We were checking out of the Yak guest house today so had to get up early and pack our bags. I ran down to a Thai house that advertised laundry services and paid for them to do our washing while we were out for the day. (35 Baht a kg, we had 2.5kg's). We were collected from our hotel at 8.35 by a Thai woman called Benny. She was also very enthusiastic and I was starting to think it was a Thai trait. We hopped on the back of a truck thing and there were 6 other people already there. Edd and I immediately got chatting to the girls sitting next to us and discovered they were from Surrey - England. Ha! We picked up 1 more couple and were then taken to a local food market.

It was quite warm for 9am and the market was already buzzing with activity. Benny showed us some of the ingredients we would be using for the day and told us about vegetarian/vegan and western alternatives. We were given 20 minutes to walk around and buy a few drinks for the farm if we wanted. We attempted to avoid the fresh fish (or fried fish) stalls, but it was easier said than done. I tried to imagine a British food safety official here and giggled to myself, they'd probably have a coronary and pass out in one of the drains that outlined the walkways.

We got back into the truck, with some of the days ingredients under the seats (chicken and fish in plastic bags - delightful) and were told it would be a 34 minute and 32 second journey to the farm. We got to know some of the other people on the course with us for the day, so the journey felt quite short. We arrived at the farm, crossed a small bridge and were instructed on where the 'happy room' (toilet) was and where to store our drinks to keep them cold. We had a short break and were then told to put our red aprons and a hat on as we were going to walk around the herb gardens.

We learnt about the different herbs we'd be using in our food for the day and about the Thai plants that we probably wouldn't be able to get in a western country's store with ease. Edd was fascinated by how pineapples grew and we were introduced to the plum - mango tree. A hybrid with an original name, not. We had to pick some of the ingredients ourselves and headed back to the cooking area.

We started off with making the pesto for our curries and had great fun grinding and banging away at our ingredients to make a smooth paste. We then moved on to making our soups, the pesto was to be used later, I made a coconut soup with shrimps (ok, not a vegetarian option, but it wasn't chicken) and Edd made Tom Yum Soup with shrimp. Once we were done we sat down and ate our soups with shrimp. It was delicious, but quite a faffy dish. I wasn't sure if I'd make this at home again in a hurry.

We then moved on to our curries. This was lots of fun and I was surprised at how quickly it cooked. (I always thought you cooked a curry for at least an hour, here it was 10 minutes and then leave to stand for a half an hour). I made Thai green curry and Edd made a red curry. (We'd decided to make different dishes so we'd learn how to make 10 dishes in a day, instead of 5 - life is about working smarter, not harder). I then made a sweet and sour dish (as it is usually my favourite one on any Thai menu) and was surprised to learn that it had ketchup in the sauce. Edd had chosen to make a chicken dish with cashew nuts. We finished at 1pm and sat with our 2 dishes for lunch. My Thai green curry was spicier than I thought it would be and had made a chicken option. I didn't eat any of the chicken, but instead dunked balls of sticky rice into the sauce. It had a bite, but wasn't unbearable; I'd definitely make this at home again. The sweet and sour option was vegetarian and quite delicious. I tried Edd's dishes, which were equally as good and we discussed what we'd add in extra or do differently. We sat with the British girls and had a lovely lunch; they were both beauticians with one being completely self-employed (and had a boyfriend also called Edd) the other worked at a salon, but also from home 1 or 2 days a week. Edd had to endure girl talk on dating and boys and our conversation went into detail regarding dating online.

We were called back to the kitchen at 2.15pm as we still had 2 dishes to make. I had springs rolls and banana in coconut milk and Edd had Pad Thai and mango and sticky rice. These turned out to be my 2 favourite dishes and I was surprised at how easy it was to make spring rolls (with the right pastry). We ate our desserts and all decided my banana and coconut milk was the better option (I had added 2 extra spoons of palm sugar into it) - they'd all made the mango dessert. I took my spring rolls and Edd took his Pad Thai to-go and we were all given a recipe book. We clambered back into the back of the truck and chatted the whole way home.

We got dropped off at the Yak guest house as we'd asked the owner if he'd mind if we left our bags there for the day. He'd happily accommodated us and we thanked him and left. We collected our washing from the Thai ladies and headed for our new accommodation. We hadn't completely hated the Yak, but the building wasn't very well maintained, the bathroom was awful (I switched the shower on while Edd was brushing his teeth and it shot across the room and hit him on the head - that explained the bottom of the door rotting) the bed's springs dug into you when you slept as well. For 600 Baht a night, we weren't sure how it had received such good ratings on TripAdvisor. We'd found alternative accommodation for the same price; it was modern, clean and well maintained. (We'd asked to see the room in person before we'd chosen it). We'd decided to extend our stay in Chiang Mai as I'd spent the first 3 days sick and there were still things there we wanted to do. We were glad to be in nicer accommodation for the next 4 nights.

We checked into our new guest house and had a shower, got ready and went in search of G&T's. We'd been eating all day and had no desire to have dinner, but decided a French crepe couldn't hurt and had one each on the way home. We got back to our new accommodation and looked forward to a night minus pokey bed springs.