Thailand

Wholesome Travel Guide To: Chiang Mai

Wholesome Travel Guide To: Chiang Mai

I can't even begin to count my blessings. As we speak, I am in Chiang Mai munching away on super ripe bananas and sipping on a young coconut. My boyfriend and I decided to spend the entire month of August in Chiang Mai with his family (they live here) before ending our summer holidays with a detox trip to Phuket Cleanse. Our days have been filled with daily yoga, massages, trips to the local food markets and disovering the city's food culture. I feel zen, balanced and extremely grateful for life right now.

This is my 4th time in Thailand, and I am as in love with this country as during my first stay. The people, the warm weather, the FOOD, the cheap massages..Can I move here please? As you can imagine, the food is the most interesting to me. I love to learn about local ingredients, their cooking style and working my way through every restaurant in my way. One thing you definitely have to do when in Chiang Mai is to go to the local food markets, especially at night. The one we went to is close to Meechok Plaza but there are tons all around town.  I'd suggest to go with an empty stomach so that you can really try some of the dishes they serve. A word of caution:  Many of the fruit juices have added sugar in them, so make sure to ask before buying them.

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Thai Cooking Class And A Note On Vegetable Oils

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Thai Cooking Class And A Note On Vegetable Oils

Every time after visiting Thailand we bring a bunch of herbs, spices and the good intention of finally starting to cook Thai, back home. Once unpacked and settled back in, all things get shoved into the far end of top cupboard and eventually get forgotten about. Including those good intentions. We have vowed to change this and to finally (4th time is a charm, right?) attend a Thai cooking class in the hope that this will inspire us to actually recreate our favourite Thai dishes at home.

After doing some research, we decided on May Kaidee, a vegetarian/vegan cooking school with centers in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. They offer a variety of cooking classes ranging from a standard Thai cooking class to raw food, fruit carving and tofu making classes. They even have an advanced chili paste course. We opted for the standard 4-hour course at a price of 1500 baht (around 38 Euro), where we got to learn a total of seven dishes: red and green chili paste, Pad Thai, green curry, massaman curry, fresh spring rolls, som tam, pumpkin hummus and mango with sticky rice.

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Wholesome Travel Guide to Hong Kong & Phuket

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Wholesome Travel Guide to Hong Kong & Phuket

When traveling, I find it imporant to find the right balance between staying true to your food philosophy whilst allowing yourself to discover the local food culture.

It’s not always easy, but it’s doable. Remember that being vegan/vegetarian (or whatever it is that you are) is adventurous, and so is travel – your sense of exploration coupled with an open mind and the willingness to learn new things will take you around the world with no problem at all!

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