You will not believe what we did today. So we went to our favorite bookshop (pictured here) on Sukhumvit in Bangkok just to send a quick e-mail from the upstairs internet café. Upon leaving we asked the store owners where we could go to attend a 1-day Thai cooking class. They said “We’ll teach you! No need to pay hundreds of dollars.”

What? OK! So we caught a train to On Nut station with the store owner and went to the grocery store there setting out to buy ingredients to make Tom Ka Khai, Green Curry Coconut Chicken, and Pineapple Fried Rice.

I cannot describe how we turned a bookshop with a coffee stand into a full service kitchen! ….It’s like the Thai cook gained the ultimate pleasure seeing me trance into gastronomical ecstasy…

We bought an electric wok and stirred up fish oil and mushroom soy sauce like as if it was Chinese New Years all over again. I cannot describe the extent of hospitality and humor with which Thai people approach life. Cooking and eating and serving people brought this shop pure joy – I felt like my mother or sister was in the kitchen, asking me what I think of the food and if I wanted more.

“Basim! Where’s your spoon? Come taste this, mate” the chef frequently beckoned. It’s like the Thai cook gained the ultimate pleasure seeing me trance into gastronomical ecstasy. I was in pure heaven today and I will never forget the friendship that was built today and the generosity we received. Indescribable and unpredictable, that’s why I love Thailand.