Day 32: 17th Nov 2010 – Day 34: 19th Nov 2010 – Chiang Mai

The first full day in Thailand's second city we decided to do the Lonely Planet walking tour. After a few hours of walking in the mid day heat we must have seen 10 Buddhist temples from the outside and 3 or 4 on the inside. My conclusion is that most temples seem pretty much the same except for one. At the back temples usually have a big Buddha statue surrounded by loads of smaller ones. This one temple had managed to acquire a Madame Tussard's style wax work of an old monk that sat among the smaller Buddhas. It took a few minutes to subtle staring to confirm it wasn't a real person.

On the second day in Chaing Mai we got to do one of the things we had been looking forward to doing on our trip. The activity for the day was a Thai cooking course. Like any activity do seem to do in Asia the price always includes pick up from the hostel, usually in a mini bus. The cooking course do it slightly differently and send a lady on a moped to pick everyone up one at a time.

After it taking 10 minutes to be shipped one at a time to the school the first part of the course was a trip to the market which was right by our hostel so we had to walk back to where we had just been. When we got there we learned a little bit about the rice, noodles and tofu we would be using in the class. The market itself isn't too different to what we would have at home except for the hygiene standards. They have no problem at all with flies crawling over the meat and blood running from the stalls into the road. We were reassured that meat we were going to use was bought from a place that sold meat more suitable for western stomachs. Back at the school we then learned about the vegetables we would use in their vegetable garden.

The cooking lessons themselves were a really good experience, we got to cook a meat dish, a noodle dish, an appetizer, a curry (and the paste for it), a soup and a dessert. You would be very surprised how quick and easy Thai food it to prepare. Each time we finished cooking a dish we sat down and enjoyed out creations.

In the evening I had planned to go to a bar that we had seen that sold beer towers (4 litres) and I was going to sit and drink a tower to myself. Before the drinking started we went for dinner and very uncharacteristically for me I had lost my appetite and was feeling a bit ill. I ate as much as I could but was far from clearing my plate. When I said that I wasn't feeling great and wasn't to sure about the beer tower Charlotte seemed to egg me on to go through with my plan. As the picture shows I did order the tower. When it arrived my mood changed and I got stuck in. I consumed the first litre at a good pace but was starting to get the feeling of the beer just sitting on top of my dinner. After 2 more litres I needed Charlottes help and we shared the last one. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't finish it on my own but am very relieved that none went to waste.

When the morning arrived it was clear that I should have listened to my body when I wasn't sure about the tower. At first I didn't feel to bad probably because I was still a bit drunk but as that wore off my symptoms worsened. By the time I got up I was suffering from a chest infection, headache, cold and what felt like my eyes were being pressed into my head. Although the alcohol undoubtedly worsened the situation I think the cause of my illness was the room we were staying in. The bathroom was causing mould in the room, the bathroom door was so rotten about 3 inches of the bottom had disintegrated and if you looked under the pillow case the pillows had gone the colour of a strong cup of tea (this is a warning for anyone thinking of staying in the Malak, Chiang Mai). I spent the whole day drinking Coke and popping pills to try and relieve my symptoms.