Day 6: Noms

For our first day in Chiang Mai, Haddas and I decided to learn how to cook Thai. We've loved every meal so far and we wanted to be able to recreate these specialities on our own! We grabbed a light breakfast at the Green Tulip House and were on our way.

Before heading to the Chiang Mai countryside for our class, we stopped at a local market to pick up ingredients. There, we found our instructor Mae waiting to teach us about the fruits and vegetables we were to use throughout the day. While she keeps a garden at her house, we needed far too many ingredients for her to grow on her own. She pointed out 3 different types of basil, various roots and spices, and the mysterious MSG that Thai restaurants love to cook with. While popular in restaurants, Mae told us we were going to use sugar as a "healthier" substitute :)

When we were finished walking the market, we had some time to explore on our own. Haddas and I talked to a few shop keepers, tasted some fresh jack fruit, and made our way back to the truck. Compared to the markets we visited in Cartegena and Mexico City, we were really impressed with clean and organized the space was. On top of that, the people we met seemed genuinely interested to chat with us. With another great experience behind us, we left to begin cooking.

Haddas at the local market in Chiang Mai

At our hostel, there were dozens of cooking classes to choose from. That said, Carl and Lauren had glowing reviews for this one and we considered no other. Everything made sense when we reached Mae's house in the countryside. It had two floors with a huge open-air patio on the first floor - this is where the class would take place. Next to her house was a garden with a dozen rows, each with a different vegetable or herb. Behind the house were mango and jack fruit trees, and past that was an enormous field that her family shared for growing rice. To start, we picked a few final ingredients to use during the class.

Haddas in Mae's "Secret Garden"

Haddas picking holy basil for the basil chicken dish

In addition to Haddas and myself, we were going to cook with two others from Canada, Meghan and Wes. They were really nice and told us great things about the Elephant Nature Park (our plan for tomorrow). We started by prepping vegetables for the soup, chicken pad thai, and basil chicken. Mae gave us very specific instructions for how to cut the vegetables and organize our plates. In Thai cooking, it's important to group ingredients that are added together. We both really enjoyed learning to cook in a wok and the fruits of our labor were delicious.

Drew cooking pad thai

After stuffing our faces, it was time to prepare for the next two dishes: panang curry and vegetable spring rolls. Before we left for Thailand, Lauren taught us that curry is actually a mix of almost 20 different spices. She didn't lie but forgot to mention that they needed to be mashed into a fine paste. It took Haddas and I almost twenty minutes but the resulting curry mix smelled incredible.

Our ingredients for penang curry paste

Haddas preparing our curry with mortar and pestle

Things slowed down in the afternoon. Mae instructed our Canadian friends on how to prepare their curry dish while Haddas and I snacked on our homemade spring rolls. The other two were staying for only half the day so we said farewell and went to explore the grounds. While the site was beautiful, you could see the distinct cracks in the soil. According to Mae, it had been a very dry year throughout Thailand and growing crops was hard for local farmers. While sad to hear, we both appreciated learning about everyday struggles for Thai people.

Drew relaxing in the shade

Haddas in the rice fields

Once we'd rested and were almost ready to eat again, we returned to the kitchen to cook our penang chicken and prep for dessert: mango sticky rice and fried banana. We were going to prepare all 3 dishes together since they needed the same final ingredient... coconut. For the next half hour, Haddas and I sat on the floor first peeling our coconut and then shredding all the tasty insides into a bowl. Using that, Mae taught us how to prepare coconut milk. It took no time at all to cook everything by wok once the coconut milk was ready. The last meal was incredible but were we stuffed! Throughout the day, we had cooked and eaten 8 different Thai dishes.

Haddas peeling a coconut

 Our beautiful mango sticky rice

We said goodbye to Mae and returned to Chiang Mai to meet Haddas' friend Alyssa for dinner. It was an epic reunion for Haddas and Alyssa since they hadn't seen each other for months. For the past year, Alyssa has been working for the Peace Corp in northern Thailand to help children in small villages. Together, we explored the night bazaar, ate more food, and even ran into Barkasaurus Cute again. Next up... elephants!

Haddas and Alyssa with Barkasaurus Cute

Day 5: Siem Reap to Chiang Mai

Siem Riep has been fun but I think Drew and i would both agree two days was just the right amount of time to spend here. We will miss the universal kindness of the Cambodians we've encountered and the rich flavors of Khmer cuisine, but we are ready for new adventure in Chiang Mai. 

Before heading to the airport, we had our last complimentary breakfast at the hotel complete with eggs, egg noodles, curry, mashed taro, pasta, cous cous, and an extensive variety of fruit, cakes and pastries - you name it we ate it. We then had a nice tuk-tuk ride to the airport. We didn't have enough cash on us to tip our tuk-tuk driver but offered him an American dollar coin which he happily accepted and said he'd keep as a souvenir. As we waited to board our flight, we listed to Taylor Swift playing on the radio at our gate.

Our flight was uneventful and we were welcomed to Chiang Mai with this awesome view:

We arrived at our hostel, Green Tulip House, in the late afternoon and were greeted by friendly staff. They recommended we walk over to Night Bazaar, a humongous market about 30 minutes away, for dinner. So we did just that. On the way, we saw some pretty parks and rivers. Chiang Mai is a big city but is very green and has a small village feel to it.  

We quickly learned that the street food we had heard about was no joke. We sat down to eat at "Aisha" - we felt we could trust it because it drew quite a large crowd. We were seated next to two 31 year old women from China, and they were very friendly so we ended up chatting with them for about an hour. Penny owns a marble business in China and the other woman, whose name we never learned, owns a bar. They came to Thailand for a long weekend because the flights were cheap and its only a two hour flight. 

We finished our basil chicken, garIic naan, pineapple fried rice, and Chang beers and asked for the check. It was a whopping $4 for all our food and $5 for the beer. On our way home, we walked in the wrong direction for 25 minutes and then had to turn around, but it was totally worth it because we made another friend who may or may not be coming home with us:

Day 4: We took a tuk-tuk to Tonle Sap

Rather than participate in your typical quad bike adventure tour, Haddas and I decided to use our last day in Siem Reap to visit one of the floating villages of Tonle Sap. After our 4:30 AM wake up yesterday, it felt amazing to sleep in to the late hour of 7:00 AM. We quickly gathered our things and went downstairs for breakfast.

I know we said we were impressed with our croissant boxes at Angkor Wat yesterday but the complementary Somadevi buffet blew that out of the water. Because the hotel sees tourists from so many different countries, they had the largest selection of "breakfast" foods that I'd ever seen. From made-to-order omelets and fresh fruit to chicken curry and tom yum soup, they had it all. It became quite the balancing act trying to fit everything onto our plates. We stuffed our faces, ate seconds, and then went to the lobby to meet our tour guide for the trip to Chong Khneas Village in Tonle Sap.

To reach Chong Khneas, we first traveled by tuk-tuk until we reached the Tonle Sap River in the outskirts of Siem Reap. There, we rented a small boat to carry us upstream to where the river opens up into Tonle Sap Lake. Because we were visiting Chong Khneas in the middle of the dry season, the water was shallow and the boat driver needed to maneuver very carefully until we reached deeper water. After about 20 minutes, we could see the shapes of houses about a half kilometer offshore - we had reached Tonle Sap and were on our way to explore the village.

Chong Khneas off in the distance

Our view from the river ferry

Our guide taught us that the 6,000 villagers in Chong Khneas support themselves primarily with fishing. This didn't come as too much of a surprise given where we were situated. We were surrounded by hundreds of floating buildings. Some were schools while others were restaurants. We even spotted the local police station. However, the vast majority were tiny houses that supported families of up to 10 people. We stopped at one of the restaurants to relax for a while and get a better view of our surroundings.

Drew and Haddas in Chong Khneas

Haddas made a friend there too

Once we were back on shore, we climbed into our tuk-tuks and started the return trip to Siem Reap. However, this time it wasn't direct - we made 3 stops. Since it was so hot outside, our tour guide treated us to fresh coconut water from a street-side stand. Hads dared me to finish the whole coconut in one sitting. Proud to say I did :)

Haddas enjoying some fresh coconut water

Next, we visited a farm where lotus flowers are grown to be offered at nearby Buddhist temples. We walked out onto a narrow pathway that was surrounded by thousands and thousands of flowers. Our guide also taught us that leaves from the lotus plant make for great hats.

Haddas at the Lotus Farm

Drew and Haddas with some sweet sweet lotus leaf hats

Finally, we stopped at one of these nearby Buddhist temples and then made our way back to the Somadevi. After a nap and book by the pool, we headed out for dinner at a beautiful restaurant called the Chanrey Tree. It was our last night in Siem Reap so we decided to make it a classy one. I enjoyed a local Khmer dish called lok lak beef with a glass of wine and Haddas went for the chicken. It was the perfect end to yet another excellent day in Siem Reap.

 Buddhist Temple outside Siem Reap

Drew and Haddas on their way to dinner

Day 3: Angkor Wat

We met our remok (Cambodian for tuk-tuk) driver in our hotel lobby at 5:00am to beat the crowds and blazing heat expected at Angkor Wat. Our driver, Veasna, had arrived a few minutes early and had our tuk-tuk loaded up with cold water and breakfast. (Our hotel generously packed up a box of fresh pastries for us - literally 6 types of croissant for each of us with honey, butter and jam on the side - before we even got to the lobby). Hiring our own personal tuk-tuk driver cost us just $20 for the entire day. 

To our surprise, the streets of Siem Reap were already bustling at 5am, as hundreds of other tourists had the same idea as we did: to watch the sun come up behind the Angkor Temple and see its reflection in the water.

 

After getting viciously attacked by red ants (I have the bites on my foot to prove it), we patiently waited for the orange sun to settle behind a cloud and then went back to our tuk-tuk to grab our breakfast, which we ate as we enjoyed the view. Monkeys occasionally popped out of the temple walls, hoping to snag a snack from curious tourists.

We then decided to hire a guide to tell us a little bit about the temple. We learned that the temple was built as a Hindu temple, but has since been used by both Hindus and Buddhists for worship. To construct the temple during the dry season, 4000 Elephants were used to bring stones over from a quarry 50 km away, and during the rainy season, the stones were carried on bamboo rafts. The carvings in the walls of the temple depict the daring rescue of Rama's beautiful wife (she was stolen by demons). With the help of the monkey god, Rama's brother rescued Rama's wife from Sri Lanka. 

Afterward, our tuk-tuk driver took us around to some other temples in the area including Bayon, Angkor Thom, Ta Keo, and Ta Prohm (AKA "tomb raider temple" where the Angelina Jolie movie was filmed). We climbed, explored, played hide-and-seek, and took lots of photos. We also stopped for some fresh mango and pineapple (see photo for impressive knife work). 

By 10:30am, we were ready for lunch. We headed back to pub street where we had been going for all our meals and this time chose the Khmer family Kitchen. I ordered Khmer (Cambodian) curry since it had been way too long since I last had it (at dinner the night before). Drew ordered fried ginger chicken which was just okay. We also indulged in some local beer (50 cents a pint regardless of the restaurant). We then returned to our hotel for some R&R by the pool followed by back massages.

Then back to Pub street for dinner, this time at Viva - a Mexican restaurant that also served Cambodian/Khmer dishes, because why not. 

Dinner was followed by more local beer at a bar where the Muay Thai band, a group of three young Cambodian/Korean? women, was performing. They belted out some of my favorites including Madonna, Shania and Adele, mixed in with some popular Korean songs. Finally, it was time to go home. Another early day was up ahead!

Day 2: Bangkok to Siem Reap

After giving ourselves a day off from travel, it was time to head to our next destination - Siem Reap, Cambodia.

We woke up to a bright, sunny morning in Bangkok and went to grab breakfast. Fortunately, we still had the morning to ourselves and decided to treat ourselves to an authentic thai breakfast at the New Yorker Cafe :) No, it wasn't very authentic but the owner was really nice and we were hungry. Next, we walked to a nearby park and found a ginormous man-made lake surrounded by trees, trails, and a bike path. The park in general was pretty quiet... perfect conditions for us to embarrass ourselves by renting a swan-shaped peddle boat.

Drew and Haddas at Benjakiti Park

Once we were finished with our aquatic joyride, Haddas and I grabbed our things from the hotel and then left for the airport. The flight was short and uneventful and we found ourselves in Siem Reap in just over an hour. Thanks to Carl and Lauren, we had great recommendations for what to do as soon as we landed.

Landing in Siem Reap

We spent the afternoon relaxing at our beautiful hotel, the Somadevi, and reserved a tuktuk to take us to Angkor Watt at sunrise. With that in mind, we left for Pub Street to grab an early dinner. Despite the sleepy vibes we got from our drive to the hotel, we found Pub Street bustling with restaurants, street vendors, and people. It definitely felt like a hub for tourists but we really enjoyed walking around and seeing two Americans try to provoke each other into tasting deep-fried bugs from a food trucks.

Eventually, we decided to eat dinner at a restaurant called the Red Piano. The sign outside said it was famous for Belgian food but inside Haddas and I found some of the best curry either of us had ever tasted. I ordered Panang and Haddas went for Cambodian. After a delicious dinner with smoothies for dessert, we walked back to the hotel. We needed to prepare mentally for our 4:30 AM wake up.

Day 1: It started off with a Bang(kok)

We arrived in Bangkok at 10:30 in the morning and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. We were thankful to surprisingly feel fairly well-rested after our 19-hour journey. Our hotel was in the Sukhumvit neighborhood of Bangkok, which is known for its shopping and sometimes compared to NYC's Fifth Avenue. We dropped our backpacks off and headed out to lunch at Baan Khanitha for our first dose of "real" Thai food. Despite flying across the world, we ordered the same thing we always do at Thai restaurants in the states- cashew chicken and Pad Thai - but we were convinced we could taste an extra hint of authenticity.

After stuffing our stomachs, we were tempted to forget our plans and go for Thai foot massages to escape the scortching 100*F heat, but decided instead to take the subway to the old city to see some temples. The subway took us about halfway, and we then took a river ferry the rest of the way down the Chao Phraya River to Wat Pho, a royal temple that houses over 800 golden buddhas. After purchasing our tickets to the temple, I was prohibited from entering due to my bare knees, and was pointed in the direction of a strategically positioned woman selling elephant-print pants, which luckily were pretty cute. Decked out in my new pants, we entered the temple and quickly spotted the famous reclining Buddha, which stretches 46 meters in length and is 15 meters tall. Buddhists believe that worshipping the reclining buddha will bring them peace and happiness.

After visiting Wat Pho and crossing the river to another beautiful temple, Wat Arun, we were exhausted and decided to head home. The way back was slightly less comfortable as we were packed like sardines into the river ferry, but soon the sun started to set and our picturesque view made it all worth it.