Thailand

Yeah gidday.

Now that I’m back in Australia, I feel justified in using that horrifically clichéd greeting. I hope you enjoyed it.

So when I last left you, I was a few hours away from boarding a plane from London back to South East Asia. I absolutely loved virtually everything about my seven weeks there, but the two things I didn’t love – the prices and the rapidly approaching winter – were what ultimately had me taking that flight to Kuala Lumpur. As there seems to currently be at least a foot of snow in most of Western Europe, I don’t think it was such a bad call.

Make yourself comfortable, here’s the highlights of the final six weeks of this round the world adventure.

About a month ago a large team of intrepid explorers set out from Chiang Mai on horseback for parts unknown, armed only with hand-written directions and a broken compass for guidance. Oh who am I kidding? We were actually in a minivan, with a road map and GPS. Which makes it even more embarrassing that we somehow managed to end up well off the main road in the middle of nowhere and rather lost while searching for … something. I’m not sure what it was, come to think of it. Perhaps a waterfall. Or a temple. Or half a dozen leprechauns. I don’t know. Something, anyway.

What we found instead however was this gorgeous view out over the fields, towards the hazy hills in the distance.

Pretty decent compromise, if you ask me.

A bit of a random one this week (hey, it’s my prerogative, right?).

This photo was taken beside the big Buddha shortly after nightfall at the Golden Triangle – the point where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma intersect. At first glance it probably looks like the fevered scrawling of a two year old armed with a crayon and a blank wall, but it’s actually just some well-lit bugs. Hundreds upon hundreds of well-lit bugs, in fact, hovering around the single lightbulb illuminating the stall of the last remaining hopeful street vendor.

When a large group of us hired a van and headed to Chiang Rai for the weekend recently, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Saturday night market, but it turned out to be really good fun. The deep fried crickets were surprisingly tasty, and the huge group of locals line-dancing to cheesy Thai pop was great to watch.

The highlight of the night, however? This spit roasted specimen wearing a cap and sunglasses. Now that’s one funky sheep.

Those who know me well are very aware of my skills as a chef. These skills could be kindly described as ‘functional’, and more accurately described as ‘occasionally one step above food poisoning’. There’s a very good reason why I used to live less than 100m from a street full of restaurants and cafes in Melbourne, and it certainly wasn’t because I worked in one of them.

Despite this lack of ability, however, I was determined to have a go at learning how to cook, Thai style. After more than a month in this beautiful country the one thing I loved more than the beaches, mountains and people was the incredible food. Having never ventured far beyond the traditional options of green curry and spring rolls while living in the West, the diversity and flavour of the food in Thailand was an absolute revelation. I couldn’t get enough of it, and decided that I needed to be able to recreate the joy of every mealtime after I left the country. It was time for my first ever cooking class.