Woke up early, looked around the rather grungy hotel room and decided it was time to get out. Chiang Mai is pretty quiet at 7am on a Saturday. Wandered around the side streets, looking at all the closed storefronts wondering what to do and would I have to resort to Starbucks... But luckily found Ratana's kitchen, a small cafe on Tha Pae Road, just as the sky turned dark and it started to rain.. I was the only customer and enjoyed fruit and yogurt, the free wifi, and almost two hours watching the rain and hanging out with the owner as I was the only customer. So for that bit of morning kindness I recommend it to everyone.

Then had a bit of a mad dash to the 7eleven (good thing they are ubiquitous here) for an overpriced umbrella and then a puddle-hopping walk to the BaanThai Cookery School for a 5 hour course. It was so much fun.

Located in a charming old house in the old city on a small side street, the program began with an introduction on rice, and instructions on how to make sticky rice, which I will fully adopt when I get home. It's super easy. Many of the instructors are students at Chiang Mai university, which I think is a great job to practice one's English.

We were set up in an open-air room with a larger dining table, food prep area and line of gas stove tops. We had the opportunity to select from 3 options of each of the 5 courses we wanted to cook; a curry, stir fry, soup, appetizer and dessert. The results were collated and the staff set up the shopping list and we walked to the Sompet market for our wears with little wicker baskets. That area of town was full of cooking schools, probably based on its proximity to the market. And at 10am, Sompet is filled with tourists carrying wicker baskets and snapping nonstop photos. I embraced the tourist within.

Shopping done, it was time to return and get cooking. It was a bit like "cooking by numbers" with all ingredients pre-portioned and set out for us to use. Depending on your menu selection, you were directed to a different kitchen which allowed mingling between groups. We donned our BaanThai embroidered aprons and kerchiefs and got to work. Once the food was done, we turned to our home base communal table and shared in the feast. My new culinary repertoire: Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Green Curry with Chicken, Tom Yum Soup with Prawn, and Fried Bananas!