In the last four months we have been cycling, trekking, caving, kite surfing, we have done a safari and visited a chimpanzee orphanage. We have sampled more types of cuisine than I can possibly list, we have probably accidentally eaten several ants and Graham has even knowingly eaten caterpillars. But we have not done very much cooking at all. Today we signed up for a Thai Cooking School and it was amazing!

The Tom Yum Thai Cooking school is run by Oun and Kae from their home in Chiang Mai. We were in a group of 8, with four Beligians, a Columbian and a French girl completing our group. The first stop of the day was at the local market, where the girls were given the shopping baskets to carry while the men sauntered along behind. Oun took us to several of the stalls and pointed out most of the key ingredients for Thai dishes. He showed us the different types of aubergine grown here, the variety of ginger on offer, a variety of basil and the noodles and tofu used. He also showed us the chillis used in ‘rat shit curry’ (direct Thai translation), so called as they look like little rat poos. We avoided these, but picked up all of the fresh ingredients we needed for our dishes and headed to his house.

Oun met his wife while they were both teaching cooking at other schools, where they fell in love, got married and started their own cooking school. They both love food and Oun regularly rubbed his tummy with pride to show us how much he enjoys eating!

When we arrived we were given drinks and a selection of local fruits to try. Then it was time to cook! Our first dish was banana spring rolls, which were very quick and simple to make and were served with chocolate sauce and sweet condensed milk. We tucked into these for breakfast.

We then cooked a range of salads, stir frys, soups and currys before finishing the day with sticky rice and mango. Oun loves spicy food and encouraged us to be brave with our chilli addition, telling us ‘more chilli, more sexy’. Apparently he has a thing for red, sweaty people! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much food but it was the most brilliant day and we were lucky to have a hilarious and entertaining teacher.