• Chiang Mai

    August 31, 2015 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    We breakfasted on a small loaf of banana bread, brought at last night's market, as we wanted to save our appetite for the Thai cooking course we had booked onto. The course involved us making and eating 5 dishes so we wanted to make sure we had room to eat it all!

    We met our charismatic teacher, Mam, at one of the city's food markets. Walking along the stalls of fresh produce, Mam explained and helped us purchase some of the ingredients we would need to cook with. At Mam's home we cooked our chosen meals outdoors before eating inside, sat around a low teak dining table on triangular Thai seating cushions.

    We cooked Som Tam Salad, Pad Thai and Tom Yum Soup before Kim cooked Green Curry and Alex, Massamam Curry, both using pastes we ground fresh in pestles and mortars. For dessert Kim had mango and sticky rice whilst Alex had banana in coconut milk. It was a brilliant experience and the food tasted great. With the recipe book provided by Mam we hope to cook some of the meals we've learnt once home.

    In the evening we walked back to where the previous night's market had been. On the corner, by the crumbling walls of the old city gate, we passed down a narrow alleyway to enter the city's Muay Thai boxing stadium. The perimeter lined with bars lit with neon lights and decorated in international flags and sports memorabilia. Similarly to the ladyboy cabaret, we were there to experience an event that is synonymous with Thai culture.

    Sat on seats slotted between the ring side and a bar, we watched with locals and tourists, a succession of fights between adolescents, women and finally men. The smells of tiger balm and alcoholic spirits filled the air whilst the referee barked out orders above the dull slap of glove and foot on skin. The speed and agility were furious under the halo of the ring lights, several fighters being knocked down and helped out of the ring before the final round. Both fighters applauded for their efforts.

    Yet it was with the final fight between two men, a Thai and Canadian, where the atmosphere became truly gladiatorial. The crowd was in rapture as the fighters stepped out, the locals clearly backing their own. The ferocity quickly intensified inside the ring, with water and sweat spraying down onto ring-side spectators as the fighters crashed against the ropes, locked in battle. The Canadian sustained a cut to his forehead, his pale skin cast ghoulish against the stark ring lights as blood mixed with sweat. As if sensing an end, the Thai charged forward and the crowd's roar with him but it was the Canadian who rebounded, grinning manically through his gum shield as he pressed his opponent. In the 4th round the Canadian's glove found an unprotected edge and knocked the Thai down to win the contest. The stadium emptied almost as quickly as the ring, with us and others taking 'tuk tuks' back to our beds.
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