Roaming with Lucy

Happy New Year from Australia!

You may recall, if you are an avid reader of this blog, (high five) that our first day in Thailand was a bit of a test. 22 hours after our plane landed, we left Bangkok to head north as “lawfully advised”. So when our 8-week trip through South East Asia was coming to a close, you can understand why we were a bit hesitant about spending our last couple of days in the capital of Thailand. However, in a classic turn of emotional events, our last 24 hours in Bangkok was a strong contender as one of the best!

The morning started off a little iffy, with a pitch black 5am drop off at a random bridge in Bangkok from a 13 hour overnight bus trip from Krabi. Waking up to hurried calls of “get off the bus, this is Bangkok!” and a testing conversation with a French man who we followed to the ferry-boat to cross the river, we were dubious of our next 24 hours back in Bangkok.

After checking in to the same pre paid hotel as last time, we dropped our bags in the still leaking cupboard (8 weeks later) and changed our clothes. We walked around Koh San Road, had a nap on the hotel decking area & then headed over to Silom Thai Cooking School for our afternoon class. We were greeted with woven wooden shopping baskets for the market trip and our enthusiastic teacher, Coong.

Our cooking class at the market in Bangkok

Andrea and me were duefully named Team UK and the first dish we attempted after returning from the market with our groceries was “Tom Yum Goong”; which translates to hot and sour prawn soup. I’m usually not a lover of fish but our time in Asia has forced me to try new foods and I’ve found out that I actually don’t mind seafood! Dad, this doesn’t however mean that I ever want to eat your fish pie – sorry.

Crazy English Chefs

During our class, we also made the following dishes (plus Mango Sticky Rice).

Pad Thai Sai Kai (Fried noodles Thai style)

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Apologies for the lack of desert photos – I got excited and ate before I could take a shot. Here’s what was left though…

Mango Sticky Rice

The class lasted for around 3 hours and included a market tour, where we learnt about and collected the food we would be cooking with. The cooking school is really great and definitely a must do in Bangkok for people who are interested in learning to cook Thai cuisine. The cooking and preparation areas were immaculate and the whole process is flawlessly efficient. AND you don’t even have to wash up afterwards!

Preparing the cook-off!

Our head chef, Coong.

After 1000 baht (£20) later and a farewell photo with Coong; we walked to the Banyan Tree Hotel and rode the elevator to the 61^st floor to overlook Bangkok from the open top Vertigo and Moon Bar. The sites were incredible and the bar definitely lives up to its name in Vertigo! Overlooking Bangkok, you can see many helicopter pads and the right time to visit is unanimously at Sundown. If you’re looking to take someone for a romantic meal in Bangkok and have a little cash to spend; this is the place! Me and Andrea skipped the romantic part and headed to the bar, where we didn’t buy a drink because we’re poor back packers. Que sympathy here…

Banyan Tree Hotel view from the open top 61st floor.

Sunset view from the 61st floor @ Vertigo and Moon Bar

Andrea’s thoughtful look overlooking Bangkok… “To buy a £6 cocktail or not!?”

Tomorrow we’re heading to Del Rio Riverside resort, next to the Hawkesbury River with my Australian family and co. I might even try out waterskiing on the river; hopefully there are no Bull Sharks around when I do…

Until next time, happy roaming! x

Here’s a Japanese style photo of our cooking class. We just love cooking!

Group class shot @ Silom Thai Cooking School