An experience not to be missed!

Recently had a two day stop over in Bangkok and, rather than doing the usual touristy things we went to visit some friends who work in the Khlong Toei slum. In order to give us some exposure to the local community our friends booked us into a Thai cookery school for our first morning.

We were picked up at 9 am by our hostess and her husband and taken to the Khlong Toei food market where we wandered through the hundreds of stalls selling all manner of things. 

Home made Thai soup - made while you wait.

I really liked this lady's hat!

The lady below is our Thai cooking instructor.

Our friends have helped set her up in this very successful little business - and others in a variety of businesses too.

In Thailand you don't go to the supermarket to buy pre-packaged rice - you buy a specific type of rice depending on what you are cooking.

We saw all sorts of interesting things at the market including crabs, grubs frogs and insects!

We stuck to more western-conventional food!

Our hostess took us back to her little home in where, under her instruction, we cooked 3 Thai dishes and a dessert. Of course we had to eat all that we made  - so in the last photo you can see how we felt at the end.

We were given the recipes at the end and have been practicing at home since we returned.

It turned out to be a very enjoyable morning and we became good friends with our cook and her family. We will certainly visit them again when we are in that part of the world.