Since I fell in love with single track mountain biking yesterday, I decided to get one more ride in before heading back to Chiang Mai. I headed out with a group of 5 other riders- 2 experienced mountain bikers and 3 Army/Marine athletes who I'm sure will kick my butt. As the only novice in the group, I'm proud to report that I kept up with everyone (though this ride was much more challenging and I was pretty much breathless the whole way uphill!)
After my bike ride, I had the opportunity to participate in a traditional Thai cooking class... enjoying the fruits of our labor of course! We made Tom Kha Kai soup (coconut milk base with mushrooms, hot chili peppers, ginger, lemongrass, tomatoes, chicken and garlic and some other things I can't remember). Holy crap! Our small group got a little aggressive with the hot peppers. That's what happens when you have a group that likes spicy food! We also made a noodle dish- Pad See You. This dish uses a rice noodle mixed with tapioca and mixes in Chinese kale, sweet soy sauce, oil, white pepper, egg, veggies, garlic and i think a few other things. This was yummy and not too spicy. We learned our lesson after that soup!
After lunch, it's time to head back to Chiang Mai and celebrate a great week of trekking, biking and paddling. My guide had a little surprise for me on the 2 hr drive back. We stopped at a market and walked around. I can't tell you how many times I nearly vomited from smell and/or the looks of certain things. I mean, they had meat sitting out with these weird circulating fly swatters, catfish splattering around in buckets, lots of veggies, fruits and insects! Crickets, silk worms, cockroaches, bugs I couldn't tell what they were, and HUMONGOUS praying-mantis type insects! Ewwwww! Not gonna lie, really wanted to eat an insect so I could say I've done it, but absolutely not. I was so nauseous from walking around the smelly market that I would have most definitely vomited everywhere! Interestingly, I was stopped by a man who recognized my CO flag shirt and tells me he just moved to the area from Denver. He was really nice and told me a little bit about the market. Honestly, I just wanted to get the heck outta there! Even though it was an open air market, I began to feel like I was suffocating.
Back in Chiang Mai I wandered the streets where they were setting up for the night bazaar. I settled in at an Irish Pub overlooking the market and continued to watch all the people setting up thousands of stands in the street and selling millions of t-shirts, trinkets, fake purses and jewelry. Lots of junk!
For dinner, I met up with my guide and some of my fellow travelers for a nice dinner cruise along the rive. It reminded me of the Charles. When we got back to the dock, the restaurant was booming. There was a live band playing American pop hits. Except a few awkward words/lines/lyrics that didn't translate, they were actually pretty good. When the band was done I hopped in a tuk tuk for my first ride through Chiang Mai.
After lunch, it's time to head back to Chiang Mai and celebrate a great week of trekking, biking and paddling. My guide had a little surprise for me on the 2 hr drive back. We stopped at a market and walked around. I can't tell you how many times I nearly vomited from smell and/or the looks of certain things. I mean, they had meat sitting out with these weird circulating fly swatters, catfish splattering around in buckets, lots of veggies, fruits and insects! Crickets, silk worms, cockroaches, bugs I couldn't tell what they were, and HUMONGOUS praying-mantis type insects! Ewwwww! Not gonna lie, really wanted to eat an insect so I could say I've done it, but absolutely not. I was so nauseous from walking around the smelly market that I would have most definitely vomited everywhere! Interestingly, I was stopped by a man who recognized my CO flag shirt and tells me he just moved to the area from Denver. He was really nice and told me a little bit about the market. Honestly, I just wanted to get the heck outta there! Even though it was an open air market, I began to feel like I was suffocating.
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| Intestines |
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| Silk worm |
Back in Chiang Mai I wandered the streets where they were setting up for the night bazaar. I settled in at an Irish Pub overlooking the market and continued to watch all the people setting up thousands of stands in the street and selling millions of t-shirts, trinkets, fake purses and jewelry. Lots of junk!
For dinner, I met up with my guide and some of my fellow travelers for a nice dinner cruise along the rive. It reminded me of the Charles. When we got back to the dock, the restaurant was booming. There was a live band playing American pop hits. Except a few awkward words/lines/lyrics that didn't translate, they were actually pretty good. When the band was done I hopped in a tuk tuk for my first ride through Chiang Mai.
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