Our October Special: “Spicy Thai Pumpkin Curry”

We have been having a bunch of fun celebrating the month of October, teaching or full day classes our special “Spicy Thai Pumpkin Curry” then taking them to one of the most unique Buddhist Temples in the world. The life like statues at this Temple depict the consequences of your earthly sins. Very Creepy!

 

At Thai Secret Cooking School: we do everything we can to make your visit with us, a highlight of your trip.  

Happy Halloween

We Have Snack Time All Day

One of the benefits of owning a Thai cooking school and farm: is direct access to fresh ingredients, a large professional kitchen with plenty of space to work, and constant flow of eager students who love to cook.

Today’s 1:30 snack “Thai Beef Salad”  

Train to Chiang Mai will be suspended for 45 days

Service on the northern train line to Chiang Mai will be suspended for 45 days starting from Monday, as the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) carries out badly needed repairs after a dozen accidents this year.
www.Chiang-Mai-Cooking-School.com

Staff members attend a ceremony on Saturday to mark the 117th anniversary of the State Railway of Thailand. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpatarasill)

All northbound trains from Bangkok will end at Sila At station in Muang district of Uttaradit from Monday until Oct 31, the SRT said.

The closure affects all rapid and express trains to and from the popular northern city. Travellers will have to take buses or other transport to Chiang Mai.

Regular service will resume on Nov 1 and by then SRT governor Prapat Chongsanguan has promised no more derailments.

The SRT is providing free bus service on Transport Co vehicles to Chiang Mai from Sila At only for passengers who reserved their tickets before Sept 6, the day that the railway agency announced the closure. That same day it stopped selling tickets to other stations beyond Sila At, an SRT Call Centre official explained on Saturday.

Passengers can contact the SRT at 1690 for more details.

The service suspension comes after 13 accidents on the northern tracks this year. The last one was on Sept 5 when an express train to Bangkok from Chiang Mai jumped the tracks in Long district of Phrae province.

All accidents on the northern tracks occurred on the section between Uttaradit and Lamphun, and have been attributed to the mountainous terrain, and old tracks and sleepers which need urgent maintenance.

An express train to Chiang Mai jumped off the tracks in Denchai district of Phrae on Aug 3 in one of the 13 accidents on the northern line this year. (Photo by Thaweesak Sukkhasem)

The government has set aside a budget of 2.8 billion baht to fix the tracks and sleepers on the 300-kilometre stretch between Uttaradit and Chiang Mai.

The SRT originally planned to make repairs step by step while continuing to provide service in order to not cause trouble for passengers on northern trains. But the number of accidents this year forced it to shut down the entire service at length.

The financially ailing state rail operator has been battered by accidents this year, the latest one on Friday when the express train from Butterworth, Malaysia, derailed shortly after leaving Bang Sue junction in Bangkok for Sam Saen station.

An SRT report shows 114 train derailments - some major but many minor incidents that escaped media attention - took place from January to last Friday. The figure is up sharply from last year when only 89 accidents were reported over the 12-month period.

Railway officials led by Transport Minister Chadchart Suttipunt and the SRT governor attended a merit-making ceremony at the head office near Hua Lamphong on Saturday as the SRT celebrated its 117th year. The event was also intended to boost sagging staff morale in the wake of the numerous accidents.

Mr Prapat admitted that train passengers' confidence had been plunging and blamed a budget shortage and old tracks on the problems. The lack of government attention partly caused the accidents, he said.

"Governments have placed a priority on road expansion and maintenance," he said. "Budgets requested by the railway agency have always been slashed because the decision makers on the budget didn't understand the problems of railway transport.

"The train is the safest mode of transport and that is possible only when it is regularly maintained."

He said on Friday that the agency was looking for an artist to restore a 48-year-old painting at the SRT headquarters amid rumours that the damaged artwork was a bad omen that had caused accidents.

The SRT was set up in the reign of King Rama V. Thai railways are among the oldest in Asia and development is going in a slow mode. The country has a train network of 4,043 kilometres, 93% of it single tracks. The rest are either the double or triple tracks.

Passenger traffic on the rail system has fallen by 40% since 1992 and freight traffic has dropped 30% since 2002, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank.

The SRT has 100 billion baht in accumulated losses and has not done maintenance on some parts of its network for 30 years. Its rolling stock is in equally poor repair and the subject of frequent complaints about cleanliness.

The government intends to overhaul the country's rail system at a cost of 1.12 trillion baht as part of its 2-trillion-baht infrastructure programme. As part of the upgrade, the SRT would be asked to set up a separate agency to run a new high-speed rail business.

The SRT employs about 10,000 people, down from 30,000 earlier. A lot of its accumulated debt stems from pension obligations.www.Chiang-Mai-Cooking-school.com

A new calf is born on our farm

We are looking forward to being with you as you grow

Deep Fried Banana ~ Gluey Thod

Out in on the rice farm

 

 

Thai Cooking And "Spirit Dance" The Soul of Lanna.

The Day Begins

at "Libra Guest House"

  Last week I went to Libra Guest house and mention about "The Spirit Dance" a celeabration near my home. Spirit is an important part of the Lanna people in the north of Thailand. People believe that spirit can brings fertility and peace to everyday life.

Our school is not only teaching Thai cooking but also an experience of culture and beliefs of the people of Lanna (Chiangmai, northern Thailand)

 I am very happy that many people joined me for this special day! because this only happens once in a year!

 Today was a very special day !! We started the day by picking everybody up from the Libra Guesthouses, and everybody had a chance to choose from our menu what would they like to cook.    

                                                                 

 

                                                                     

Then we went to the local market "Sam Yaek Market" time for Learning about Thai herb and fresh ingrdients.

 

                       

 

 After the local market, we walked to the local temple near our home

"Wat Muang khorn" where "The ceremony of mounting the gable-final"  took place and we got to see how the Buddhist celebrated.

 

 

 

Then

 

 

Walking to the house of ceremony where "Spirit Dance"

 

        










On the way to the house of ceremony
we walked by some mint green rice fileds.

                            

 

Here we are !!

Spirit” is an important part of Lanna / people from the north of Thailands, culture. People believe that spirit can brings fertility, and peace to everyday life. Living people usually request spirit’s power, especially from their own ancestors’ spirit - called “Pee Mod Pee Meng”, to help protect their family. Sometimes they also believe that spirit can even cure illness or make a weak person to get better. Once they receive help from spirit, Lanna people will hold a ceremony to return the favors called “Fon Pee” (Spirit Dance).

After the harvest period during March and April when people are free from farming, they will gather to hold a big ceremony, the Fon Pee. These events will be held for two days. The first day is called “Wan Kaw” (Announce day) which is the day that news will be spread among relatives in order to have them gather at one house to prepare for the ceremony, while the second day will be the real ceremony when there will be sacrifice dance and communication with spirits.

On the preparation day, relatives and neighbors will construct small pavilion, called “Pham”, made from dry coconut leaves, dry grass or banana leaves. Pham will be well decorated and many foods will be offered to spirits. On that day the oldest woman in the family, called “Kao Pee”, will worship ancestor spirits and invite them to Pham.



After that spirit will synchronize with living and the ceremony will begin. People who synchronize with spirit usually will not know what they did during that day, for older people the length of synchronization will be much longer than younger one. They will continue dancing all day until the ceremony end. Finally, all relatives will pull down Pham, clean the area and later have dinner together. “Fon Pee” or spirit dance is one of the very old traditions of Thai northern people, one of the most cherishes culture that Lanna people try to conserve and treasure it forever.

 

 

Picking fresh ingredients from our organic garden.

 

 

Now We Can Cook!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Demonstrateing how to cook "Pad Thai" and how to cook by using a wok!

 

Break time!! 

We celebrated just like a local today! We tried a local drink "Lao khao", before we have this one, we were looking for another one it's "Sato" a sweet Thai rice wine but sold out ! so we get different one and not a strong alcohol as "Sato"

 

What is your favourite part about travelling? Have you ever tried rice wine? How would you describe the flavour?

 

 

We Cook & Eat, Cook & Eat and Cook & Eat!!

 

 

 

Finally!! everyone enjoying thier own food.

I  would say "what a fantastic day" Thank you very much for joing us at

"Thai Secret Cooking School"

 

 When you buy your flight to Thailand it is your direct ticket

to experiencing Thai culture.