Oh Me, Oh Mai (Last Day in Chiang Mai)

[Note: I'm sitting on plenty of photos/etc. but the internet access in KZ is very limited and very sloooow. There are 2 new posts, so please start lower on the page and work up!]

Last day up north, so we’ll probably cool out & write a postcard or two, right? Nah, we still had the rental car till 10:00AM, so we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn & went to Doi Suthep, a mountain about 20 miles from Chiang Mai. Here are a few of the pics!

A mornin' yornin'

Do you see what I see?


That would be Chiang Mai below

Peace in the Southeast!

Amanda (and some canine friends) walking up the 200 steps of Doi Suthep

A regular Dizzy Gillepsie here...


With bells on!


So, tell us how you REALLY feel!
On the way down the mountain, we were tempted by yet another waterfall. This one was one of my favorites. No frills --> just falls:

Another view of Chaing Mai

By itself portrait...


By itself landscape...



with us portrait...

with us landscape...


...and finally, zoom zoom!
We spent the rest of the morning walking the city one last time & taking in the sights. We reserved a half-day cooking course for the late afternoon/ early evening. Speaking of food, we had AUTHENTIC Mexican for lunch, not La Tolteca, but que bueno!

Lanterns by day near the East Gate of the city

Carved monkeys at our guest house

Combinacion: Dos Amigos
Now we’re cooking with gas!!! We piled into the back of pickup truck & we were off to Thai Cooking School. Our fellow pyromaniacs were a Dutch couple & a Swiss couple. My money was on TEAM USA!

Our first stop was a market, where our fearless leader Permpoon (thank Buddha he can cook, ‘cause with a name like that?!?) showed us the ins & outs of Thai cuisine, produce, & shopping. It was very interesting & he answered a lot of questions. Then back in the pickup truck to head to his house/cooking school. The class was hotness (no pun intended). Very intimate, fun, and we cooked up at least 5 authentic Thai dishes. Homeboy Permpoon kept crackin' us up like an egg!

The view from the back of his pickup truck

The class was actually on his backyard patio!

What a cut-up.

Don't hate on the apron...

This is the FIRST & LAST TIME I heard a dude tell me that I am great at 'wrapping bananas!'

Fruits of our labor...
And the youtube video to prove it is below:

We finally finished up & enjoyed our hardwork (or should I say hard "wok"). And a free Thai cookbook to prove it!

We ended the night with one last sally around the infamous Night Bazaar, knowing that we had 2 consecutive flights early the next morning & that it was goodbye Chiang Mai… for now!