Songram Festival
This morning, I walked to the Narai Hotel to meet my cooking instructor, Nusi, and the other students. It was only a couple of blocks from my hotel. After we all met, we walked to the market near my hotel (I’m quite familiar with it by now) and set about purchasing the ingredients needed to make our food dishes. Nusi showed us different varieties of ginger, peppers, basil, etc., explaining the differences in taste and in what dishes they are used. We then walked to his cooking school with our purchases, a couple more blocks away. The food we prepared was wonderful! See my photos and then read my review of the school.
After a couple of hours nap, I took a tuk tuk to Khao San Rd. to meet up with friends. The protesting is pretty much over and everyone was out in the streets to celebrate the last day of the Songkran Festival. While riding the tuk tuk, I got drenched many times when we were stopped at lights. Once we got close to Khao San Road, I had to walk in since the tuk tuk couldn’t get through (too many people). I was trying to find the Brick Bard, but ended up walking down the wrong direction of the road. I was sprayed with lots of water and my face was covered with clay which people would rub on everyone. I finally figured out I was going the wrong direction and found the Brick Bar. It was closed, so I sent a text to Layla to see where they were. Meanwhile, I got a quick bite to eat at McDonalds. I had left my hotel around 5:30 and it was already 7pm. Layla & Gloria found me and we gathered up Franklin and Anna and went to look for a place to sit, eat, and talk. We found a nice dry place. I got myself a cappuccino, which was pretty good, so I had another. We talked, took pictures…talked some more. It was really nice. When we left, Layla and Gloria went to look for a hostel. Franklin and Anna were staying at a hotel close to me, so we decided to get a taxi together. We couldn’t get that close since the streets were blocked off with people dancing, splashing water, and having lots of fun. We hopped on the skytrain just to try and bypass the mobs of people. Then we had to walk a couple of blocks to get to Silom Road. Once there, I was familiar with my surroundings and all was good. Now that I’m back at the hotel, I’m looking in the mirror and see that I have clay all over my face and hair. Time for a shower.
Tomorrow I have another cooking class at a different school. I sure hope this head cold eases up before then!
P.S. – photos from Songran aren’t the best since I was taking the photos through a ziplock baggie to keep my camera dry.
