Bangkok Cooking Class

Met with the cooking class just before 9. 4 Germans, 2 French Canadians and 1 Korean, so the school must be well known internationally, or at least by hotels that do bookings. Our teacher is Jay who is a hilarious man, giving us fun ways to remember foods we’re not used to—pandan think of Panda but end with N; Thai turnip think of titanic, etc.

We picked up all the ingredients and went to the shop. Me and the Korean had to take the poop out of shrimp while others cut chicken, trimmed veggies or skinned shallots.

First we made Pad Thai, then spring rolls then fried bananas then papaya salad then curry paste and curry. Really the fried banana we didn’t make and the papaya salad was a group effort. Lots of mashing. I need a mortar. Thai garlic you don’t skin. If you cannot find the flour use all purpose.

Next I took the sky train for 28 bhat to National Monument and went into Tokyu thinking it was MRT. Security check to get inside the mall! Eventually found my way into MRT and sent 3 postcards from the cooking school not much to see in the mall unless you plan on buying souvenirs which I didn’t. Got a free shirt though, for  checking my bag and flying AirAsia.

Walked to the hotel, Bangkok Center, which was terrible–the map didn’t show how far it was! Almost got ill. Finally found it. Nice place (even though it wasn’t when we went back). Wandered for 20 minutes and then met Regina, my roomie.

After meeting up with my GAdventures tour group we got dinner at a Thai place for 114 bhat of lime juice and fried rice with vegetables. Started to rain so no one went out but some of us stayed down for drinks. Fun. No more hot water though…

Woke up at 6:00 today to be ready at 6:40 after breakfast. Decent breakfast.

Bangkok–first expressions

From Dong Mueang International Airport, I took a bus for 6.5 Bhat to Mi Chit (skytrain) and then paid for the subway twice because Ken (I guy a met at the airport in Yangon) said when I changed I had to pay again but I don’t think that’s true. 42 bhat and 31 bhat for the rides.

Walk to hostel is a bit further than I thought but I made it to MileMap Hostel. Nice place. Koreans in the room and while the boy played on 2 computer the girl looked at herself for about an hour and changed many times. Standard.

I started to walk down the main road and felt overwhelmed by people. It’s just so busy even compared to Yangon. I want to ride a bike in Bagan again or stay at Inle so long they let me take a boat out on my own.

Looking for food and didn’t see anything appealing for cheap so I kept walking till it down poured and I went in Silom Central mall. Checked out all the basement restaurants which had a lot of meat and were mostly Japanese as opposed to Thai…I was pretty sad about that. I got Indian which was pretty good. The free starter was very spicy. I also got a cupcake from Cupcake Cove. 280 + 80 bhat.

When I went back up the rain was stopping so I went to the nearby park which seemed very dirty at the start and looking like a protest the more I looked in. I was getting tons of odd looks so left.

Walked to the Red Cross and snake display. 100 bhat (discount, because I missed a show?). So many snakes!: king cobra, monocellate cobra, golden spitting cobra, mangrove pit viper, white lipped piper, big eyed pit viper, kukri snake, dog toothed cat eye snake, red tailed rat snake, corn snake, monocellate cobra (albino) (angry!), brongersma python, etc. Upstairs were skeletons and skins and the insides of a python for all to see. Lots of info about sex. Too much. The diorama about how eggs grow was cool. I did well on the test about what to do if you’re (or a friend) is bit. The mythology section was dull.

Outside are more snakes but most are hard to find. I have a photo of the elephant trunk snake and the green anaconda, but they came out pretty bad because of the cages. On the way back I saw tons of thrown out zebras. I wonder why the Red Cross hates them….Also saw rush hour traffic and I still dislike Bangkok.

Went for just-over-an-hour walk in the other direction. Still not impressed with Bangkok but it sure does light up at night (like any Asian town) and I found Subway! That’s only exciting for those who live in Korea. Found Bangrak Bazaar which had cute dresses for 200-250 bhat. I need to lose belly pudgy before buying because I asked for ‘big size’ (like I do in Korea) and they were confused. Dress with ‘I don’t care’ on it which reminds me of one of my classes so much but when would I wear it? Kept walking to the pier which wasn’t special because the view was obstructed by the sky train and tour boat building. Cute boats and an all-day pass is 150b. Walked back and got lemonade with apple for 35 bhat from LemonHub.

The people in my hostel make me worried about the people I’ll meet here…and dislike Bangkok because it’s too on the beaten path and filled with wasters.