Date: 19th May 2011

Place: Chiang Mai

Weather: probably half raining half sunny but I cant actually remember.

After getting in at 5am we didn't get up until we heard a knock at the door from Carmen saying it was 1.30pm. Thankfully today was just a chill day anyway and we weren't doing anything until 4pm.

We sat in reception for most of the day; I took my laptop down and everyone did a bit of sorting out. After having some breakfast I went in the pool and id my 100 lengths. 4pm came around pretty quickly and we were then picked up to go to our Thai cooking class.

The guy who took us, called Sim, was hilarious. He reminded me so much (lookwise) of Ben Ursell from school. Every so often he would say something in a super high pitched voice. Our first stop was a market where he showed us some things used a lot in Thai cooking. He showed us some Tumeric and rubbed it on my arm because he said its meant to stop mosquito bites; I had a yellow arm for ages after that.

We were given a bit of time to explore the market by ourselves. Carmen and I spent most of our time looking at some packets of dried fruit and trying the samples. We ended up getting a deal of 6 for 100Baht but getting three each. We then had an explore and came across some fried chicken heads; beaks and eyes still intact "/

When we left the market it was a little drive up to the guys house where the cooking class was held. There was a menu that we chose 4 dishes from. First we chose a soup; I chose Hot and Sour which has a proper Thai name but I cant remember it. Next was stir fry and I chose Stir Fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts. We then chose a curry and anything we wanted from the whole menu. I chose Red Curry with Pineapple and, since I love it and its only right to have desert at the end of the meal, I chose Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango.

To cook we were taken outside and had a chopping board each with a huge knife and an apron. The ingredients were all laid out in the middle and we were taken what to take and how to prepare it one at a time. We prepared both the soup and the stir fry first and left one plate under a cover since there were sooo many flies there; they were so annoying!

Cooking the soup was pretty easy, the water was already there for us and we had to add the ingredients in a certain order, as we do at home. It was just different when it came to the spices to add and how much of each. We all were told to test them to see whether or not we liked them. Mine was lovely so I left it how it was and took it to the table under a cover to eat later.

We then went straight back to cook the ingredients we had prepared earlier for the stir fry. He showed us all with Siobhan's first, and for good reason it turned out! The oil in the wok had to be really really hot before we added the chicken, and when we did at the chicken the pan went alight and it was a huge flame!! When it came around to my turn to put it in I was soo nervous. After that it was just stirring quickly as we put everything else in. Sim was telling us to shake our hips as we stirred, as you do.

It was then time to eat!! Everything so far was soo tasty! I was a bit worried about eating it all though because I knew there were another two courses coming. I finished off the chicken and cashew nuts though because I love that, just didn't add to much rice to bulk it up. We then sat and spoke to another guy who lives there and he made us some Thai tea which he said is good for women at their time of the month because it stops them being as stressy.

We started preparing the next two dishes then. The mango came first, we just had to prepare the sticky rice and since three of use were all doing the same dish we worked as a team J. When it was finished they took the sticky rice away and we started to prepare the curry.

When it came round to the chillis being added Sim asked Siobhan how old she was and then started adding that many chillis! It turned out her curry was majorly hot! Everything needed to be made into a paste in a pestle and mortar and Sim said that was how Thai guys saw if a woman would make a good wife (think of how you use it).

We had finished cooking it all so it was time to eat!! The curry was amazing…not too hot and really fruity. They bought our sticky rice out with the mango on top but we got that packaged up to take with us because we were so full. I managed to finish my curry though because it was so tasty. A woman then came over and asked us to write down our names and she copied it in Thai. She then came over with a certificate and recipe book full of thai recipes that look awesome!!

When we got back we finished off the mango and rice. The guys in the guesthouse are so nice, they said help yourself to any cutlery and if we need more mango just ask. They then said we can put on a film if we want so that's what we did for the night. Aimee found Leon which was a really good film and I put two chairs together so that I could put my feet up.

Half way through the film Nick came up to us and asked if we would join in singing happy birthday to his Niece. We all went to her room and surprised her with a cake. She then wanted a picture with all of us and handed us all some cake and whisky. They have to be the friendliest Thai people I have ever met.