Sunday, April 5 – Chiang Mai

I’m back! You’ve missed me, I sure…

(Doubtful!)

This past week in Chiang Mai has been very relaxing. I’ve kind of gotten into a daily routine…

• Morning at the pool – swimming and lounging
• Minimal breakfast
• Take a walk around the circumference of the Old Town (where the wall used to be)
• Minimal lunch
• Get a massage (I haven’t done this every day, but at 8 USD for a 1-hour traditional Thai massage, it’s been hard to resist!)
• Dinner of potstickers and a smoothie (Again, not every day; other times I would just fix something simple at my apartment)

Chiang Mai has gotten warmer since I was here last month, with highs in the mid-90s. And we’ve been impacted by the agricultural burning that takes place in this region in the spring. The result is hazy sky conditions, like I experienced in Laos. Both situations have somewhat affected my outdoor regimen. I should mention though that the differential between the daily high and low temperatures here remains wide, with mornings in the low 70s, which is very comfortable.

(Those of you living in the northern U.S. may remember similar hazy conditions last summer that were caused by the Canadian wildfires)

I was getting a little restless though, so checked in with Google Gemini to see if there were any events taking place here this week. It turns out I’m going to just miss the Songkran Festival (Thai New Year), that begins on April 13th, but there are other activities occurring this week in a buildup to the festival.

One event Gemini mentioned was the Shan (Tai Yai) Buddhist ordination ceremony where young boys are dressed as “Jeweled Princes” in elaborate costumes, makeup, and gold. Today was to be The Grand Procession, where the “princes” are carried on the shoulders of older male relatives through the streets with music and dancing. Gemini provided me with the name of the best temple for witnessing the ceremony, and a time schedule. Perfect!

So, at the designated time (9am) I was at the designated place (Wat Pa Pao), and…nothing. Mmmmm…

The temple was basically deserted. I wasn’t too upset though; tried to remain positive and took advantage of the solitude to get a few pictures of the interesting complex.

The entrance to Wat Pa Pao.

It is located just outside the northeast corner of the Old Town wall.

Wat Pa Pao, which takes its name from a grove of pao trees in which the temple was built, was established in 1883 and was the first temple built in Chiang Mai to serve the Shan community, many of whom had migrated from the Shan States in northeastern Burma to work in the teak logging industry, and were without a place to practice their form of Buddhist worship.

The hazy conditions are evident in this photo.

After leaving Wat Pa Pao, I continued my walk around the Old Town wall, and made a stop at one more temple on my way back to the apartment…

A pedestrian bridge used for crossing the moat.

Wat Rajamontean, located right alongside the moat.

The giant Buddha dates to 2010.

The temple’s origins trace back several centuries; however, it has undergone many restorations.

Noticed these blooming water lilies in the moat as I walked back to the apartment.

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t all that disappointed that I missed the ordination ceremony. I have a feeling that whenever and wherever it actually took place, the crowds would have been a little overwhelming. I actually checked back with Gemini when I returned to the apartment. Basically saying “What the … Gemini!”. It sincerely apologized and stated that it was “working on being more cautious with specific times for local festivals that don’t have a fixed “official” clock”.

So, a lesson learned for me: AI-generated information should be confirmed via at least one other source!

(Just common sense, really. Something I’m obviously lacking!)

Monday, April 6 – Chiang Mai

I’m back in school this morning!

I’m taking the same cooking class that I experienced here back on March 2nd. I’ve selected a completely different menu this time though, thanks to the school offering multiple options for each of the five courses that we will be preparing.

As like last time, we started out by purchasing our ingredients at a local market.

This is our instructor, Aek, explaining the various produce items that we will be using in the class today.

I only took a couple pictures at the market today; more would just be repetitive from March 2nd.

The cooking area at the school.

And the dining area.

This documents the various courses for today’s meal, and what the participants selected for each course. There were 7 of us taking the class this morning (max capacity is 8). The geographic breakdown was:

• A couple from Toronto
• A woman from Shanghai
• A woman from Ukraine
• A woman from Los Angeles
• A man from Paris

Very cosmopolitan!

Gathering the ingredients for the first course: Pad Ka Prao.

Pad Ka Prao is a spicy stir-fry made with meat (chicken, in this case), holy basil, garlic, onion and chili peppers.

(Did you know that green chili peppers are hotter (spicier) than red? I always thought the opposite!)

Very good! (That’s a plum mango joining the stir-fry and rice on the plate)

Course Two: Hot & Sour Thick Prawns Soup

The soup is thickened using coconut milk.

Course Three: Fried Spring Rolls. Here the stuffing is being prepared.

Rolled and ready for cooking!

The soup and rolls were excellent! (I actually only ate one of the rolls; brought the others back to the apartment in a takeaway box)

Course Four: Panaeng Curry. It is a rich, creamy, and slightly sweet Thai curry known for its nutty flavor from peanuts, which are ground into the paste, distinguishing it from red curry.

Panaeng Curry features a coconut milk base.

(I wasn’t able to take any pictures during the cooking process)

Here the coconut cream sauce is being prepared for our dessert: Mango Sticky Rice.

Finishing off the class with Panaeng Curry and Mango Sticky Rice. Perfect!

Another fun (& filling) class! I’m happy I experienced it once again. And, thanks to the recent strength of the U.S. dollar, it was even less expensive this time around: $26 v. $27. Haha!