Thai Cooking at the Thai Cooking School

While in Chiang Mai, we signed up for a Thai cooking class. Our instructor was awesome and first took us through a local market and around their farm to explain a lot of the common ingredients used in Thai cooking.

Then we got to cooking. Before the class started, we each chose from a menu which dishes we wanted to learn to make, and as we went, they had all of our ingredients ready based on what we picked. Maeli and Milo cooked 100% on their own, and Cooley and Camp teamed up with Ryan and me.

We made a ton of dishes - various curries, pad thai, tom yum hot and sour soup, tom kha coconut milk soup, spring rolls, mango sticky rice…everything was so good! It was fun to see how much more adventurous the kids became with Thai food after the class. 

Afterward, the kids asked for a chill afternoon at the Airbnb, so we spent the rest of the day swimming, playing pool, and the boys caught fish and random creatures in the backyard. 

We finished the day at the Carp Cafe, where all the booths were set in the water and surrounded by carp. For just a couple of dollars, we bought food to feed the fish while we ate our meal.

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Funny story…on our way to the cafe, we were in a Grab (basically like Uber) and the driver randomly jumped in the back with us for a minute, pointing at some letters and numbers on the ceiling saying, “sing.” We had no idea what he meant - he just kept pointing and repeating “sing.” 

Eventually he gave up on us and went back to the front seat. Still trying to figure it out, Ryan started singing, thinking maybe that’s what the guy wanted…we were dying laughing.

A minute later it finally clicked - he was pointing to the name of his Bluetooth speakers so we could connect and play our own music. 😂 Easily the best entertainment of the night!

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Chai Lai Orchid

One of the things we were most excited about for this trip was experiencing elephants, so we booked a stay at Chai Lai Orchid Elephant Sanctuary - and it ended up being such a highlight.

After arriving, we dropped our bags and headed out for the day. We hiked out to where some of the elephants live and got to meet them for the first time… including an 11-day-old baby. Our guide taught us how to make medicine balls, we fed them, and then got to bathe them in the river. Afterward, we helped prepare lunch, cooled off at a waterfall, and eventually made our way to our bungalows overlooking the most incredible rice terraces.

The evening at Chai Lai Orchid felt like something out of a dream - fresh fruit smoothies on the balcony, the kids feeding elephants and playing with all the dogs roaming the property. They basically adopted them and named every single one. And because they gave them so much attention, most of the dogs camped out on our balcony the entire time we were there.

We finished the night with a Thai dinner just as it started pouring rain. We had originally planned to split up into two bungalows, but ended up all piling into ours to watch an episode of Stranger Things. We ran through the rain to our room, everyone got showered, and we all cuddled up in bed. It was pitch black out there, far from any city lights, and before we knew it, everyone had fallen asleep with the rain pouring outside.

Not exactly what we planned, but honestly… one of those magical nights we’ll never forget.

The next morning, we woke up to an elephant right at our balcony 🐘

The sanctuary brought us fresh fruit for breakfast and sugarcane to feed her, so we got to sit there, take it all in, and just enjoy the moment. After a slow morning at the bungalow, we headed out for some bamboo rafting down the river and then visited a Karen village, where we learned about their customs and traditions.

Such a fun way to wrap up our time at the sanctuary before heading back to Chiang Mai.

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