Chiang Mai has easily been one of my favorite places in Thailand. It’s still the second largest city in Thailand, but feels SO much more relaxed than Bangkok. Bangkok is crazy. Like, legitimately..CRAZY. Traffic is always bad. There are so many people, and it just feels much MUCH more crowded. Chiang Mai, is still busy, but substantially more laid back than Bangkok. That to me, was the biggest charm. Not to mention, there is so much to do there. 

After our day with the elephants, and then our day exploring Chiang Rai, we needed a recoup day. A day to just sleep, and barely leave the hostel..and we did just that. It was fabulous. You may be thinking..”Alysha, what the eff, why would you waste a day sitting at the hostel?” Let me tell you, recoup days are important, and entirely necessary. Besides, I wasn’t entirely unproductive, I went for a spa treatment and the next day we were off to cook, so I had no issues just relaxing.

Thai Cooking Class

If you know Lloyd and I at all, you know that we love to eat. I know, I’ve just made us sound like gluttons (which we aren’t), but seriously…who doesn’t love food? And Thai food, is probably one of my top, if not my #1 favorite kind of food. I love me my cashew chicken stir fry. What better way to learn how to cook stir fry, and curry and pad thai than the place it originated?! 

I left the research and decision to Lloyd as he’s the real chef out of the two of us, and he found one with the Thai Farm Cooking School. We were picked up early in the morning and taken to a local market to check out the produce, rice, meats  and pretty much every other type of food you could think of…even fried insects. From there we went to the school which is located on an organic farm. There, we wandered through the garden identifying lot of the ingredients we would be cooking with during the day. 

Our first dish was a soup. We got a choice between Tom Yum (Seafood) or Tom Kha (Coconut Chicken) Soup. I opted for the Tom Kha, whereas Lloyd went for the Tom Yum.

Next up…Pad Thai. One word..delicious!

Our third dish was the Curry. I decided to make a yellow curry because I can’t handle spice and the yellow curry tends to be milder than green and red. Lloyd went for the red. 

Fourth up..Chicken & Basil Stir Fry. This was probably my least favorite dish out of the 5 we made. It still wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t make it for myself at home.

Lastly, dessert. We made bananas in coconut milk…which was surprisingly sooooo good. I’m not sure what I expected, but it was quite tasty.

Needless to say, by the end of the day..I was stuffed and ready for a nap. But it was so worth it. If you’re in Chiang Mai and wanting to check out a cooking class…I would definitely recommend the Thai Farm Cooking School. You won’t be disappointed.

‘Till later…

Ciao!

-A<3