Temples and Cooking in Chiang Mai

I get the mini van back to Chiang Mai from Pai and we wind our way back down the long road. I had reserved the best seat; in the front, next to the door, but as we pick up an old Thai lady I am obligated to offer her my seat and so end up on the hard raised platform, which is apparently a seat, in between her and the driver. So I end up with the worst seat in the van and spend the whole trip trying not to fall from my seat into the lady or the driver round all the millions of bends!! Finally in Chiang Mai I songthaew it to my guest house; Mojito Garden, where my host Ping Pong has me looking at his tour brochures before he's even checked me into my room. I know they want the commission but really!?
In the evening I meet a lovely girl from Hong Kong; Yungmie and I go with her and an American chap; Jason for dinner at a street hawker and then to some bars for drinks, reggae and a chinwag.
The following morning Jason and I along with his friend Anthony grab a Songthaew and head up the mountain to the heights of Doi Suthep where a large temple perches overlooking the valley and city of Chiang Mai below. As it happens today is one of those days when the air is filled with fog and the sky with clouds. From the viewpoint at the temple an ocean of white fluff whispers about in front of us, showing only a hazy glimpse of the valley below.
Regardless of this the temple itself is stunning. Full of gold, intricate decoration and a huge golden chedi in the centre. I get a water blessing from two monks, plus a lucky charm bracelet and my stick shaking turns up a lucky forecast. Hurrah! Super good luck for me today.
We grab another Songthaew further up the mountain to a Hmong village. It's a sweet little village and all the villagers wear traditional robes but mostly what we see is a tourist souvenir market. They only want us there to spend money. We wander into some beautiful gardens and Anthony has a shot at using a crossbow which a Hmong woman is firing with impressive accuracy. Anthony misses all three shots.
My third day in Chiang Mai I arrange to do a cookery course, which Ping Pong was more than eager to book for me! I am picked up in the morning and we are taken as a group to a local food market where our guide and teacher properly introduces herself as Embie. She is a lovely lady who makes almost inappropriate jokes, implies a lot of sexual connotations about 'big' things and 'pounding it hard' and laughs hysterically at herself. She's infectious. At the market Embie gives us a run down on lots of ingredients used in Thai cooking including showing us the proper consistency of curry paste; like cow dung and how fresh coconut milk is made. We then wander around for 10 minutes absorbing the markets curiosities; pigs heads, crickets and cockroaches, all kinds of fish, live and dead.
It's wonderful! From here we ride out into the countryside to a little farm. Embie shows us some of the herbs and vegetables in the garden that we'll use in cooking before we get started. First we make a curry paste: I choose green, and everyone laughs nervously as Embie wails 'pound it hard, harder, harder' as we pummel our paste in a pestle and mortar. It's so funny. Next comes a soup of Tom Yam which we then take a break to eat; delicious and so simple, before returning to turn our paste into curry and fry up a chicken and cashew nut dish. We then sit down to eat our lunch; our curry and stir fry with boiled and sticky rice along with a papaya salad which Embie whips up. The food is sooo good . . . and I cooked it! haha! After lunch we learn how to make Pad Thai and a desert of Mango and sticky rice. I eat desert but save lots to munch in the evening as I'm so full! It's a brilliant day which I thoroughly enjoy and Embie definitely makes it memorable.