Hi,

Well, after a restless nights travel, we arrived in Chaing Mai very
early. We were dropped off about 20 mins out side of town where we were hearded
into smaller mini vans. On the way into town one of the bags that was meant
to be secured on the roof came flying past the window. Someone yelled at the
driver to stop so we could go and get it. It was a really busy road and how
all the traffic missed the bag I will never know. I found this pretty funny
until I turned and looked down the road and realised that it was my bag!

We checked into the Nham Kong Guesthouse and headed into town to have a
look around. It seemed a really nice town and it was a lot more relaxed than
Bangkok and the people were so friendly. We managed to find our way
back to the accommodation and crashed. That evening we went out to have a look
at the night market. It was massive. I've never seen a market so big, it
sold everything......

It was up early as it was time to return to the classroom - Thai
Cookery Style!! The first part of the day was a visit to a local market were we
were going to be introduced to the ingredience that we were going to be
using throughout the day. It was really interesting and I learnt loads.
Miaow's english was superb and she was really funny with it too.

Once we had finished our education at the market we were driven out of
town to the kitchen/school. It was straight into the action! I was
completing course A and Becki was completing course C as she had already taken
course A in July. The dishes that I was going to create were going to be as
follows:

Pad Thai
Spring Rolls
Tom Yam soup
Thai Green Curry
Chicken and Cashew Nuts
Mango and sticky rice

The set up of the course was really good. You sit around the table where
Nokky would explain the ingredience and show you how to cut it etc. You would
then repeat what she had just done. Once all the ingredients had been
chopped and were ready to be flashed in the pan, it was over to the gas hobs. Nokky
would show us how it was done and we would then go off and rustle up a storm
with the direction being screamed out in the back ground. This is the best
bit, once you had finished the dish, you ate it! Quality. The whole day was a
brilliant experience and Nokky was hilarious. At the end of the day I
was stuffed and we were all presented with certificates and a cookery book
with all the recipes that we had created throughout the course.

The next day was a bobby dazzler too. We were crammed into a minivan at
seven and we hit the road for the hills. Unexpectedly we made a toilet stop
at a orchid and butterfly farm! It we really nice as I had never seen
orchids being farmed. Once we'd had about 20 minutes to explore it was time to make
a move again. Our second stop and again I wasn't expecting it, was at a
Chiang Dao cave. It was in a really nice setting and the cave was huge. Inside the
cave there were lots of different Buddha's and shrines which were interesting
as they were mainly Burmese Buddha's etc so was different to the Thai ones
I had seen in the past. Again it was time to move on and the next
destination was to see the Burmese, Thai border. The scenery was so amazing. North
Thailand is so stunning. Once we had taken a few pictures of the
beautiful landscape and next to the big white Buddha it was time to have lunch.
With lunch out of the way, it was time for the real reason for the day trip,
to visit the Karen tribe Long Neck village in the north hills of
Thailand.

The Karen tribe is actually a Burmese tribe that is taking refuge in
Thailand and the long neck village is a refugee camp. The village was
amazing and just located in the middle of the mountains and again the
scenery was breath taking. There are only two long neck tribes that
exist in Thailand and this tribe lives with two other tribes, the Big Ear tribe
and the Palong tribe. Once you are there the guide gives you some
information about the tribe and its people which was fascinating. The reason they
wear the rings is for protection against lions/tigers, beauty and another which I
have forgotten! The rings are only for the women and they are put on at the
age of five. They are designed to push the shoulders down and a new ring is
added every year. The only reason they take them off is for delivering
babies etc etc. Once we had been informed of their history and what not, you
are then allowed to wonder around for an hour. The people are so friendly
and laid back. They are making scarves and table clothes which they sell to
make a living. It was an amazing experience and I am so pleased that I visited
this long neck village. It was a long journey home!

Bye for now

Miffy x x x