...Thai Cooking Class. Chatachuk Weekend Market...

Had a true taste of Thailand this morning when I attended the Silom Thai Cooking School. It was absolutely brilliant and I had great tuition as there was only one other student, Gino. We started off visiting the Silom Market where our teacher Mr Nu C showed us around teaching us about the produce and ingredients we were going to use plus others used in Thai cooking.

Afterwards we went to his open air kitchen and whipped up culinary treats including Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Galangal Coconut Soup), Ghai Phad Med Mamaung (Chicken with Cashew Nut), Yam Woon Sen (Spicy Mung Bean Noodle Salad), Thod Mun Pla (Fried Fish Cakes) and Kang Phet Ghai (Red Curry Chicken). We also learnt how to make our own Red Curry Paste, about the different types of Thai rices and how to make a sweet chilli sauce for the fish cakes.

It was so much fun and I really learnt a lot, I just hope I can recreate the dishes as the were really yummy.

After dropping off a load of washing to be laundered for something silly like a quid I went and got a lovely bikini on Koh San Road so I could enjoy the gorgeous sunshine of the afternoon by the hotel's swimming pool.

Later on I went and experienced some of the craziness of the Chatachuk Weekend Market and the MBK shopping centre in Siam. Bangkok is absolutely mad. There is no order to anything, its overcrowded and constantly going at 100mph. These places were of no exception, although the weekend market was a bit more relaxed.

I couldn't believe how vast the market is, it goes on forever with an infinite amount of rows that you can easily lose your direction in. Also everything and anything was on sale there from the usual market items like clothes and food to animals and homewares, that are quite unusual. I travelled from the weekend market to the MBK centre via the Skytrain system, which was great as I got to see the city and enjoy the air con.

Photo: Mr Nu C & me shopping at Silom Market for the ingredients for the cooking class

[Next blog entry: Bangkok Monday July 9th 2007]