Love them or loath them nearly every backpacker you meet will have one, yes its the Guide Book. It can be argued that your not too much of an intrepid traveller if you have a lonely planet or rough guide in your backpack but do we really have the time to spend 3 hours at every destination checking out and looking at every single inn in the town or starving because you cannot find a decent restaurant. Generally I do just use them as a source for accommodation and thats it but my lonely planet on a shoestring came up trumps the other tday when I arrived in Krabi Town. I had rang earlier and secured the last room, when I arrived I found a lovely comfortable guesthouse minutes walk from the night market, a big double room and a great restaurant downstairs , all for only 250 baht or about $11 so still pretty affordable, called CHAN CHA LAY.
Krabi day 2 and I had booked a cookery course at a nearby school. It was great to get back in the kitchen after such a long time. My teacher Mrs. Ya has had the school for about 10 years and I cooked about 12 dishes during the day learning all of the basics of Thai cooking in between and a few of Mrs. Yas tips. Her motto is bang bang for flavour and chop, chop, so that was mostly my instructions during the day. It totally changed my idea of Thai food and I look forward to eating more while I am here. It was good to hear that I had not lost my touch as she was raving about my masam curry all day long. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed my foray into Thai cuisine. The local brekkie is also great it is a noodle broth with veggies and either pork or chicken, really filling but light and tasty. Really looking forward to the rest of my Thailand visit!
