The Joys of Northern Thailand
Our first stop back in Thailand was the small town of Pai in the northern part of the country. Pai is a backpacker haven. Surrounded by a beautiful natural setting, it's totally laid back and offers lots of cheap accommodations and tasty restaurants. It was just what we needed after our recent trek through the muck and leeches in Laos.
Although we spent only a few days in Pai, we managed to enjoy some good coffee (filter not instant) and what is probably the best pizza in Southeast Asia (finally a recommendation from LP that actually has some basis in reality!).
Next up was Chiang Mai, which is known as Thailand's 'second city.' But Lee quickly tired of the sophisticated city life, and started mumbling something about wanting to get her hands dirty and get back to nature. Before I knew it, I found myself in the back of a small truck, hemmed in on all sides by vegetables, meat, and live fish(!) on the way to something called the Panya Project. The Panya Project was created a number of years ago after one guy from Seattle had an epiphany while traveling in Thailand. He returned home and managed to convince a handful of his friends to buy a piece of land in Thailand where they would build some houses and turn it into an organic farm; they would invite others to join in the work and learn about organic farming and permaculture. Somehow Lee thought this would be fun ...
Actually, our time on the farm was very enjoyable. We spent five days hanging out with Chris, his Thai girlfriend Tuey, and Kai and Ping (a Thai lady and her two-year-old daughter). We helped with planting seeds, making a hut out of clay and straw (a very dirty business), collecting fire wood, baking bread and cooking, pulling weeds, and cutting grass (with a blade on the end of a stick!). The best part, for me, was all the wonderful fresh food we made, especially the brown rice. The rice was a staple so a big pot would be made each day for all the meals. Lee quickly realized that she could take a spoonful of it, mix it with some hot water and sweet milk, add some cinnamon, and have instant rice pudding! What a mind that girl has.
Finally we said our goodbyes, and made our way back to the big city. Not having had enough of cooking for ourselves at the farm, we enrolled in a cooking class at The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School. Our course included a visit to a local market, a tour of school's organic farm, learning to cook seven dishes -- tom yum soup, spring rolls, red curry, mussaman curry, phad krapow kai (minced chicken with basil), banana coconut 'soup,' and mango with sticky rice) -- and, of course, the consumption of said dishes. And the best part (other than the eating) was that we didn't have to do any clean up!
We were joined by a colorful cast of characters: a guy from Palestine, who unfortunately got sick (it happened before the eating, so at least it wasn’t food poisoning) and had to leave; a French girl who insisted on "airing out" her freshly acquired, palm-sized, festering wound from a motorcycle accident (nice); an Italian girl who couldn't speak any English; an older American and his Thai girl friend (can you say "cliché"?); a very friendly Dutch couple; and a nice Dutch family (is anyone actually back in Holland?). The course was led by the charismatic Mrs. Nice, who was, really, very nice, although she did have to reprimand the group a couple of times with a, "More cooking, less talking!"
All of the food was very tasty, and we ended up eating far too much of it. My favorite was definitely Lee's red curry (I made the mussaman), and we're pretty excited about making more Thai food at home.
After all that food, it was time to burn some calories so we signed up for mountain biking with a company imaginatively called Mountain Biking Chiang Mai. Since we've been on a bike before we decided to throw caution to the wind and sign up for one of their intermediate level tours. We were teamed up with a British girl named Nicky, and later joined by two Israeli guys, one who seemed a bit timid and one who kept saying that this (mountain biking) would be a good way to die. The latter also opted for the full-body amour. Okay then ...
Off our eclectic little group went. And man was it was fun! Most of the route was a dirt track wide enough for a car, but it was full of groves, ruts, and rocks. Very early in the day it started to drizzle which turned the dirt track into a slippery mucky track and made for a white-knuckled nerve-wracking ride. We each fell more than once -- Lee even went over her handle bars! -- but there were no serious injuries and, yes, the Israeli guy did survive the ordeal.
The most challenging part of the day was a short section on a very narrow trail over rocks and roots. There was even a small jump, which I managed to clear, although it almost made me crash headlong into a very solid looking tree.
Covered in mud and sporting a few bruises, we finished the day with a simple meal of rice and chicken and a swim in a local lake. All in all a great day, and something we will definitely do more of.
For more photos, see our Northern Thailand photo album.
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