WildlifeAndWandering: Tuesday 14th Feb. ❤

It was a sleepless night, with neighbourhood roosters eagerly competing for first call at 3:00am and continuing until it was actually dawn! We ate breakfast at the hotel, which was much better than expected, considering the low price of the room. Afterwards, setting off up the lane to find a nearby laundry service, we dropped off a couple of bags to collect later.

Phousi Hill

We headed over to Phousi Hill and climbed the steps to the top for an overview of the city - it was around 9:30am when we were at the summit and it promised to be another very hot day.

Bee had been studying English for 3 months

We descended on the opposite side towards the Nam Kham river and walked along the elevated sidewalk that followed the shore, signing up for a cooking class that evening at Tamnak Lao along the way. Picking up some refreshments, we headed down to the pebbly beach where the smaller Nam Kham joins the Mekong River and we watched the long boats go by.

Bamboo bridge

Wandering back along the Mekong, we discovered the sister hotel to where we had stayed the first night; The Sayo River Guest House and liked it's location better. After viewing a room, we booked it for the next two nights and went to fetch our bags.

After settling in, we walked up through Wat Phra Chao Pet Sok, had lunch at the Garden Restaurant then through the grounds of the Haw Pha Bang and Royal Palace grounds. It was time to freshen up and head to our cooking class.

Tom Chaeow Pha
(fish with smokey eggplant)

Panaeng Gai
(tofu in coconut sauce with chilli paste)

There were five of us; Andre and Thierese from Quebec and Veronique from France. The two chefs Lee and Yang showed us the four dishes we could make that night and explained the ingredients as they prepared the meals. We tasted each of the dishes and chose the one that we wanted to try. It was a fun class and a crash course in refreshing our ability to converse in French with our classmates!