Day eight of the Emory University Women's Tennis team's trip to Thailand, written by freshman Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico.
Early morning rise for the Eagles on our second day in Chiang Mai! We woke up to an amazing breakfast prepared by our hosts Cynda and Alan. After that, we left in a red truck, which is a typical vehicle in Chiang Mai, to head to our second tennis practice here in Thailand. You could say it was rough for some of us, *cough cough* me, but others, such as Defne, hit extremely well.
Following our practice, we drove to the city center of Chiang Mai where we split into groups. While some of us walked around the streets of Chiang Mai and got lunch, the others got their nails done, and vice-versa. Guess where we had to make a pit stop after lunch? Starbucks! As usual, Emma and Sasha had to go with what has the most chocolate on the menu. In this case, it was a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips.
After a few relaxing hours, we were off for our Thai cooking class! Before starting, our chef/guide took us to a small market to share with us the names of different Thai foods such as durians, watermelons, peppers, etc. After roaming around the market for a bit, we spot something unusual: a dead frog. As we move closer, the pungent smell fills our noses and we have to move away as quickly as we can. As we are walking away, all we can think is how in the world do people get themselves to eat this? Shout out to them!
Once we get to the site for the cooking class, we get to choose what typical Thai food we want to cook. After having eaten Pad Thai in restaurants all day every day, most of us decided that it was time to learn how to actually make it. In a few hours, we each cooked a five course meal which included spring rolls, a pepper sauce, curry, soup, and Pad Thai. Let me tell you, all the food was delicious but by the end, all of us were sooo full.
All in all, today was another amazing day in Thailand! It was definitely a great experience to be able to cook Thai food and learn more about the Thai culture through it.
Be sure to continue following the team's trip on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as with daily journal entries on emoryathletics.com.