Eating like Ganesh

I had a very pleaseant and fattening birthday, featuring bagels, kebabs on lemongrass skewers, gin, thai fish cakes, red curry and terminating in a final course of heavy steamed banana pudding before a nightcap. When we recovered from this the next day we decided to head out to an elephant sanctuary to see how much weight mammals can put on. Not only did we get a chance to feel elephants close up and have their brissley trunks snort smelly breath in our faces while snatching bananas from other tourists, we got to see them do some strange excercises, including a elephant penalty shoot out, and painting. Lou and I weren't sure of the morailty of getting elephants to play football for tourists, or buting painting by them for 2000Baht. However we were very convinced by the complete medical advice on offer for caring for sick elephants, exactly which antibiotics to give them for most conditions and how big the IV needle needed to be. Mother would have been impressed by the artificial insemination and midwifery advice too. I had forgotten that elephants can extend their pregnancy from 12 upto 18 months if they want to pick an auspicious birthday.

Yesterday we moved our knowledge of Thai food from passive to active by going to a thai cookery school. This included learning some new vegtables and rices that we didn't know about at the market, then heading out to a cookery class for the practical. We each cooked 4 dishes: a soup, a curry, a stir fry and a noodle based dish. Pyrotechnic pictures attached, Lou doesn't appear to be enjoying the moment though.

If the weather reported in the South of Thailand wasn't enough to convince to stay in Chiang Mai, then this frieze from the Rig Veda (I think) in Chiang Mai's oldest Wat reminded me of the dangers of Thai seas in storms. It even looks like the Gods don't really give a toss about the drowning passengers. So we'll have to explore the mountains a bit and hope the weather improves before we visit the South, or put a lot more money in the collection at the Wat.