Chiang Mai

I took the overnight train from Bangkok. For $20 you can get a second class sleeper that looks like this when you get on

And then the train "maid" comes by and lets down the top bunk

And makes up the bed for you. Felt like the bus all over again (sans maid, of course...)

And 12 hours later I was in Chiang Mai.

It's a cute little northern town with a lot to do. I decided to chill out some and take some classes but not fill every second with activity.

you know, something completely different.

I knew I wanted to take a cooking class so I emailed A Lot of Thai, on the recommendation of the chefs in Bellingham. When I showed up at the class, there were 8 other people there who all knew eachother. 5 minutes into talking they tell me that they were all working together

on the Asia tour of Sound of Music!!!

How's that for coincidence? So of course, we talked shop all day. They were all great. It was half the crew and the girl who plays Maria.

Yui, our teacher, is so cute and such a great cook. She taught well and made everything seem really easy.
We made pad thai, chicken with cashew nuts, green curry, mango sticky rice, tom yum soup

And spring rolls. I ate 5 meals in 6 hours. Incredibly delicious!

And I do feel like I can cook decent Thai food. So you should come over some time...

Then I saw a brochure for a batik class. Last year (?) I bought a bunch of batiking tools and spent a fun afternoon with mom and Bet trying to figure out how to use them. Wow, we didn't have any idea what we were doing.

Just a couple of things I learned in this class would have made so much difference. Like the way you heat the tjantings to keep the wax liquid and using a much less diluted dye...

I liked the first class so much that I went back to take her advanced class. The advanced techniques are so much more fun and I like the results a lot better.

Here are some pics stage by stage of a technique called depth painting where you layer the color so it washes out in varying stages. It requires a lot of waxing, painting, drying, fixing, washing, drying, repeat repeat repeat.

This is Ann's design (my teacher) but everything else is me.



The border was my least favorite part. I loved the final result otherwise.

Some day, i'll have a house and get to both cook and batik!

Until then classes will have to suffice....