Submitted by Rachel Calkins on the 2018 winter session program in Australia and Thailand sponsored by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics…
For the second part of our time here in Thailand, we have stayed in the city of Chiang Mai. It is a smaller and more relaxing city compared to Bangkok where we had been before. While in Chiang Mai, we attended Thai Farm Cooking School. Following the step by step directions from our instructor, we each made our individual portions of soup, pad tai, red curry chicken, and chicken stir fry. The various ingredients came right from the farm where we cooked. Thai cuisine tends to taste fairly spicy, but we were able to add varying degrees of spice based on preference. For dessert, we made a delicious treat of warmed coconut milk, banana and sugar. The cooking lessons were definitely a highlight of Chiang Mai.
The following day was just as eventful as we made our way to the Baan Chang Elephant Park. We fed the elephants big sugar cane sticks and bunches of bananas. Oh, they can eat! We then learned different commands for riding the elephants such as how to tell the elephant to turn and stop walking. After we had that background knowledge, we got into pairs and were able to ride the elephants around the park. It was a little bit scary at first, but by the end, my elephant and I were great friends! My elephant was twenty years old. They may be giant, but elephants are very friendly animals. It was quite the experience!
