Coffee and chocolate

Riverside, Ping River
Today I had no plans except to photograph the walking market on Ratchadmnoen Rd at 6 pm. Last Sunday it was an weird moment when everyone on the street stood motionless for 30 seconds while the daily national anthem played. But I ended up chatting to the lovely Bong, proprietress of my favourite coffee shop (just about to close, she welcomed me with a hug and opened up just for me) and all of a sudden it was ten past six. Best laid plans go happily astray.

I’m booked for 3 days at the elephant sanctuary near Lampung (finally, a defiinite plan) but the earliest I could get was Aug. 22, so I will pass the time in Laos until then. At the elephant (chang) camp I will learn from a mahout (elephant trainer) to ride, wash and feed the elephants. That’s riding on the head, not on the saddle, with my feet behind his (or her) ears. I can’t wait. I love elephants, much more than monkeys ☺ See changthai.com

I'll spend a few days north in Chaing Rai then cross the border into Laos at Chang Khong.

My name in Thai, it has a little fish in it!

I did a Thai cooking course the other day at the Thai Chocolate Cookery School. For a moment I thought we would actually be cooking with chocolate all day ☺, but of course Thai chocolate is actually chilli ☹. I finally learned the secret to Thai fish cakes (all will be revealed when I return). Three of my 7 courses were fish, but of the 12 or so people there, only 3 ate seafood!!! Huh? The Thai instructors were with me, especially when I said I loved to eat the crispy fins. A mammoth eating effort for me, but I still managed to devour my coconut toffee bananas with ice-cream at the end of the day.

Yam pla duk foo (yeah catfish)