Scavenger hunt and cooking class

Today's activities included a morning scavenger hunt in the vicinity of the hotel whereby the students had to find things and photograph them, and to interact with Thai people using their Thai language skills.  We separated the students into 5 groups of three.  While they were out, I tried to find them and take some candid photos of their adventure.   We then had a fried rice lunch at an open air restaurant, and then went to a cooking class downtown.  

Here is the scavenger hunt team of Shanon, Jessica, and Adam talking to a street vendor.

Landon, Raechel and Lexie finding some orchids for 20 baht (65 cents) on the street.  Landon is checking to see if it's on the scavenger hunt list.

Dom, Jordan and Shae found some unusual oriental vegetable on the list.

Natalie, Manoj, and Maria talking with a Thai woman.  Our students are remarkably eager to try using the Thai language skills that they learned in the fall class.  The Thai people are really happy and very willing to talk with farangs (white westerners) when we try to speak their language.

Mikayla, Macy, and Zach at the end of the scavenger hunt.  They thought they did pretty well.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant.  To make things easy, we had the students order khao pad (fried rice), and they could add their choice of protein to the dish (shrimp, chicken, pork, or squid).  Here are Raechel, Shanon, Macy, and Landon finishing off their meal.

After lunch, we took the sky train to the Chong Nonsi station to the Silom Thai Cooking School.  It took us one hour to get from the hotel to the rendezvous point where we met the chefs.

On the skytrain in this picture are Shanon, Raechel, Mikayla, and Jordan.

The market was huge, but we were in one small section with important vegetables for Thai cooking.  Here, Chef Geeky explained the types of ginger and other veggies that we would use today.

The cooking lessons were really fun and entertaining, as well as informative.  Shanon and Zach are enjoying the instruction here.

Mikayla and Landon are pressing shredded coconut meat to squeeze out the milk for our red curry dish.

Chef Geeky is explaining aspects of Thai cuisine to Natalie, Macy, Raechel, Shae, and others.

Group photo #1.

Group photo #2.

Manoj, Adam, Mikayla, and Landon reacting to something Chef Oat said. These two chefs entertain as well as they cook and teach.

Raechel, Macy and Shae cooking their dishes.

Natalie and Lexie are rightfully proud of their delicious bowls of tom yum soup (made from scratch!).

Raechel, Macy, Shae, and Jessica listening to Chef Geeky in class as they prepare their next dish.  We learned how to prepare 5 Thai dishes today.

Mor Mark caught me taking a picture while he cooked his curry dish.

The last dish of the day was a lovely red curry chicken.  Shanon is proud of her dish.

A man has to be confident in his masculinity to wear a hat and apron like this, but Mor Mark pulls it off with ease. 

Maria as she finishes cooking her red curry chicken.

And the best is saved for last…   This is my favorite desert of anywhere I've been:  Mango and sticky rice.  O Mmmmmmmmm G.

Snakes!

After visiting temples in the morning, we went to the Thai Red Cross Snake Farm, where the antivenom used throughout Southeast Asia is produced.

We arrived later than we planned; thus, most of us had to stand in the back.  

However, Mikayla, Natalie, and Jordan moved closer to the front on the other side of the facility, so they had good close views.

The first snake they brought out was a medium-sized king cobra.  This snake can reach a length of more than 5 1/2 meters (18 1/2 feet).

King cobra head.

This is a banded krait, one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

After the demonstration show ended, everyone had the opportunity to hold a Burmese python.  Here is Jordan.

Mor Mark enjoyed this a little too much.

Mikayla.

Macy.

Lexie.

Zach.

Dom.

Natalie.

Landon above; Manoj and Adam below.

Here's the group holding the 12 ft. Burmese python.

Grand Palace and Wat Po

Today's activities were designed to get us out and experience Thai culture and get our bodies moving again after 30+ hours of plane flights.  We took the skytrain to the Chao Praya River, transferred to a river taxi, then walked a block to the Grand Palace.  After the Grand Palace, we walked 15 minutes to Wat Po, the temple with the enormous reclining Buddha.  Following the temples, we retraced our steps with the river taxi and skytrain back to the Sala Daeng station and walked to the Thai Red Cross snake farm.  The latter will be in a separate blog posting.

Riding the skytrain to the river are Mikayla, Mor Mark, Manoj  behind Lexie, Adam behind the bars, Maria, Jordan, Zach, Natalie, Shae, and Dom.

The river taxis were quite full so most of us had to stand while we cruised north to Pier 9, where we got out close to the Grand Palace.  Here are Mikayla, Shanon, Zach, and Landon.

To enter the Grand Palace, you have to be dressed conservatively and respectfully.  Thus, no shorts or tank tops.  Here you see most of our students either putting skirts over their shorts or zipping on the legs to their zip-off shorts.  The weather is approximately perfect with the temperature in the low- to mid-80's.

Here's a photo op that we always take advantage of in front of the Grand Palace.  Front row (L-R) Raechel, Natalie, Shae, Adam, Manoj, Landon, Zach, Jessica; back row Mor Mark, Mikayla, Jordan, Macy, Lexie, Maria, Dom, Shanon .

Shanon and Raechel in the Grand Palace with Landon in the background.  The Grand Palace was built in the late 1700s when the king moved his residence here from the site of Wat Arun on the other side of the river.  The king and government were housed here until 1925 and now it is the crown jewel of Thai tourism.  It was really crowded here today.

Macy, Zach, Shanon, Jordan and Mikayla in the Grand Palace grounds.

Zach, Adam, Manoj, and Landon strike the pose of the demons behind them.

In front of the building that houses the Emerald Buddha, Buddhist holy water is available  to sprinkle on your head with a lotus flower.

The Emerald Buddha is the most sacred Buddha image in Thailand and was carved from a single jade stone.  It is thought to have been created in India in 43 BC.   Only the King may touch the Emerald Buddha and he changes its seasonal cloak 3 times/year.  No photographs are allowed in the hall with the Emerald Buddha, so you have to take photos of it through the window in the front.

Wat Po is a famous temple that houses a spectacular 141 ft long reclining Buddha. Macy and Mikayla are in front, with Shanon, Adam, Manoj, Zach, and Landon behind them.

108 bronze bowls representing the "108 auspicious characters of Buddha" are in the corridor next to the reclining Buddha and people drop coins in the bowls to bring good fortune.  Here is Lexie dropping coins in the bowls.  It worked… the rest of her day was fantastic.

Maria and Mikayla on the bow of the river taxi on the ride back to the skytrain and the Red Cross Snake Farm.