A Day of Decadence

When a classy yet free-spirited girl like myself needs a little decadence in her life, where else to go but Bangkok's most famous hotel...the Oriental! Founded in 1876, the Oriental is not only a fabulous five-star hotel located right on the banks of the Chao Praya River but it is regularly recognized as one of the best hotels in the world, according to one of my favorites...Travel & Leisure magazine!

After a little Saturday morning jaunt to Chatuchak Market (a definite favorite weekend hotspot) for some last minute gifts, I escaped the 100 degree heat and sought refuge at the posh Oriental Bangkok for a lovely English afternoon tea. Now, I know the Oriental does not look like much from the outside (refer to picture above) but inside it is nothing but absolute fabulousness for the rich and famous, like myself of course.

One of the reasons why the Oriental Bangkok has earned its grand reputation is because over the years, famous authors have sought refuge here. The likes of Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness people!), Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage anyone?) and James Michener (Tales of the South Pacific of course!) have all shacked up at the hotel at one time or another. Now, the Oriental has a special Author's Lounge which is located in the historic part of the hotel where these intelligent minds stayed. Here, you can enjoy one mean English afternoon tea!

Entering the Author's Lounge, you are literally transported to the early 1900's when these famous works of literature were written. Awash in white and beige, the Author's Lounge is filled with overhanging foliage, stark white wicker furniture and the sweet scent of afternoon tea. Needless to say, I was in absolute heaven. There are several wings to the lounge, and I was graciously escorted to the right wing where all single people have tea by their lonesome.

All around the Author's Lounge, there are books galore! Here is the reading room (adjacent to the right wing), where you can make yourself quite comfortable on the over-sized brown leather sofas and lazily read famous works of literature by all the brilliant minds who once stayed at the Oriental. The whole place is peaceful and the staff waits upon your every need. Time for tea please!

Okay, let's be real, are there any words needed for a spread like this? First and foremost, I just want to say that I studied abroad in London, England - home of the delicious scone (one of my favorite foods, hands down). However, these scones from the Oriental were hands down the best scones I have hand in my entire life. Served with strawberry jam, rose petal jam and some other not-as-tasty jam, I could have easily enjoyed three plates of them. Simply divine.

Along with the killer scones, I ate fruit cake and pound cake. Moving down, there were fresh berries with clotted cream (another favorite of the day), a chocolate & macadamia nut cookie, fruit tart, coffee layered chocolate cake, biscotti and a chewy, fudgy brownie. On the bottom were a nice array of English sammies - salmon & cream cheese, egg salad, cucumber, another one that I had no idea what it was and a yummy English mince meat pie. All this topped off with a pot of Oriental tea - a black tea with hints of jasmine. Like I said, pure decadence.

Seriously, I ate almost all of this spread (at least a good 3/4 of it!) while reading (or rather indulging in) People and Shape magazines which I bought at the Oriental bookstore. You know how they say everyone has a divine experience with God at sometime in their life? Well, I think mine was the 2 hours I spent lounging at the Oriental Bangkok hotel yesterday. Talk about dying and going to heaven!

Lazy Weekend Lounging

After lazing around school all week, what's a girl to do but laze around the rest of the weekend? With more than half my social circle out of commission (Lauren & Thomas decided to head up to Chiang Mai for the weekend), I had my laziest weekend since coming to Thailand, no joke! Friday night, Suziporn and I browsed Wongsakorn Market for some good eats, brought the goodies home (yummy sticky rice with black beans, the best sausage you will ever taste, dumplings and of course, rice!) and then kicked back and watched some movies. Not so exciting, huh?

Saturday I spiced things up a bit - headed to the gym, then the Internet Cafe, watched over 3 hours of "The Office," got a glorious foot massage and headed out for a night on the town Thai style. Suziporn, her boyfriend Por, Boy (the gym teacher at Sarasas) and I headed out for a little fun to RCA. We rocked the night away dancing to some Thai rock music - definitely an entertaining night to say the least. We even got portable ashtrays as a partying gift - score!

On Sunday, I was really craving some real coffee so I carted Thomas's laptop to Starbucks at Central Ram Intra (a nearby mall) and lazed away Sunday watching more episodes of "The Office" while sipping on a decent cuppa joe. Then, I visited the dentist where a teeth cleaning and one cavity filling only cost me 750 baht (about 25$) and headed back to the gym. It was a subdued weekend to say the least.

I just realized this is probably the lamest blog post I have made since being in Thailand, FYI.

Mindful Meditation

What perfect timing for a nice little afternoon of meditation! After barreling through the last two weeks of school (surviving several bloody noses, more than 10 exam sessions, trying to entertain 34 1st graders between exams and grading more than 100 math exams), it was due time for a little Vipassana meditation. Sunday afternoon, Lauren, Thomas and I decided to take the meditation plunge and headed into Bangkok to Wat Mahathat - home of the International Buddhist Meditation Center!

Ever since I arrived in Thailand, I've been looking forward to learning about and practicing meditation because the more and more I read in health magazines and books, I've learned daily meditation sessions can seriously do wonders for the body and add years to your life. No lie! Vipassana is one of two schools of meditation study (the other being Samatha meditation) - it focuses on attaining mental clarity by strengthening and sharpening mindfulness. They claim it is the key to developing the wisdom to see things as they really are. Having realized this truth, one is then achieves liberation and attains nirvana. Lord knows I could use a little help on that one!

Greeted by a witty monk dressed in gorgeous burnt orange (the traditional color of monk robes), we started our journey towards nirvana! First, we were instructed to read through a small, detailed book all about Vipassana meditation before our meditation practice began. Then, we were lead to our meditation instructor who I thought totally looked like a ladyboy (others weren't as convinced). Our first meditation practice we worked on was sitting meditation. Unfortunately, when I was left to meditate in the sitting position for 20 minutes, I promptly fell asleep and elicited laughter from the meditation staff. Oops!

Then we worked on standing meditation, which is more of a meditative walk where you keep yourself very conscience of all the moves you make. Anytime you pick up your foot or make any sort of movement, you need to address it by saying "moving-moving" in your mind. This helps us practice mindfulness, which we all now know is the first step to attaining nirvana. Bring it on! It was definitely a good thing I started my new meditation practice with a 1-hour class because I am pretty sure if I went on that 10-day retreat I was thinking about, I would have gone insane!

Since Sunday's afternoon of mindfulness, I have been busy (or rather, not so busy) at school all week. Although there are no more kiddies, we are finishing up end of the year details and working on putting together the packets for summer school. Pretty much we work on the summer school packet for an hour, take our morning break, chat until lunch, work a bit more on the packet and finish the day off with a movie. Hey, it's hard work, but someone's gotta do it! Here's a shot of Lauren and I's local 7-11 - I figured after talking this place up, it was only fair I show you all the fun we have on our daily 7-11 runs!

Teacher No More

After six months of teaching, hundreds of pelvic thrusts, countless "Good morning Mizz Hullees," four quizzes, four exams and 34 1st graders later, my tenure as a teacher at Sarasas Witaed Saimai School is officially o-v-e-r, over! Friday was my official last day (ever, may I add!) as a 1st grade teacher as the 2007-2008 school year came to an end in Thailand.

Last week was spent preparing and testing the kiddies on their four main subjects: English, Math, Social Studies and Science. I am sooo very proud to say that Grade 1C (aka my class) ALL aced both their English, Science and Social Studies (except for Katsu - the dumb kid who doesn't speak English, because well, he doesn't speak English)! Although, I give myself none of the credit - my students are exceptionally bright and would do great things for Thailand, if their futures weren't already planned out for them by their parents. Seriously. Especially Aan, who got a 100 out of 100 on all her exams. No wonder she's my fave - the girl is cute, well-behaved and smart!

(Back Row (l-r): Pimchada, Nattaporn, Aan (the smart one), Kochaporn, Ratima (the stealer), Boonyakorn, Nattida, Thanakorn & Ariya. Front Row (l-r): Rathatip & Hathaiphat (nickname: Meeme - so cute!).

In other words, the grade ones were needless to say, a bit out of control on Friday after they finished four rounds of English exams and 7 rounds of Thai exams! Here is a better example of how my students normally behave - girls can be found chatting non-stop with each other while the boys thrash, kick, fight, talk and whatnot on the ground of the classroom. Just another day in Grade 1C...

I am definitely going to miss my little ones - even the ones I don't especially care for, like Ratima, the girl who actually looks like a rat (hence 'Rat-ima') and who I caught digging through my purse one day, or Chayakorn, who is definitely the booger kid, always sporting crusty boogers for everyone to see. My faves, like Aan, Pornpawee (aka Pam), Chotiros (who actually reminds me personality-wise of a younger version of me), Pavin, Chakriya and Attakan (the pelvic thruster). What a group! Here is Attakan, with his devilish smile and addicting laugh on the right, along with Korapat on the left (his mom is a famous Thai actress) doing what they do best - talking!

After our last school day on Friday (which was also payday, hallelujah!), I met up with my Austrian/Wisconsin compatriot Ted that night and headed to Central Lad Prao, one of Bangkok's million malls, where we grabbed dinner and saw the Thai movie 'Chocolate.' A kung fu movie about a mentally handicapped girl who turns out to seriously kick ass, it was really good! Then, Lauren and I preceded to do what we do best - shop! Saturday, we once again gave into our shopping craving and hit up Central Lad Prao again for some serious shopping. I have to say we definitely came away with some serious goodies. Seriously!

Today, we headed to a meditation class in Bangkok so check the blog tomorrow or the next day for a full run-down of that! Hope all is well back home and see you in one month. Ahhhh...one month!

Here, There and (almost) Everywhere

Trivia time! Can anybody name the classic 1957 Oscar-nominated film featuring this infamous (albeit a big ugly) bridge?

If you just happened to say "The Bridge on the River Kwai" - you would be right! On Saturday, Lauren and I skedaddled a couple hours west of Bangkok to the lovely town of Kanchanaburi! (FYI: Our taxi driver on the way to the bus station repeatedly informed us was "Kahn-chahn-ah-bour-eeee!" after Lauren and I apparently butchered the pronounciation in our good ol' Midwestern accents.) We arrived in Kanchanaburi around lunchtime, promptly found the first street food stand and met some new friends - Nut and her 14 year-old daughter Aan. After some delicious cow pad sai pak (aka stir-fried rice with egg and vegetables), we headed on our way with our tuk-tuk driver for the day straight to the bridge!

Actually known in Kanchanaburi as the bridge over the River Kwae (note the spelling difference from the movie), the bridge holds a lot of history from World War II. During the 1940s, Thailand was occupied by the Japanese, who built a railway between Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) to make it easier to transport supplies to help them fight the Allies. To set about building this railway, the Japanese forced Allied prisoners of war (mostly from Australia, Britain, Holland and the United States) to build this railway, which became known as the "Death Railway" because over 12,000 POWs died constructing it.

The actual bridge was especially harrowing to build and was the focus of "The Bridge on the River Kwai," which won 7 Oscars. Sooooo...now you have received your history lesson for the day, time to continue on through Kanchanaburi. After Lauren and I walked over the bridge (and just so happen to "walk through" a jewelry market nearby), we headed to the Kanchanburi War Cemetary, which is dedicated to all those involved with the Death Railway. A beautiful, well-kept cemetary, it was very humbling to see all the graves of those soldiers who so bravely gave their lives during WWII.

After the cemetary, we took a quick trip to the Jeath War Museum, which chronicles Thailand's involvement in WWII in some fascinating old photographs. It is an adorable museum located in a U-shaped bamboo hut to commemorate the U-shaped huts the POWs lived in at the Japanese prisoner of war camps in Thailand. Why "Jeath War Museum" you may ask? Well, according to the pamphlet, "death" is too horrific of a word, so they decided to use jeath instead!

Today, after arriving back from Kanchanaburi tonight, it was time to cross more things off of our Thailand to-do list, this time with the help of an old friend! Lauren and I met up with Ted - a fellow traveler I met while in Austria back in August (who just so happens to be from Wisconsin and to have graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the exact same day as myself!) - to head out and cross two very important things off of our list...the floating markets and the Grand Palace! Here is Teddy and I on the long-tail boat, cruising through the canals of the Chao Priya River on our way to the "floating market"!

Unfortunately I say "floating market" because the floating market we were brought to was a bit of a disappointment. Supposedly the floating market is a bustling tour through boats selling a variety of Thai food specialties, souvenirs and trinkets of all sorts. However, this floating market was an ugly green barge in the middle of the canal with about four boats selling food. Soooo, either we got scammed into going to the wrong market or the floating markets are a mysterious Thai tourist attraction that doesn't exist. I am going to go with option #1.

It's a good thing the gang and I can have a good time anywhere, because after the floating market let-down, we took a tuk-tuk to the Grand Palace (Ted's first Bangkok tuk-tuk ride, may I remind you) and on the way, it broke down in the middle of the road! After a good laugh, we hailed another tuk-tuk over to the Grand Palace, perhaps Bangkok's #1 tourist attraction. Here is a pretty flower shot from the inside of the palace - this one's for you Mom, I know you love the flower photos!

The official residence of the king of Thailand from the 18th century to the mid-20th century, the Grand Palace is just that - grand! It is an elegant complex of several buildings which is protected by ornate white walls on all four sides. When the current King Bhumibol began his official reign over 60 years ago, he moved the official residence to Chitlada Palace. Now the Grand Palace serves as a major tourist mecca and provided a nice afternoon stroll for Lauren, Ted and I. Here is Chakri Mahaprasad Hall - the largest of the Grand Palace buildings (and I think the prettiest)!

Starting tomorrow - Exam Week! That's right, just one more week of school before I will re-sign my title as Grade 1 teacher at Sarasas Witaed Saimai. The days are quickly passing, and still, I have so much left to do! Hope you are all staying warm as I fight off the humidity and along with it, some really out-of-control, afro hair!

To-Do List Time

With less than six weeks to go, there is no time to waste getting all the last minute excursions checked off the Thailand To-Do List. Yesterday, we enjoyed a long, delicious morning of sleeping in, which was much-needed, let me tell you! My grade 1C students open their mouths to talk more and more each day...I never knew such chatter could come from such a cute lil' group of kiddies. Then, Lauren, Thomas and I ventured into Bangkok for a lovely Saturday afternoon tour of Dusit Palace Park alongside our new Dutch friend Derek.

Nestled in northern Bangkok near the King's current residence, Chitlada Palace, Dusit Palace Park is a lovely area filled with beautiful mansions, throne halls, photography exhibitions (featuring photos taken by Big K himself!), elephant museums and much more. First stop of the day - Vimanmek Mansion!

Built in 1900 by H.M. King Rama V, Vimanmek Mansion is the world's largest golden teakwood mansion. Yep, you heard that right! We took a guided tour in "English" - which I put in quotation marks because within the first five minutes, I understood about 10 words of what our guide said then in true Holly style, tuned out and wandered my own way through the beautiful, airy mansion. The mansion was spectacular! Awash in beachy tones of seafoam green, petal pink and sunflower yellow, the mansion had an unexpected European flair, which I loved. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside, but here is a lovely exterior shot of a traditional Thai house (built behind the mansion for servants) for your viewing pleasure!

Unfortunately with our late arrival time at Dusit, by the time our tour ended at the Vimanmek Mansion, the park was closing, which meant we couldn't get into Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall - the imposing yet absolutely stunning dome-shaped structure on the grounds. Well...add that one back onto our to-do list. We were able to lollygag about the Dusit grounds though, where we ran into one fierce guard, maybe more imposing than the throne hall.

After Dusit, we headed further into central Bangkok to do what else but....shop! Personal confession: I am the worst budgeter ever. I told myself at the beginning of February, "No shopping!" - I should have known better because I came out with a pair of shoes. Oops!

Later Saturday night, Lauren and I weaved our way through Chinatown to Chalermkrung Royal Theatre - the home of Thai masked dance! Khon is the classic Thai art of masked dance, in which actors/dancers perform the story while narrators are used to project voices for those characters. Tonight's performance was the Ramakien - which is the Thai version of the classic Indian epic, Ramayana. It tells the story of Phra Narai, who was reborn as a human in order to save humans and angels from Tosakanth, the demon king of Longkha city.

Here are some shots I snuck of the performance - they are not the best but if anything else, you can see just how absolutely exquisite the costuming is. This is the scene in which Rama and Tosakanth battle for Longhka at the end of the myth...enjoy!

The performance was ornate, interesting and a good Saturday night excursion! Now it is Sunday once more and just two weeks left of school. Can you believe it? This girl hasn't had a massage in far too long, so the only thing I know I am doing for sure today is treating my feet (and potentially my face or back) to a good ol' Thai massage. Take care everyone and enjoy your Sunday!

Happy Valentine's Day

Sending you all lots of love, hugs and kisses from Thailand! Happy Valentine's Day from Nathitiek, Chotiros, Pornpawee (aka Pam), Supicha and yours truly! Hope everyone has a love-ly February 14th!

Ancient Ayutthaya & Lovely Lopburi

With less than 55 days left before the big return stateside (eeks!) and a Thailand to-do list of ike bajillion things, this weekend it was time to take some initiative and start crossing things off that list! Goodbye Bangkok, and hello Ayutthaya! Situated just 45 minutes north of Bangkok (minus the horrendous traffic), Ayutthaya is the former royal capital of Thailand, helping to establish the country as a great empire in SE Asia. Loaded with historic wats, or temples, it is trip back in time as the city is filled with chedis, stupas and Buddhas of all sorts!

Lauren, Thomas and I hopped on a bus early Saturday morning and about 1 1/2 hours later, found ourselves enveloped in the ancient ruins of Ayutthaya. The Siamese royal capital from 1350 to 1767, Thailand's empire was the largest during this period. The Ayutthaya period (as it is known) saw the Thai people conquer present-day Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar - giving the country world recognition before eventually being conquered by the Burmese. Here are some of the ruins at Wat Phra Mahathat - the center of the old sacred city!

Across the street from Wat Phra Mahathat is Wat Ratburana, which boasts one of the best preserved prangs (the tall, intricate structure I am standing on below) in Ayutthaya. This beautiful wat was built by one of the 15th century kings for his two brothers, who died battling each other in hopes for the elusive throne! So much history here, it's amazing!

Battling the increasing heat and humidity (I know it's snowing back home, but the heat isn't all fun and games!), we spent Saturday walking around the various historical parks and enjoying the crumbling ruins of Ayutthaya. Naturally, all that walking made us hungry so we stopped for a lazy (albeit delicious) late afternoon lunch at a corner restaurant (som tam, or spicy papaya salad for this girl!). Quite honestly, once you've seen a few wats and ruins here, a few wats and ruins there, they all start to look like one another...but, that didn't stop us!

One of Ayutthaya's most famous ruins is Wat Phra Si Sanphet! These three bell-shaped chedis are an example of quintessential Ayutthaya architecture and up close, are extremely elegant! Built in the late 14th century, it was used for royal ceremonies and even has one of the largest Buddha's in Thailand, just a one minute walk away! This was probably one of my favorite wats from the weekend - there's just something about it!

After spending the day exploring Ayutthaya, we then hopped on an open-air train and enjoyed a nice breeze as we headed farther north two hours to Lopburi. A cute little town with a Bohemian flair, Lopburi is also full of ancient ruins from its days as an important administrative center in Thailand (I hope the history lessons aren't boring you all too much!). Upon arriving, a large Thai man advertising a taxi called us over, wanting our Western business. We told him "Nett Hotel," where we planned on staying, and he agreed. Then he motioned us over, not to a convential taxi or even a tuk-tuk, but instead into the back of his Toyota pick-up truck! We said, why the hell not? So...here we are enjoying a joy ride through Lopburi, thanks to our "taxi driver"!

After a light dinner at our guesthouse, we retreated off to bed, ready to get up early and explore the place! First stop of Sunday - Phra Narai Ratchaniwet! The former royal palace is a wonderful collection of ancient ruins, artifact galleries and even a cute little museum! The gang (and by gang, I mean Lauren and Thomas) and I browsed, walked, perused and explored our way around the grounds, which was used as the second capital of Thailand by Ayutthaya's King Narai. Since many of the wats and ruins lack informational signs on them, the museum was nice to browse and get the chance to learn a bit about Thailand's history. Nerds, I know!

The lovely thing about Lopburi is not only that it is a quaint little place (maybe a bit rundown), but that it is notorious for the hoards of monkeys which have invaded many of its ruins. Yes, I said monkeys! Prang Sam Yot (below) is notorious for the notorious (and by notorious, I mean slightly confrontational) monkeys hanging around the place. Climbing on tourists with food, scaling the 50-ft. prang, fighting with each others - I am not going to lie, I was totally scared of the monkeys!

So there you have it everyone, your history lesson for the day! Although a girl can shop with the best of them in Bangkok, she can also temple-see with the best of them in Ayutthaya and Lopburi as well! It was definitely nice to get away from bustling Bangkok for the weekend, and enjoy some relaxation (except for the monkeys - they totally sent my blood pressure soaring) by exploring a bit of Thai history. Lauren, Thomas and I had fun as usual (usually making fun of each other), and unfortunately, now it is Sunday again and school as normal tomorrow. Hopefully there will be more checking off the Thailand to-do list soon! Take care everyone!

Sports Day (well, kind of...)

I say "well, kind of.." because in Thailand, the idea of "Sports Day" doesn't actually involve sports whatsoever. They should really call it, oh I don't know... "Provocative Dance Day," or maybe "Make-as-much-noise-as-you-can Day" because that's more what it was like around Sarasas on Sunday morning! Yes, that's right! I had to get my butt out of bed at 7:30am for Sarasas Witaed Saimai School's 2nd Annual Sports Day!

Dividing the school into four teams (Gold - my team!, Amethyst, Sapphire and Emerald), we spent the morning groggily cheering on a slew of young girls performing choreographed dances to trendy Thai songs, watching as different grade levels played a variety of games (NOT sports, just to clarify) and listening to a cacophony of screaming, yelling and cheering. Here is a group of Gold gals showing off their best (and winning the gold medal for "Best Dancing")!

Although I may joke around about the whole "Sports Day" thing, the kiddies really, really love this day and look forward to it all year. On the day the teams were announced, they came racing into the classroom, out of breath and asking, "Miss Holly! Miss Holly! What color you?" They spend weeks (seriously, weeks!) practicing cheers and games leading up to the big event - the Thais do not take these things lightly! Between eating contests, tire rolling competitions, parent dance-offs, cheering battles and most importantly, the provocative dance-offs, the students love their "Sports Day"! Here is me and one of my grade 1C faves, Aan, who looked absolutely adorable in her traditional Thai dress!

Thankfully, my long six day work week is coming to a close tomorrow now that it is finally Friday! Tomorrow is the last day for school assessments because starting on Monday, the next three weeks will be solely devoted to preparing my little 1st graders for exams! The school year is fast coming to a close...only 16 more days of teaching!

No for sure weekend plans as of yet, but I could possibly be going on a Vipassana weekend meditation retreat or heading just north of Bangkok to Ayutthaya, one of Thailand's ancient capitals, or jaunting into Bangkok for some last sight-seeing and maybe a Thai dance show. Who knows where these unpredictable Thai weekends will take me? I hope you are all staying safe and warm in these crazy snowstorms I am hearing so much about, even halfway across the world!

Thai Kitchen Cookin'

This weekend, I finally got the chance to do what I have wanted to do since I arrived in Thailand...learn how to whip up some tasty Thai dishes with the best of em'! After hunting around Thailand for a reputable place (a girl has got to learn from the best!), I found Bai Pai Thai Cooking School. On Saturday, Thomas and I headed to this cute lil' cooking school, located in a gorgeous open-air house on a remote back alley in the Yannawa district of Bangkok, near the river. Needless to say, us two crazy kids made for an entertaining time in the kitchen!

We cooked, fried, chopped and ate our Saturday afternoon away, preparing four typical Thai dishes! Bai Pai also taught us Westerners all about key ingredients, techniques and preparation of Thai cuisine. Surprisingly, the dishes were all very easy to make and took 15 minutes or less to cook (which is a huge plus for impatient ol' me!). What I found interesting is that Thai cuisine is made up several basic ingredients, which are used in almost every dish. Thai ingredient staples, you may ask? Fish sauce, palm sugar, soy sauce, garlic and Thai chillies of course!

Before we started cooking, we got a lesson in vegetable carving! Using a flat peeling knife and a sharp rounded knife thing, we made roses out of tomato peels and leaves out of cucumbers. I can't say I was a natural at vegetable carving, but my veggie masterpieces definitely turned out better than Thomas's, haha! He was getting a bit frustrated with the carving process, weren't you Thomas? Check out my intricately designed rose and leaf in the Som Tam picture!

Gai Hor Bai Toey (Chicken in Pandanus Leaf)

Som Tam (Papaya Salad)

Goong Sauce Ma Kham (Prawn in Tamarind Sauce)

Gang Phed Ped Yang (Roasted Duck in Red Curry)

After cooking our little hearts out for almost four hours (and eating all our delicious creations!), we were, needless to say, ready to lay down and beach ourselves like a big whale! I think my favorite dish was either the Som Tam (it's my fave!) or the Gang Phed Ped Yang, which is surprising because I didn't really like red curries before taking the class! This red curry used pineapple in the recipe, which sweetened it up perfectly for my huge sweet tooth! Honestly, I was (and still am) getting pretty sick of Thai food, but this was all really scrumptious!

Now, I am ready to throw a huge Thai-themed party when I get back so I can cook all the yummy recipes! The tough part will be finding some of the ingredients, but I am excited to bring a little Thai cuisine back home to you all (and find a good Asian grocer!). With all my fingers still intact and minimal physical harm after the cooking class, I would say I am well on my way to becoming a chef de cuisine, Thai style of course!

On Sunday, we had the infamous "Sports Day" at school, which meant unfortunately I was at work on a Sunday morning at 8am! However, to see 1st graders shimmying their hearts out, moms dressing up in traditional Thai outfits to earn points for their child's team, listening to a million cheers in Thai and experiencing Thai "sports," it was pretty funny! More Sports Day to come...check for a blog post coming soon!