John and Alicia: Day 2

This was a very long, but fun day. We began our tour by first stopping by a local food market to see the various foods sold at very cheap prices. Can't say we were very hungry after seeing dead frogs, pigs heads, bugs, or dried fish in the market. But, it was a great way to learn about all the types of foods sold. After the market there were a few stops along the way before we were able to cook our own Thai meals.

Rice Field-
We stopped at a rice field along the road since none of us knew how rice was grown or harvested. Plus, Thailand is the number one exporter in the world rice market. Here are some pictures...

The rice is found on the husk of the plant.

Coconut Farm

Next we when to a cocunut farm to learn about the many uses of a cocunut tree. The farmers sell whole coconuts, milk from the coconuts, sap from the flower and sugar made from the sap. The cocunut milk is used in many dishes here in Thailand. The hard sugar from the sap is used some soups as well as deserts. The the bamboo pole you see leaning against the tree is the ladder the farmer uses to climb up to gather coconuts. The round, tin pales below are hung in the trees to collect the sap.

The sap is boiled and left to cool to make the coconut sugar.

Thai Cooking

After visiting a local floating market we headed over to a small Thai house where we prepared 4 Thai dishes; pad Thai, tom yum gong (soup with prawns), morning glories and green currie chicken. These were all delicious but I had a brief moment of panic and impatience when I realized I had about 15 mosquito bites.

Video of Jodie Cooking...

Orchid Farm

Before heading back into the city we made one more stop at an orchid farm to see how this beautiful flower is grown. Thailand has more than 350 types of orchids and is the number exporter of this flower. 40 small seeds are placed in old Johnny Walker Whiskey bottles and after 2 years plucked out one by one and placed in a coconut shell filled with soil.