Thailand forum

Sounds great, I'm jealous!
I did a cookery course in Chiang Mai which lasted a day and it was reasonably priced. There are however, loads of cookery and Thai massage courses to choose from. They range from afternoon courses to week-long courses. I'd really like to take a couple of days to learn traditional Thai massage next time i'm there!

I did a 1 day cooking class with "Siam Rice" in Chiang Mai, and also "Suwanee's Cooking Class" in Chiang Rai, both same price, and both with their own positives. Each were 900B for the day of cooking and a market tour. I have to say I personally prefered Suwanee's (the name of your instructor), it was smaller and very personable. The market tour was INCREDIBLE... the locals' markets can be intimidating but she walks you through most of it (its giant, and would take 2 days to see it all probably) and explains about the different ingredients, some of the local treats, you get to see the coconut "factory" where they make the milk and cream, and you actually shop for the ingredients. Siam Rice was great for different reasons.. they do a "market tour" as well, but they stop at one place explain a few of the ingredients and then let you browse for about 15 minutes on your own (they've already done the shopping). But on the other hand I enjoyed that at Siam you got to make your own curry paste, and for the same price I did get 2 more dishes. Like I said both were great and very enjoyable for different reasons. Personally I felt that the tour alone with Suwanee was worth it.

Edit: Would like to note I did learn a lot about thai food and ingredients which alone is worth it. Siam Rice gives you a booklet with the recipes in it, while Suwanee has a website you can go to and see the recipes. So of course if you can't remember exactly you have a reference.


A side note about Chiang Rai- The night market is great, and there are actually 2 food courts. There is one mostly directed at farang with wooden tables and menus, where you sit down and order from a server and they bring you your food. This is the one I think they talk about in the LP guide, and I never actually ate there so can't say how the food is. If you can find in the way way back there is also one with 2 rows of stalls and you walk up and order your food and sit down wherever you can find and empty plastic chair and table. The food was some of my favorite in the city, and had everything from thai food, to sushi, fried spring rolls and shrimp to fried bugs. I happened to stumble upon it on the night of a Manchester game and it was packed and probably one of my funnest nights in Thailand.