrange a trek. Most treks include visits to minority villages, some jungle action, plus the option for rafting or elephant rides. My activity so far was Thai cooking. Today I completed my second of three days. So for me it got started! Each day so far included the cooking of 5 different dishes, we had to eat of course. It goes without saying that the self cooked dishes always tastes the best!! It is not very difficult, it just takes some major or minor information to succeed with it. I could always participate in small groups of 5 or 6 people, so it makes it much easier for everybody. Boom, our teacher took us to the local fruit and vegetable market in the morning to buy the ingredients. This helped me a lot to understand the different spices, herbs and vegetable that belong the its same family, for example there is 4 different kinds, basil 3, eggplant 4 etc and each one is used for its own dish. Just to show you some of our results, here some pics. Bon appetit!!