We started with a cooking class today, making small ramekins out of banana leaves. Today we are making Haw Mok. A fish red curry cooked in a banana leaf bowl. We are also making Mushroom Larb and Gaeng Som – sour curry. we used Green Pawpaw as our vegetable in this.
The breakfast buffet has the smallest cutest bananas I have ever seen!
A spider came to watch!
Cutting the green paw paw into chunks.
This is our view from our class.
Our finished feast.
Then some of us went for a walk to the next village.
This is purple butterfly pea drying in the sun. I have seen it used in desserts and iced drinks.
An egg delivery. No cartons, just trays and trays of eggs on the back of a ute.
A very large snail.
I snapped this image from the van on the way to our restaurant for dinner.
Krua P. Pla for diinner. Krua meaning Kitchen and Pla meaning Fish.
Pineapple for dessert cut in a very cute and practical way. Unfortunately no photos of dinner tonight.
After Breakfast we went to on of the local primary schools to present them with our donations. They lost everything in the floods. It was the school that the resort owner and her children went to. We were very happy to be able to help a little whilst we were here. We still have not been able to get to see Duang’s house – it is damaged from all the flooding and needs some repairs so unfortunately we wont be doing any cooking classes there. Also food is in short supply as many of the market stall holders are busy cleaning up their houses. Duang is having to improvise, however we certainly do not feel like we are suffering or disadvantaged in any way! We feel that we have been eating like Kings whilst the rest of the town is working very hard to clean everything up. Then we went on to Duang’s Nephew’s coffee shop called Huan Hung Tor for a coffee and Gerard even managed to find carrot cake!
Out the front of the school.
The clean up now that the water has subsided after 6 days.
Not very adventurous Gerard.
Not many cake cabinets like this in Thailand.
This tree was growing in the middle of the coffee shop.
Next up it was off to a herbal remedies co-op in a village. We soaked our feet in herbal salts and then had a tumeric poultice placed on our knees for 30 minutes.
Bit of a shame it had to be wrapped in plastic. We ended up with very yellow knees but it must have been good for us! The whole experience was lovely!
Lunch was enjoyed at Bo Suak. Fish Chili Paste with vegies, Basil omelet (these were yummy), Spicey Chicken Soup, and a pile of fresh Mangosteens!
Off now to a weaving co-op – such fine work. It takes about a week to finish one piece. They were selling for around AU$100.00. I purchased this piece and met the maker. You will see me wearing it as a skirt next winter!
Dinner was at a restaurant on the Riverside that had just re-opened after the floods. We could watch the Dragon Boats practicing for a big event held next month.
They practice in the dark and the rain. There are 200 Dragon Boat Teams in Nan so they all need to get their practice in.
Among many dishes we had there were prawn cakes and calamari.
Big day today starting with a Thai massage – a bit painful for my liking. Time for a quick swim then lunch before we head out in the vans.
Lunch was do DIY noddle bowls with a choice of condiments, pork mince and pork balls made from pork and rice flour.
Off we went after lunch, north again to a batik cloth making place for us to have a go at stamping some Batik cloth.
Next on to our dinner spot – quite an experience! We were taken in by tractor, walked over a very rickety handmade bridge, patted a water buffalo and then sat down to do some tie dying before eating our woodfired pizza surrounded by the rice fields!
Flooding in Nan has subsided enough for us to go on a day trip today. First stop is a coffee shop at Nan Riverside Art Gallery. The coffee was good and a herbal tea of some sort was served along side it. We could see how high the flood waters were and the river was still flowing rapidly.
This is at the front of the Gallery. The whispering statues in the middle are iconic to Nan. There is an original artwork of the whispering people in one of the Temples in Nan and we are seeing whispering people all around Nan.
A riverside coffee in their handmade cups.
After our walk around the art gallery we were off to our lunch spot. A very small cafe in Northern Nan. We started with fried Chicken Wings and then had Pad See Ew noodles. Followed by fresh fruit grown in their garden.
Gerard and Romney in front of our beautiful lunch table view.
Longans and Dragon Fruit.
After lunch we stopped at a pop-up roadside Batik clothing stall run by a real character! He is famous in Thailand for playing male and female roles in movies. He now designs batik clothing. Next we were off to a silver workshop. Students are sponsored to come and learn the traditional trade and stay for at least three years. They create some amazingly intricate silver works.
A qilck drink stop at Ban Tai Lue on the way back before a swim in the pool as the storm rolled in across the mountains.
A purple butterfly pea flower and pineapple drink, a dog in shoes and a tu tu, and the view from the coffee shop.
Then out to dinner at Nan Green House.
We were being watched with our appetiser!
An American dish thrown in to the mix – Pork Ribs!
Well Nan is still flooded but we are safe and sound in our resort with food being brought in. Apparently we have enough food for 3 days, however based on last nights meals I am sure we could make that last six days at least. There are worse places to be stuck that’s for sure.
We are just staying around the resort today to stay out of the way of people trying to help. Looks like we might be here for 5 days at least. The water levels have reduced a little but most of Nan is still flooded. Duang still cannot get to her house.
Fried rice and an egg for breakfast. The owner of the resort, Khun Tae has taught herself to make sourdough bread for the Australian Tourists so we could have toast as well.
We wandered into the next town up the hill just for a look around. Had to be back for lunch at 12.30!
Lunch was a fishball thai noodle soup concoction – again very delicious. The Fish Balls were made from fish, rice flour and tofu.
Lazy day by the pool and then Duang had organised a quick cooking class of spring rolls for us before dinner. We had the spring rolls for appetisers then dinner was brought in from one of the restaurants we were supposed to visit but couldn’t because of the flooding.
Some locals helping locals by delivering some food to the flooded side of the river.
Lunch – the noodles on the bench and the fish ball soup on the stove.
Dessert was sticky rice and banana cooked in banana leaf.
Breakfast at the airport before our flight to Nan. Some of us were more adventurous that others!!
We had heard just before we left that there was flooding in Nan. Flying in to Nan we could see it was very flooded. Upon landing we were told our hotel was not accessible due to flooding in their street. Fortunately, the owners of the hotel also own a resort a little out of town. We had been upgraded for a couple of nights whilst, hopefully, the flood waters subside. We were taken straight form the Airport to a restaurant up in the hills amongst rice fields. We had a traditional Northern Thai noodle dish very similar to a laksa except with condiments on offer. Pickled mustard greens, fresh shallots, lime and fried noodles. Truly delicious! Lunch was cut short as we had heard the bridge was starting to flood and would close very soon. We need this bridge to get to our resort! Phew, we made it just in time. We were able to enjoy the afternoon by the pool.
The Hotel owners hired a canoe just so that they could transport some food from the hotel to the resort. They wanted to still feed us the meal they had so lovingly been preparing for us. We were feeling guilty enjoying a wonderful feast whilst others in the town were having such a hard time. We have all offered our services to help clean up if and when required after the flood waters subside.
Unfortunately Duang’s house has also been flooded so no cooking lessons there for now. We are on an unexpected adventure, but for now, I am still very confident that the food is not going to disappoint!
My breakfast was quiet a selection – pandan custard with doughnut type things, coffee with condensed milk, chinese black tea and an onsen egg which was a little raw for me to eat!
Our very decorative plane!
A little robotic cleaner heading my way!
They smuggled beer in from Laos for us because it is better than Thai beer – although we have found Thai beer to be quite ok.
This was our appetiser, lots of tasty morsels to eat in a lettuce leaf with some Nam Prik Noom sauce. We then had a salad along with some fresh river fish and a tofu sweet and sour type dish. I even went back for seconds on the tofu dish! Sorry missed getting photos of those ones.
Dessert was Thai Coconut Custard served in a mini sweet pumpkin with some cantaloupe.
An early breakfast this morning before our 3.5 hour taxi ride back to Bangkok. We have a flight to catch Thursday morning to go to Nan so we are staying at the Amari Don Muang Airport Hotel. After our long taxi ride we really couldn’t face another hour in the taxi to go into Bangkok so we decided to stay at the hotel and have a quiet day. We opted for a takeaway lunch from Bon Chon Chicken – it was pretty good!! A swim in the pool then happy hour cocktails before dinner in the hotel dining room. Classic Pad Thai, Thai Geen Curry and Chicken Satay.
This Bon Chon pack included a soupy dish with an egg in it, Chicken Wings, Kimchi and pickled radish along with rice and drinks.
Another fabulous breakfast. Well, what should we do for our last day? We have already said we are not going to go to the vineyard as we are so spoilt in Australia and we can’t imagine that the wine would be any good anyway. We have also said we do not need a big lunch today after all the eating we have been doing!
What do we end up doing?– A last minute decision to go to the vineyard! We found out they have an elephant sanctuary so why not go and see the elephants?!?
We are not fussed about the wine tasting so we are not going to do the full package are we?? Somehow I find myself ticking the box for the full 5 course lunch with the 5 wines to match! And boy am I glad we did. The food was amazing and believe it or not the wine was absolutely amazing as well!! All five of them. Oh, and then we added a dessert, along with a very nice dessert wine! The setting could have easily been in Loire Valley or Yarra Valley!
A fabulous, unexpected day finished off with an Italian meal in Hua Hin. It was a very European experience in Thailand
Our favourite Thai dessert so far – Mango with sticky rice and coconut cream.
Day 3 Started with another delicious 3 course breakfast with dessert being a crispy salmon and sticky rice dish in banana leaf. It was sweet and delicious. Then a hot 2.5km walk to check out Bluport Shopping Centre. They had massive goldfish swimming in a big pond inside the centre. We jumped in a TukTuk and went to Koti Restaurant for lunch. It has been going since 1932. It’s not flash looking but the food was nice. most eating places are not airconditioned but they do have lots of fans. A Tuk Tuk back to Let’s Sea Resort for a swim, pre dinner drinks and dinner!
This was Gerard’s Rice porridge with condiments.
This was a pork noodle breakfast dish with shot glasses of Fish Sauce, Vinegar, Chilli and Sugar for mixing in as desired.
Our breakfast dessert today was coconut pudding and the sweet salmon with sticky rice.
Pre dinner drinks and a complimentary snack.
Moved inside for dinner only to receive another complimentary snack!
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