We started the day with our customary Luang Prabang breakfast; JoMa’s cinnamon and raisin bagel with jam, followed by oats, fruit and yoghurt. Our pick up was at 11.10am and off we went to the airport. The whole process was very smooth indeed and by 2.30pm we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Bliss.

A taxi took us from the airport to Julie’s guesthouse in the south-east area of the old town in Chiang Mai. They had a few rooms available and saving cash we opted for a triple for the night at 270 baht between the 3 of us. We spent that day sorting out things for the next few days of our trip with the most important on the list being a good cooking class. Helen has done the class in one of the many schools before and so we wanted to do one that was a little different. We booked a full day class for the 3rd with the Thai Farm Cooking School, costing us 1900 baht each, a little more pricey than some but with the experience of cooking at the farm and getting away from the city for the day. Other things we looked into were possible elephant sanctuary’s and buses to Pai. There are so many tours to choose from half the time it’s just a case of getting the price you want to pay for a tour that looks good value. The food choices in Chiang Mai are very good with a wide range of thai and international restaurants to choose from. We opted for a local cafe style restaurant for some long awaited authentic Pad Thai and Papaya salad.

We booked minivan tickets from Julie’s for 180 baht each to take us on the morning of the 4th so we had a few days to play in Chiang Mai before the next part of our adventures. We took in more temples, this time in Thai style design, and recognised some elements that have been taken into some of the temples we saw in Laos. We picked up a Thailand Lonely Planet second hand and paid more than we should have, only to realise this later on and we found a few useful camera accessory items from Paantip Plaza near to where the Night Bazaare starts from the east side. We explored the busy night bazaare and bargained for a fake north-face rucksack, hoping that it lasts! We asked at Julie’s about swapping to single rooms but they were very vague and we couldn’t help but think they had rooms available but were waiting for people booking treks and tours with them to use up the room allocation. This happens a lot in Chiang Mai.

The cooking class took place on the 3rd and we were picked up from Julie’s as part of the package. Our tour guide Tommy talked us through the day and explained that he would also be our chef for the day too. He was a real charmer with the ladies and had a good sense of humour to go with it. We started the tour by going to one of the markets a little out of town, we were really surprised by the organisation and cleanliness of the market. Tommy talked us through traditional Thai foods used on a regular basis, rice, sticky rice, fish sauce, coconut, curry pastes and so on. We then explored the market ourselves for a short while before continuing onto the farm. A couple on the tour bought some deep friend insects and frogs and managed to pass them around on the bus causing intrigue and disgust.

The farm is really nicely located around 45 minutes from Chiang Mai, we were introduced to the vegetable gardens and talked through the various herbs, fruits and vegetables growing there. Our first task was to make curry paste for our curry of choice, Dave chose green curry and Helen yellow curry. We bashed away with a mortar and pestle for around 10 minutes until all ingredients were nicely combined into a paste, some of which were chillies; fresh and dried, kaffir lime, galangal and garlic (many more went into each one!!) turmeric being the one that makes the yellow curry go yellow!

Once the pastes were made we went into the kitchen and started on the mains. We all chose from a selection of 3 different dishes per course and so have 5 in total to cook. We chose different options on purpose so we could try different things. The mains being green and yellow curry, a soup either traditional Thai or Tom Yum, a stir-fired dish, papaya salad, a noodle dish and a dessert. By the end of the day we had cooked and eaten most of our food including the dessert and we had pad thai and noodle dishes ready to take away and eat later on. It was a good course and we’d recommend this school to anyone looking for a cookery get away.

We enjoyed Thai massages that evening along with a few people who had joined us on the course. This is something you must do when you come to Thailand; have a Thai massage. Helen opted for an oil body massage which was very good indeed, and Dave enjoyed a more hardy traditional Thai one, both costing in total 400 baht. Not bad! We went to a salon called Panna which is located near to the eastern gate and we liked the idea of doing a one day massage course and looked into this for when we would be back from Pai.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We woke up to another morning of blue skies and broad sunlight, funny that it all comes as you’re about to leave! We had the Hostel 64 breakfast which consisted of orange juice, some home-made bread, jam and coffee (for Helen) although it was okay it didn’t live up to some of the breakfasts we’ve been eating here in Japan.

We didn’t want to give ourselves too much to do today as the following morning we planned on making an early start with a train connection to Tianjin where we would leave on our slow boat to China. So with that in mind we picked up a usefully alternative guide to Osaka called the Osaka Field Trip, listing art and music venues along with cafe’s and various sights across the city. Had we been able to spend more time here this would have come in very handy indeed, but for one day we managed to pick out a few places of interest and started off with a local nearby park. The park was surrounded by tower blocks and busy roads but managed to carry a peaceful harmony, with many people taking a break on park benches, girls catching up with gossip and dog walkers taking some time out of work. The dog portraits certainly kept us entertained! We love to idle through these kind of spaces, with the flower gardens drawing in people from all around the local area, it’s great for a photo-opportunities. From here we set out towards the main river passing through Osaka and in search of somewhere to grab a cup of tea. We found an artsy complex next to the Museum of Art called Graf, although it was a cool place and the environment was really welcoming we didn’t particularly enjoy the sting of the cost of a cup of tea at around £7, it wasn’t your average cup of tea but we are supposed to be on some kind of budget here!!

So after this we set off in search of another cafe recommended in the guide called Coco, this one situated on the 2nd floor of a building block overlooked the park we had spent the morning in and had views of treetops, buildings and a crossing; somewhere you can watch the world and sky go by. Here Dave had a fabulous burger made freshly with pork mince, a Japanese style sauce and a fried egg on top, it looked pretty immense. For Helen though there were no veggie or fish options so she stuck to a milkshake and a piece of cake. Still it was a lovely little place, very quirky and attracted a pleasant bunch of customers.

From Coco we set off in the direction of Osaka castle via some the downtown shopping district Shinsaibashi. Here Helen found a Freshness Burger company, something we had enjoyed very much in Harajuku Tokyo, earlier in the month, so a veggie burger it was and then a walk into the mass of signs and shoppers. Already Christmas stands are setting up selling trees and decorations. Place all this in a centre with signs promoting beauty, food, clothes, DIY, supermarkets, sweets, bakeries and shoes it was a pretty intense place after our quiet experience of the park, but another side worth seeing if you make it to Osaka. It’s very different from walking around the tower block streets.

After purchasing some flip-flop socks for a bargain of £3 (perhaps the cheapest thing we have found whilst in Japan) we started the walk towards the castle. The route took us down backstreets with a mix of department stores, coffee shops, apartment blocks, older factory outlets, bridges, murals and busy traffic. We eventually found ourselves at the castle park situated in the centre of concrete and skyscrapers. It is very much separated off from all of this via a moat and does have land surrounding the grounds of the castle so you do manage to escape the busy streets. We didn’t go into the castle, instead deciding to photograph from the outside it’s bold structure and the people it attracted. We sat with an ice-cream in the sun, photographed and again watched the passers by.

We found a metro route back and got the first connection to our nearest tube stop. When we got back we loaded up another blog post, double checked our itinerary for the next day and decided we would try to find this Korean restaurant now we had got our bearings for the area. We managed to find the place around a 5 minute walk from Hostel 64, it was pretty small and cosy with only a few other customers in their having a post work feast. We still decided to give it a go as we had spent so long trying to find it the night before, the menu was all in Japanese with pictures but you couldn’t really make out what the meat was. He described a few things to us by making actions and sounds of a cow and pointing to his stomach, alarm bells should have been ringing by this point but we found some tofu and Dave went for a meaty looking dish. The beer was cheap and the company was good so it kind of shadowed the fact that Dave’s dish did in fact contain cow’s stomach or tripe as we call it back home. It was petty tough and chewy and he managed about 5 pieces before giving the rest a miss! Helen’s was a tofu dish with bacon on top, so off came the bacon and she managed to get through the rest. We did however have a great pancake dish with vegetables and squid and the owner brought out a few drinks on the house. It was definitely a food experience not worth repeating but all part of the fun that we’ve had in trying different foods whilst in Japan.

On our way home and a little giddy on booze we got our boat money out of an ATM at a nearby 7/11 store, some cheeky pudding and then went back to get ready for an early start the next day. What a time we’ve had in Japan. It’s been tough on a budget but it really has been an experience worth while with the variety of what we have seen, experienced, eaten and photographed.

We’re a little excited and nervous about the two day boat journey to Tianjin but there is a sense of adventure as we embark on the next stage of our trip to China.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)