Monday (1/17) – Thara Park View Hotel (Krabi):

Ok, I know I sound like a broken record, but today was excellent! I’M SO FULL! We’re back in our hotel room now freshly showered and watching a terrible Australian drama on the TV while the AC blasts away. We’re also trying not to move too much because our stomachs are busy digesting all the food we gobbled up at our cooking class.

The class took place in a nearby beach community called Ao Nang. The six-hour session was led by a very energetic and personable lady named Ya. She has been working with and around Thai cuisine in places ranging from Luxembourg to Australia since she graduated from a culinary institute in Bangkok in 1983. She opened up her private cooking school here in Krabi about ten years ago.


The were nine of us students in all: a couple from New Zealand, two independent travelers from Germany, a small family of three from Sweden, and us. Everyone spoke English fluently. The Swedish family included a good-natured but extremely chatty 14-year-old boy who reminded Ashlee of Augustus Gloop.



Over the course of six hours, we cooked and ate an incredibly amount of food. I think we made something like 17 dishes: spring rolls, pad thai, 4 or 5 different curries, a few stir fries, a couple of soups, and 2 or 3 salads. The whole process was very hands-on and we were involved in every step of the cooking process.


Even during the tedious work of chopping the raw ingredients, Ya kept us all entertained. Her favorite things to say always came in pairs: “Same, same”; “Chop, chop”; and “Bang, bang.” She would say the last one when she wanted us to smash certain vegetables (garlic cloves, lemon grass, ginger, etc.) with wooden mallets.


My favorite dishes of the day were the spring rolls, pad thai, yellow curry, sticky mango rice, and chicken and coconut soup. While a few of the dishes were nice and sweetened with coconut milk, most of them were quite fiery. The whole thing was such an enjoyable experience and I’m glad we did it. When the class ended, Ya sent each of us off with a small recipe book so we can recreate our favorite dishes at home.

Our friend, Augustus.

After class, we caught a ride back to Krabi Town. Although we were stuffed to the gills, we were too tempted by some of the delicacies on display at the night market. We managed to put down some coconut ice cream and a couple more of those donuts from this morning. At this point, we waddled back to our hotel room.

Tomorrow evening we will be on the move again. We’re catching a bus back to Surat Thani where we will take an overnight train to Bangkok. This means, though, that we still have most of the day to spend here in Krabi. I think the plan is to head to a nearby beach community where I can find a nice café and Ashlee can shop. What a life!