Highlights from Chiang Mai

Sometimes I think my blog is like a Jason Bourne movie without the action.  Things just don't happen in chronological order when I write them.  Unfortunately, there isn't any rhyme or reason to it.  So if you were thinking I gave you promises of future Thailand postings and then made you wait for some purpose, I'm sad to say that is not the case.  So all of a sudden out of nowhere, back we go to Thailand with this list of some things I enjoyed in Chiang Mai.  Please, don't be concerned by my numbering system.  It isn't about rank--just trying to keep things tidy.

1.  Wat Chedi
Considering the hard core celebrations I took part in for Idaho's centinnial growing up, you have to know I am a connoisseur of places with century-plus years on them.  So you can imagine with what joy and reverence I greeted this beautiful old buddy from the 14th century.

It absolutely enchanted me to walk along a road and run into an ancient structure peeping out from between the buildings.  Sam and I both thought the snakes were incredible:

2.  Outdoor Markets

Maybe it's just me, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Thailand seems pretty exotic.  For example, I don't think I've ever encountered anything like this before at home.

Yes, this is a truck of pigs heads.

The flower stalls were so lovely that I wanted to swoop in and buy armfuls of birds of paradise and orchids.  But since I had no home to put them in, a tragic lack of flower purchasing ensued.  

The larger Sunday market was amazing.  There were incredible crafts to discover (though we were tempered by the backpacks to curb crazy shopping impulses).   

My favorite part were the smoothies these ladies made for us.  I got fresh coconut passion fruit and it was ridiculously good.

3.  The Guest House

Our guest house advertised it self as having 24 hour toast and tea.  How in the world could you possibly beat that?  Sam got so addicted to the luxury of having toast available at any time of the day or night that he began to get toast withdrawals once we moved on.   

The people who run this guest house were so kind and helpful.  And best of all, something about the brick buildings and garden reminded me a great deal of being at my Grandma Bonnie's house, only Thai style.  

4.  More Temples!

I don't know what to say about this.  Chiang Mai is a city filled with beautiful temples.  I love them.

5.  Cooking School

If I was going to play favorites, this would be number one on my list.  I LOVED getting to cook a five course meal with a Thai family.  We got to tour the family herb garden.

We went to the market to learn about all the foods we would be cooking...

Sam and I got to wear matching aprons, pound curry, and cut up wood ear mushrooms, which isn't something we do every day, I'll be honest.

The grande finale was an incredible dinner.  Here is a recipe for mango and sticky rice that we particularly liked.  However, I must warn you (as I was strictly warned by our teacher) that it is completely incomprehensible and impossible to make this with anything but Thai sticky rice.  To do so will result in things so terrible they cannot be spoken.  Knowing you as I do though, dear readers, I figured you might try to pull something like not using Thai sticky rice.  So I came home and tried using sushi rice because I had it, and (though it was different from what we had at school) I was satisfied and my face didn't fall off.

Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango


1 cup sticky rice soaked 4-6 hours
1 cup very thick coconut cream (I used sweetened coconut cream for baking and didn't add palm sugar)
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2 pinches salt
2 ripe mangoes


Drain the rice and steam over a medium heat for 20 minutes (I cooked in a pan on the stove, oh I'm so bad!)  Remove the rice from the steamer and mix with coconut cream, sugar and salt immediately.  Stir gently.  Cover and let stand for about 1/2 hour.  Serve with peeled, sliced mango.