Day of Discovery....

Ahhhhh a sleep in, finally we did not wake up until about 9am. We have no plans today so when the rain cleared we headed off for brunch. I really felt like rice so set off for the Sompet Market for some local deliciousness. We ran into our friend Alila who has booked us in for cooking classes tomorrow and ate at her friends restaurant. She told me that an omelete with rice would be good for me as I should be trying to eat less meat and not much oil because my kidneys can not take it, she checked that for me when she visited while I was having my massage so that is what I ordered, Alvo ordered the chicken with basil and steamed rice recommended by Alila. Both dishes were delicious and really hit the spot. We headed back to a little alternative cafe called The Tea Tree Cafe that we found before we ate and sat down on little floor cushions to enjoy the best chai tea we have ever tasted. Alvo tried the mocha chai which has choc chips melted into it and my masala chai was even made on soy milk. There are lots of flyers about yoga and meditation up on the notice board and the energy there is great. She holds a movie night on Monday nights so we decided to go tonight for something different. More about that later. While enjoying chai Mum came online on facebook....finally we get to chat, so cool. We gave skype a go and it worked better than it does in Oz so decided that we would make a skype date for the future, can't wait. Time to head back to the hotel for our usual afternoon rest and a downloaded episode of Wonderland, it wasn't bad so we will download all the episodes shown so far and watch it when we have some down time. After yet another downpour we set off to have something to eat before our movie date. We decided to find out if the laneway we are staying in is a dead end or not so headed in the opposite direction to normal. Not only is it not a dead end it is a gold mine of little local restaurants and bars, we couldn't believe that we hadn't found it earlier. We came across a small out of the way place that cooks Isan food, said to be some of the spiciest in Thailand. Here goes nothing, we ordered the salad which is pork, onion and cabbage cooked in some type of spicy sauce, so good. We got chatting to the owner and she told me that if we stay for a long time maybe she could teach me about cooking Isan food, man I love this place. While walking Alvo decided to try the freshly cooked Rotee with banana and coconut drizzled with condensed milk and thought it was delicious then we decided to stop in at our 2 for 1 wine bar for a cheeky wine before the movie. The movie was called Peaceful Warrior and the girls that own the cafe had what seemed like an endless supply of popcorn which is included in the price of 100 Baht each ($3.50).....talk about a cheap night at the movies. The cafe had a really cool bathroom too and quotes on the walls, one reminded me of Mum it says "Other's opinions of you is none of your business" and Alvo liked on in the bathroom that says "The primary cause of happiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking".......food for thought. With the movie done and dusted and a new favourite place discovered we head back to the hotel for the night but I can't go past the smell and sight of street food cooking so stopped to order some roast rice noodles with tofu, it was delicious. This place is so different by night and we will be returning for happy hour 60 Baht ($2) cocktails served from one of those cool bars that you see on tv being pedaled down the road. Now it is time to wander off to dreamland and wake up refreshed for a big day of cooking tomorrow.....so excited. Tanya xxx.