All packed and prepared for my travels I was feeling slightly apprehensive as I waved goodbye to my parents at the departure gate. It wasn't long before excitement took over. To add to this - once I was on the plane - I was sat next to a woman who not only works for STA travel company but had also just been travelling around south east Asia herself! Of course I took lots of notes whilst talking to her about good places to stay and things to do.
I was very glad to see Immy when I finally made it to Bangkok airport. Upon arrival, we then had the luxury of being picked up from the airport by my godfather who lives just outside Bangkok.
He took us straight to a local Thai restaurant and ordered us a good mix of fish and prawn dishes. A delicious start to our stay.
The next day we got dropped in the heart of Bangkok and left to our own devices to find the cookery school. We started to get a real sense of the Thai culture as every few minutes we got asked if we needed help crossing the road or a taxi to find our way. Thai people really are friendly and just keen to help.
The cookery class involved being taken to a local food market via tuk tuks. We were taught a lot about the different herbs and vegetables used in lots of popular dishes. There were some interesting sites including live fish flapping around on food counters, piles of chicken feet, people on mopeds going through the market and a woman fast asleep among the food being sold. The actual cooking class was great fun while a bit challenging. The woman leading it was very skilful and we even got to try bits of the dishes she made as examples. To finish we feasted on all the dishes we had made ourselves. All round a great and tiring first day in Thailand! Time for an early night before a busy day tomorrow going to Ayutthaya temples.