Going to Phuket

Sorry to miss a day. I was feeling under the weather so we laid low. We went back to a mall today so that I could buy another sundress. I bought a cute one the other day so I wanted to return for another and another... but that's another story. After a fortifying lunch at Sizzler's, I left Don with his book at Starbucks and shopped till I dropped.

The top photo is a view from the deck of the Starbucks at the top of the mall. The next is a photo of one of the main entrances to the mall. There is a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in the mall but we didn't feel the need to go there. The other two pics are views of the rush hour traffic on our way home. Rush hour being mainly the tourists going back to their hotels from whatever beach they were at all day.

We head out to Phuket tomorrow and will be there until next Thursday. To travel light, we'll be leaving the laptop here so will not post while we are away. So Happy Chinese New Year! See you in a bit.

J

No Cooking Class Today, What To Do? What To Do?

Go shopping at the Outlet Mall, yay! Much to Don's chagrin, I dragged him to yet another mall. He's not what I would call a willing shopper. We took the hotel bus (identical to the baht buses we've been taking to get around the city). You will see that Don is happy in the back of the pickup ... and holding on tight, Glen.

We managed to buy some things for him and he is now proudly sporting a black Speedo. Don't worry, they are trunk-styled and NOT the itsy bitsy kind :) Sorry, other than that we weren't too exciting today. Did lots of window shopping at the outlet mall though so I'll chalk it up to a walking exercise routine. We came home, took a nap, had happy hour on the balcony and then went out for dinner.

Along the way this evening I took some pics of the scenes around the hotel. There is a pic of the staff buying some groceries just outside the hotel, aren't their uniforms lovely? Oh, in case you are curious about the hotel, here is a link:

http://www.villathongbura.com/accom.htm

We are staying in the studio room.

There is also a pic of the convenience store and the laundry across the road. We've bought lots of essentials from the store like beer, chips and ice. They have daily necessities and also have beer bottles of gasoline for the many scooters that people drive here. Many of the hotel guests go across the street to get their laundry done instead of sending it down at the hotel. We have been frugal and have been washing out almost all of our clothing by hand. Luckily, it is so dry and sunny here, they dry in a day on the rack that is out on the balcony. So thoughtful of the hotel.

Since we were referred to this hotel by our new friend, we have received a bit of a special treatment. We were welcomed with a beautiful fruit basket and flower arrangement when we arrived and every few days, they have been replaced by the staff. It's a wonderful treat. It's been a learning experience too since there has been one fruit in each basket that we were unfamiliar with. Today's fruit basket contained mangosteens, logans, bananas and a brown smoothed skin fruit shaped like a kiwi. We'll be researching that online later. So far, we've learned about cashew apples and jujubes.

We have no special plans till Friday so we still have a couple of days of amusing ourselves here.

Hope everyone is staying warm in Ottawa. We have been following the cold snap. I won't rub it in with the temp here today :)

See you tomorrow. J

Last Day of Cooking Class

Today, we had company. An Irish man from Dublin originally, living in Portugal joined us. He, like many of the foreigners here is retired. We made many things today: Red Curry with Roasted Chicken, Deep Fried Pork appetizers, Sticky Rice with Mango, Deep Fried Sweet Bananas and Baby Bananas Stewed in a simple syrup. We brought all the desserts home and will be having them with ice cream soon. Oh, I took a photo of the outside of the cooking school. We are going to get a graduation certificate later. Proud pics to come.

We just had dinner from the street carts: noodle salad and donairs. Quite yummy but it took us forever to get our donairs because a family of 5 in front of us ordered 10 and this one guy was trying to fill the orders.

Despite previous promises, we didn't much today either because it was 35C. I dragged Don to a new mall for a quick visit and then we headed straight home. Oh, I had to take a photo of my stall when I went to use the washroom in the mall. Those of you who have used a Western toilet in China will understand :)

Tonight, we bought our plane tickets to Phuket to visit Jackie and Gord (they teach with us in China) on Friday. They arrived in Thailand last week and are staying somewhere where there is only power for 4 hours a day. We will NOT be joining them there but when they move to a posh condo very close to the beach. Can't wait to hang out on the beach for a bit since it is impossible here as they pack them in like sardines.

Tomorrow will be the first day in 5 days that we will NOT have curry for breakfast, ha ha :) Think we'll sleep in a bit and then have a more traditional Western breakfast. For the less food obsessed of you out there, we will be doing something different tomorrow but don't know what yet. Stay tuned.

J

Day 4 Cooking Class

We had company for the class today. Things are very "go with the flow" at the school. We are supposed to start at 9 but didn't get there till 9:30. When we arrived, there were two young ladies waiting. They were expecting the Sunday menu or desserts but since they were just drop-ins, the school was not exactly prepared. They were quickly accommodated though and preparations were made to teach them 2 desserts. We went ahead as planned to cook Red Curry with Potatoes and Chicken, a Pomelo and Shrimp Salad, a Sweet and Sour Stir-fry served in an Omlette and Thai Style Fish Cakes. Made our first fish cakes today and they were tasty!

We were so full that we took the salad and stir-fry home and ended up having it for dinner (see Don with our dinner photo). We are finishing the 5 day course tomorrow so will soon have to have regular breakfasts and lunches. The big question will be whether we cook or eat out.

Since we took it way easy today, there aren't too many pics to share. Sorry. Will try to do more tomorrow.

J

Day 3 of Cooking Class

We were the only two in class again. It's great cause we get her undivided attention. We made a Green Curry with Squid Stuffed with Pork, Sweet and Sour Spareribs, Seafood Salad and Whole Fried Fish. We realized this morning that our previous days began with a spicy breakfast and ended with a spicy dinner so were thankful today for a less chili focused menu. Everything was delicious as usual and we had to take the salad home cause we couldn't eat anymore. Today was great because we did things we wouldn't normally do, like deep frying the spareribs first, frying a whole fish and stuffing squid. You will see a photo of Don with Sheri's (our teacher) grandson. He hangs out with his mom and bb brother (I think) while his grandma teaches the classes.

After class, we wandered to another mall and I just had to take a photo with the Thai Ronald McDonald. The trip home is always by baht bus now because we are experts. I took a photo of Don in the back of one.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw a cart selling spring rolls and we couldn't pass them up. That was our snack on the balcony with some cold refreshing drinks. We spend as much time on the balcony as possible. We start our days with coffee there in the morning. Loving this outdoor living!

I got a haircut for $3 Cdn today and NO, I don't think it LOOKS like a $3 haircut :)

Dinner was cheap and cheerful again. For $7, we got a crab appetizer, a stirfry for Don and a fried noodle for me with a big beer for sharing.

Oh yeah, there is a photo of the Banana Roti from last night I forgot to post yesterday.

Second Day at Cooking School

We came out from our hotel room today and saw an elephant again. Apparently, there is an elephant trekking park right near here. We managed to get a photo this time for proof.

We were the only ones in class today so we had a great chance to ask questions and the lesson was quicker. Yesterday, we cooked Penang Curry, Pad Thai, Hot and Sour Chicken Soup and a Green Papaya Salad. Today, we cooked four more dishes: Curry Noodles, Chicken Galangal and Coconut Soup, Chicken and Vegetable stir-fry and a Spicy Seafood Salad. After the first dish, I could barely touch the others. I was so stuffed!

On our way back to the hotel, we checked out a mall on the beach front. No bargains to be had even though there was End of Season sales everywhere :( But I did find my favourite drugstore in China, Watsons, here AND a Boots so I was happy. Hope to check out the Outlet Mall soon.

When we went out for dinner tonight, there were tons of flying insects out. You can see from the photo that they put on quite a show and were terribly pesky around our heads. We tried a yummy street snack tonight, a banana roti. It's a pastry fried in butter and oil and filled with banana and topped with a sprinkle of sugar and sweetened condensed milk. We ate them before having dinner because they were fresh and warm. Nice to be adults!

We're heading back for day 3 at the cooking school tomorrow. Think we will have company because a girl stopped in to inquire about classes while we were cooking.

That's it for today. J

First Day of Cooking Classes

We woke up early so we could be ready for our pick up at 8:30 this morning. Sheri, the chef who was teaching the classes, picked us up on her way in to the school. When we got there, there were 5 women waiting. We turned right back around and headed out to a nearby market which really reminded us of Mexico. We got a quick tour of some popular vegetables and other produce, bought some ingredients and headed back to cook.

You can see that this is a real hands-on class. We all got our own stations and we stood on the outside while Sheri stood on the inside to give us instructions and organize the ingredients for us. All we had to do was cut and stir. It was awesome! We cooked 4 dishes in 3 hours and we were stuffed. I can't believe how easy it was to cook such flavourful dishes. Of course, it helps when someone has prepared all of the ingredients for us. We would cook a dish, plate it and sit down to enjoy the fruits of our labour, rest a bit and go back to make the next dish. While we are, Sheri and her helper washed the things that we had used and prepared the ingredients for the next dish. We liked it so much, we've decided to do the other 4 courses in the series so we are returning tomorrow. Here is the link to the school:

http://www.happyhome-thaicookingschool.com/

We were so full that we didn't need lunch. We came back to the hotel, had a swim then a nap and headed back out again for a foot massage for me while Don had a drink next door. Ahhhhh! Possibly the best foot massage ever. The massage included my legs, arms and shoulders too and it was the first time I've had a stick used in massaging my foot. Dinner was a bit of street food from some carts. We had donairs and fried chicken, not Thai but cheap. Enjoying some English tv now and chilling. Looking forward to our second cooking class tomorrow :)

Night all. J

p.s. Our cooking classes cost $130 Cdn. What a bargain for 5 mornings of fun! Every morning we start at 9 a.m., go to the market, then cook 4 dishes and eat till noon. Today we didn't finish till 1.

Thai Lunch and Dinner From Day 3

Most of these were from the one restaurant we found and liked very much. In the big clay pot is some bbq pork ribs that we found in the market in a food cart. That was our first appetizer for the evening.

Fish Spa and Great Thai Food

On our way out to breakfast this morning, I had to take a photo of one of the alters on the way. Many of the properties and businesses had an alter of some sort. This one above was particularly beautiful.

Our first adventure of the day was a fish spa. For 150 baht (almost $5 Cdn), little fishes ate the dead skin from our feet for 20 minutes. I was a bit afraid once I saw the tank of fishes but that quickly turned to uncontrolled laughter as soon as the fishes found my feet. Don and I were crying because we were laughing so hard. It felt like little electrical shocks AND the worst tickling you can't stand. It was the best $10 we've spent! Our feet came out nice and soft.

We found a nice outdoor restaurant for a cheap and cheerful Thai lunch. It was so good that we returned for dinner tonight. Having trouble posting pics in this entry. Check out our food in the next entry.

Oh and we saw an elephant across the street from the hotel. It disappeared so quickly into the trees that I didn't have a chance to pull out my camera so you'll have to use your imagination. There was a person riding it if that helps.

Tomorrow, we're going to cooking school. It should be fun!

Night all. J