A taste of traditional Thai

Today is a day of the traditional, cooking and a show. We're very excited. Our day started by being taken to the market by the executive chef of the hotel. He took us round the fruit section first, making us try the traditional tropical fruits mangosteens and the potato fruit. Little worried about the ants over the fruit but soon get past that. He then bought us two bags worth! Then we hit the fish section with some of the biggest lobster you ever did see then round to endless rows of veg and herbs stalls - all the way making us smell and name the ingredients. we stopped at a dry spice stall where we explained we usually use pastes as there are some ingredients we just can't get so he bought us some spice mixes! He's too nice. We stopped at the noodle stall with every noodle you ever did see and picked ones to cook with so we went for the large flat ones which you can't get at home and then finally got some desserts on the way out like sticky rice filled with banana little parcels - the desserts are nowhere near as sweet as we are used to. It was fun - we didn't go round the meat bit but did everything else!

When we got back and gave them half hour to set up the heavens opened - a good day to do a cooking course! We returned to the restaurant, donned our chefs hat and apron then set about making a green curry paste from scratch. We made the curry with shrimp. Then we made the traditional spicy soup - this with chicken then the chef made up a dish with the noodles we picked at the market and had that with squid. It was amazing. We then had to eat it all! It tasted amazing - all because it was made with love, ahhh. We had our picture taken with the chef and our certificates. Definitely something different to do on holiday. Hopefully Daniel will use some of his skills when we get home - hee hee!

We didn't do much in he afternoon as we were picked up at 5ish for our night out to Siam Niramit. Our next instalment of our traditional Thai day. Back in the minivan this time off to Phuket town to see Siam Niramit - a show that takes you to the historic areas of Thailand then through their belief system - which ironically was similar to Dante's Inferno which is talked about in Dan Browns Inferno that we are both reading. Hell, mythological world then heaven. It then takes you to the celebrations Thais have throughout the year. But before the show there was dinner to be had and demonstrations to be seen. We had dinner first so we didn't miss any entertainment, it was a buffet and I have to say they had an impressive dessert section. Whilst eating we could see out the window an almighty rain shower. What now - all the demonstrations were outside!

We walked down the stairs and straight into the Thai boxing demonstration they had moved indoors - not as great an atmosphere but we were at the front of the action. That finished we turned around and right in front of us again were two elephants first picking up baskets then cash off the floor with their trunks, then hula hooping on their trunks. They also looked really happy. They had a little dance to some music then also took a bow! We didn't unfortunately get to see the elephant war parade but did see some Thai dancing. Squat and tiny steps with very precise fingers! Very fancy costumes as well!

We then had to hand in our cameras in a very efficient system I must say and we were seated.

The sets were amazing - colourful and at one point a whole river of water appeared which was deep enough for a guy to dive in. There was rain inside and an array of animals from chickens to goats, to an ox and of course the elephants. The baby one still looked soo happy dancing, placing a basket in the water and bowed at the end. There were boats, large heads, aerial displays, mythological creatures, dancing, lights, it was excellent. You name it - it had it! What we couldn't understand was why the Scottish family on our trip moaned so much about everything, from getting the tickets, the buffet, the show - there is no pleasing some people. They went back to their hotel to have a sausage on a stick - clearly uncultured!!

Bow to the Big Buddha

Today our aim was to get to the Big Buddha on top of the hill in yonder distance but before contending with that we were woken up with the sound not of waves in the ocean but rain hitting our balcony and villa doors. We had seen some lightening out at sea the night before but early morning you hadn't heard rain like it! By the time the sun had risen luckily the rain had stopped and it was a glorious day.

We asked the hotel after breakfast about how to get to the Big Buddha and they said you can just get a taxi and as there was a taxi service in our hotel we went to find out the price. It turns outs that to have a private car and driver for the day was 400 bhat more than just getting a taxi to the Big Buddha - so celeb treatment number 2 we were off to see the Buddha in a private car!

Our first stop up the mountain towards the Buddha was to a view point over looking the bays of Karon and Patong. It was a spectacular view which many a tour group were stopping at so there was the typical toot sellers and on this occassion there was also a guy with 2 massive volture like birds! The other wildlife was also massive, namely the spiders and lizards!

We then got back in the car and headed furtehr up the mount! Our next stop after thankfully driving past the monkey show was another elephant camp to trek some more! OK so we have dopne some trekking in Krabi but what the hell, this time our ride was called Cocao and he was pretty relaxed. This time the trek was on a pretty flat track again over looknig the bay. It was a chillaxed plod along, the guy even offered us a chance to ride the elephant like he did by sitting by his head but we politely declined and stayed firmly in our seat! The elephants here seemd happy and followed instructions a little more easily than in Krabi. We even managed to barter the guy down in price for our photo - well it was a good shot of us!

Our next stop is the Big Buddha! As we approached the white marble Buddha it grew in size until we were dwarfed by its stature. It's a free attraction though I did have to borrow a shawl as I had a strapless dress on. It is still a building site really as they are planning on developing the area around the Buddha and also in sie it. The Buddha itself is a magnificent feat, apparently it's not the biggest Buddha in the world but it's still pretty damn impressive.

There are a number of other Buddhas around the site including another pretty big gold one! There was also one still being built that was standing but it still had its head covered with mesh, it was kind of freaky. Around the area were a number of bells where people had written their wished and hung them up so everywhere you walked was a quiet tinkling in the background. The view was amazing -you can see why they picked it as a site for the Buddha. It was built to honour the king and done all through donations, that is impressive, we bought our fridge magnet here and a necklace pendant so we have now officially contributed to the cintinous build!

Our time here finished with a fresh snack of coconut ice cream at 25 bhat! It was yummy and definitely needed as it was ridiculously hot!


Needless to say we were pleased to get back into the air conditioned car! We then went to Wat Chalong - quite a large area of temples. All the temples we are visiting are special in their own way and are impressive to say the least. We were looking around as you do when we heard what sounded like cars backfiring/gunfire/fireworks! It was very weird. What it actually was were people paying to set off fireworks in a brick build cavern thing - that was definately strange. We also saw a wedding couple having thier pictures taken - he was definitly punching abouve his weight snd also suffering in this heat in his suit!

 

The day was passing by and we still had our private car. He offered to take us to Tiger Kingdom which sounds amazing - a tiger zoo - but after looking at the leaflet it is actually where you go in the cage and pose with the tigers! Err no way! However tame they say they are it's not even worth the risk! We aksed politely to bypass this so instead we headed to a jewellery store - again not by choice - it was axactly like China, full of jems which they try and force you to buy - not a fan to be honest. We headed back to our villa for some much needed R & R. Our private car was another celeb highlight for sure!

Tonight we headed to Karon for tea - we found a good restaurant on trip advisor and the food was fab - the area however was dead! The only real busy-ness anywhere was in a bar with a band playing and that didn't have many people - we did however see a guying walking an elephant down the street! Just like you'd walk a dog!! Only in Thailand hey!

Elephant & Jungle Trekking!!

Today is our first activity day in Krabi. We are off trekking! First stop was the hot springs. On route we picked up the most annoying Chinese family to join our group then drove through Krabi Town. We saw some primary school kids all dressed up being paraded along - turns out it was their sports day. Puts our opening ceremony to shame!! The hot springs were hot, not as slimy under foot as we thought though.

We then went up the road to the Emerald Pool and this was cool, both literally cooler than the hot springs but also was a cool looking place. Clear glistering water that was a striking blue colour. Shame I couldn't touch the floor, Daniel liked it once he found out he could reach the floor throughout the whole pool! To get to the pool we had to go on a bit of a walk through the jungle. Very tall trees and constant sounds of clicking bugs. The walkway went over the mangrove areas - you don't know what was lurking in there! We had lunch here. There were lines of street vendors on one side and a couple of restaurants on the other. The vendors had some strange items - 3 eggs on s stick with yellow goo seeping out the holes - bleugh! Thankfully we ate at the restaurant. Green Thai curry, chili chicken and stir fry veg, though the Germans only ate a little of the rice and the Chinese ate the funny egg on a stick thing!

We went from here to Tiger Cave Temple - unfortunately no tigers! It seemed like a massive monk complex, a new temple being built, shrines all over and monkeys wandering everywhere. One was drinking water out of a water bottle! We didn't climb the 1247 steps to the top of the mountain as we didn't have time but did climb up and over a smaller mound to the monastery. Crazy to see the monks homes built into the cliff with their washing hung out. We went into the caves there - which looked like they are used for meditation. The trees were huge with massive buttress roots and even though it was shaded on the floor it was extremely hot. We made our way back and went into tiger cave temple, we were invited in by a monk and asked to sign a visitors book and they tide a good luck bracelet to our wrists. Monks were in there chanting and there was not end of the amount of statues of Buddhas. We climbed the stairs to the tiger cave, a tiny space with more shrines. After leaving a donation we made our way back to the bus.

From here we were heading to the elephant trek. Everything has included walking through the jungle I'm glad we didn't get too bitten! We passed a number of rubber and palm plantations before arriving in another area of the jungle. Out of a clearing came the elephants!! Plodding along. We climbed a wooden platform to get onto the elephant which was easier to get on the seat than expected. Ours was called Watna and was the leader of the trek. She occasionally wanted to stray off path but the guide shouted an instruction sort of noise and she was back on track. It was awesome. Up and down, bobbing around but it was something you probably won't get to do again. It wasn't dodgy as you may think, they were well looked after and seemed happy, eating everything they passed almost.

Definitely been an eventful day - with some insight into Thai culture. To end the day we walked into the transvestites from the cabaret show in Krabi, yet another element of Thai culture yet to experience!

Stray dogs #31
Stray cats #5