Railay Thai Cooking School

Our instructor Anm.

That's Kinga.

Yesterday I decided to take a cooking class. I love Thai food so much, so why not? Class started at 8:30 AM and went on until about 1:00 PM. Just me and an Hungarian woman named Kinga registered. Kinga and I first had to decided what we wanted to learn and we chose: spring rolls, green curry, Pad Thai noodle dish, coconut ginger soup, and bananas and coconut milk for desert. I later got recipes for spicy beef salad and mango sticky rice. Our instructor Anm was very nice and fun to work with. She first showed us how to chop and prepare. Then we cooked a dish, ate it, cooked a disk, and then ate it... let's just say I was really full by noon. I have recipes for it all and am willing to share. Let me know what you'd like.

Railay Bay

We are on the red dot, near Phuket.

Funny monkey!

Our home for now, the Railey Princess Resort and Spa. Can you see the pool right above the fish pond?

Thai longboats.

The tide is out.

Me climbing some limestone.

Gabbie did great! Can you see her up there?

That's the rock we climbed.

Our super nice guide "M".

A few days ago Gabbie and I traveled south to a beach/bay called Railay. We are staying at a well used resort called Railay Princess. There is a lot to do here like: rock climbing, SCUBA diving, fishing, snorkeling, and hiking. There are no cars here. Just a few tractors and many walkways. I pulled my right calf muscle running a few weeks ago and the injury has caught up to me. It's hard for me to get around and that is quite frustrating as I am an active person. Yesterday we climbed for half a day, even though my legs bums me out, it was still fun. I forgot how exciting rock climbing is. Gabbie and I have decided that when we get back to Portland, we will join the rock gym. It is great exercise and something fun for us to do together. Needless to say, I am sore today and regret not staying in the best of shape. Railay itself is beautiful. However, it is more touristy than Gabbie remembers. Something unique about this area are the monkeys. They are everywhere. I was feeding some from our porch last night. One actually took Gabbie's mango tango shake. That was hilarious! Check out the video.

Chew Lan Lake

Today Gabs and I drove by car for about a half hour and then went by boat on the Chew Lan lake to check out some houseboats for rent and do a bit of swimming. Once we saw the places where tourists could sleep, we were thankful that we did not commit to an overnight stay. Anyhow, we arrived at houseboats, swam, ate lunch, drank some beer, kayaked around, and then swam some more. I found that life jackets are more fun when you sit on them. I floated around for about an hour. The water was lukewarm but refreshing. There was also a ladder you could jump off of and I had fun practicing my dives. 3:30 rolled around and we headed back. On the car ride home I saw men riding elephants, no big deal around here :). Tomorrow we have a chill day and then we are off to Karabi which is a bit more south.

Khao Sok Town & River

Gabbie getting some espresso.
Market on wheels! She had all things that are good.

Ninety-year old man.
A statue that looks a lot like the ninety-year old man.

Take notice of the small boy behind me, he was our guide. I asked him if I could take over for a bit and he did.
Beautiful river!

The river take out location

Khao Sok is a petite town nestled amongst large limestone mountains. The flora and fauna is amazing. Hiking is everywhere. Today we walked around town, canoed down the river, checked out a religious cave, and the had pizza for dinner. It has been a wonderful stay so far. The river trip was peaceful and relaxing. It is so nice to be out in nature again. The cave was pretty cool too. We got to feed some fish. Check out the video.

Khao Sok Elephant Ride

We ventured out into the jungle today. Well... it was more like a rubber tree plantation. The elephants were really cool. We rode for about a half hour then stopped at a water fall and swam for a bit. I saw a snake, panicked, and got out as soon as possible. It was still refreshing nonetheless. On our drive back from the elephant place we saw a king cobra and later on stopped for a photo opportunity. We got back to the bungalows, showered, and then hit the small town for some food. Dinner was once again awesome. On our walk back we stopped and got massages. What another Wonderful day!