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6 June

Today was the day we did our cooking course! We were up early and headed to our new accommodation in the Teak house, Sabai Garden. The room was huge, filled with a king size bed, old chests and cupboards. After leaving everything in the room other than what we needed for the day we headed down and waited in reception for the bus.

The sangwa, picked us up with 5 people already inside, we headed to another hotel to collect 2 others who would join us. There were English, an ex-RSA, American & Dutch who accompanied us on the course. We have found every time that the people make the excursion, today was no different, there was never a time that there was no conversation.

First we were taken to the local market, where our guide showed us the difference between sticky rice and normal rice. Then came the sauces, fish, Soya, oyster sauce and so on, lastly we were also educated regarding fresh produce before being given free reins. We walked through the market of swimming fish, meat, greens and most other things you would expect to find in such a market.

Hereafter we were taken to the organic farm where another tour was on the table, this time only around the garden identifying all the different spices and herbs that are used in Thai cooking. All of us were given a red apron and huge Mexican hat. Our first task was to make a chili paste, this is quite a process and I now understand why many buy the paste. A word of advice to those who don't work with chili's often, don't rub your eyes, it may burn just a tad.

Now it was time for the real cooking to start, our first dish was a green or red curry with chicken. I don't know whether it was just us or the instructions we were given, but our's was really good! After this we started with Tom Yam which Leanne made and I made the vegetable soup, both also a huge success, although both of us agreed that the veg soup was more tasty. Then for the last dish before lunch, Somtam which I made and stir-fry chicken with Basel which Leanne prepared. At last it was time for lunch and this would be a big one, 3 dishes each!

After lunch we spent about an hour chatting between ourselves while enjoying the Jasmine tea, before starting with the last two dishes of the day. Mine was the Padthai while Leanne prepared the spring rolls. After this it was desert, Leanne chose the mango and sticky rice while I prepared the pumpkin in coconut milk. We decided to leave those for later, seeing as we were still a little full after the previous 3 meals. The dishes were put in their traditional bags and left for later to be nibbled on.

The return trip was just as chatty as the rest of the day, we greeted everyone and headed to our room. We would be leaving tomorrow and had much to post, but weren't sure whether we would be able to post it tomorrow, which would be a Sunday. Some people had mentioned that it would be open, but the certainty factor was lacking. We got the directions and headed down the street to find it, further than we expected, but at least we found it and after a brief discussion with the staff we confirmed it would be open on a Sunday. Along the way back we stopped at some bookstores looking for new books, we finish them off quickly! One more stop at a restaurant with fruit shakes, just to spoil us a little.

Back at our accommodation we relax in our room, before heading off to the Saturday market. We had found the day before that the wooden candle holder we had purchased, was without it's 6 glass holders. Hoping they would be there and that they would remember that they hadn't given them to us we searched the streets for their stall. At last we found them, then a 30 minute discussion followed where Leanne had to talk to one of the owners over someone's phone. In the end they believed us and gave us 6 more glass holders. We spent the rest of the time walking up the enormous street market, the largest we had encountered in any country. Along the way we purchased a 8 gig SD card for R 120 and found the most beautiful wooden box. It had not been sanded smooth, but rather it had retained its natural curves and bends. An evening of haggling and buying behind us we headed off for bed, the day had really weighed on us and we were exhausted.