Cooking classes are a popular tourist activity in South East Asia and A Glimpse of Mandalay is one of the best. But it’s much more than cooking.

A glimpse of Mandalay really does give you an insight into everyday life in the region.

Read on for more.

Zey Cho Market

It was raining as we set off but not enough for the tour to be cancelled – part of the day-long tour includes a cycle ride so heavy rain would stop that taking place.

Phil and I were the only ones for today’s class so I had to cook as well as take video.

Phil is the chef in our household and loves the challenge of finding new recipes. We eat very well and I’m pretty good at washing up!

We were picked up just after 9am by our guide Mr Aung and first went to Zey Cho market in downtown Mandalay. Several floors. Food everywhere. Fascinating.

Aung had brought along woven baskets so he and Phil poked and prodded various fruit and vegetables while I walked behind with the camera.

We declined a visit to the meat market section because Aung said they already had chicken at the class.

Wet markets with meat, and particularly fish, are not for the faint-hearted.

Morning tea in Mandalay

After shopping it was time to sample the local tea-room culture at ArKar Min Cafe.

It was raining quite heavily now and the place was packed.

The cafe was a large room, open fronted, with the serving counter all along one side. Furniture was low tables with even lower chairs – stools really.

Wait staff rushed about bringing green tea (in a flask), Burmese coffee which is sweet and dark. A plate of roti with jaggary syrup appeared (and was quickly demolished) and another plate of noodles followed.

A substantial morning tea.

Zee Cho Kone village

Then it was off to the country which starts quite soon as you drive away from Mandalay.

The road, a good one, goes through small villages, past market gardens and fields of bright green rice.

We stopped a one spot to see water chestnuts growing. Well we saw the leaves of the plant, the nuts are below the water.

Once we turned off the main road the surface deteriorated – pot holes, dirt, rubble – until we reached Zee Cho Kone village. A real village! Houses interspersed with fields and a river running alongside the road.

A Glimpse of Mandalay cooking class

The cooking class was well set up with preparation and cooking areas, a dining room and covered platforms for snoozing after the class. All open sided. And a nice garden all around.

The chef Ms Thenda, and assistant Mr Nay were already there when we arrived with our baskets of food.

It was a full on class with lots of chopping, pounding, mixing and stirring.

We prepared chicken curry (Kyet Thar Chet); string bean salad (Pel Dee Toat); green tea salad (La Phet Tote); a soup and a dessert of floating rice balls (Mout Lone Yay Baw). I apologise for my pronounciation of the Burmese in my video, but at least I was trying!

Interestingly we ate the dessert as soon as we’d cooked it but everything else waited until all was ready.

Thenda and Nay also made some other dishes including vegetable tempura while Aung prepared a mushroom salad.

Vast amounts of food.

It certainly all looked very attractive when it was laid out on the table ready to eat.

My favourites were the onion tempura, the chicken curry and the bean salad but it was all pretty impressive.

We only managed to eat a fraction but the leftovers were parcelled up to be used elsewhere.

Cycle tour of Zee Cho Kone village

After a rest of an hour or so we mounted our bicycles, donned coolie hats and set off to see the countryside.

It was beautiful.

Green fields, distant mountains, the river, people fishing and a pig and chicken farm.

Well maybe the farm wasn’t beautiful but it was interesting.

The ride took maybe an hour or so.

Back at the cooking school we had a delicious, glass of freshly squeezed lime juice and then set off in the tuktuk for Yanking Hill and Nga Yant Min cave.

Yankin Hill

This hill is to the east of Mandalay Hill, across a wide green valley.

At the top of the hill are temples, monasteries and Nga Yant Min cave.

The cave is interesting and out of the ordinary.

Steep steps lead down to it with another set of steps leading up on the other side. Water dripped onto the steps all the way down and up making it somewhat slippery.

A number of monks sat by various statues.

One of the more interesting statues was of a large fish. Apparently one of Buddha’s reincarnations was as a fish.

In times of drought people used to take the fish and parade it through the area. Maybe they still do but there was no need while we were there at the end of the monsoon season. We had plenty of rain and flooded fields were all around.

Yankin means ‘a place of safety’ so probably back in the Bagan era (when this complex dates from) there were battles near here.

The glimpse of Mandalay tour usually includes waiting for sunset at the top of the hill but it was cloudy most of the time were in Mandalay so there wouldn’t have been much to look at.

Instead we returned to the hotel, The Mandalay Hill Resort, in time for cocktails.

More information

The concierge at our hotel booked the tour for us after we had looked online for an interesting cooking class in Mandalay.

The Glimpse of Mandalay tour costs just US$35. It’s amazing value for a great experience.

The office is at the Yoe Yoe Lay guesthouse in Mandalay although I believe the guesthouse has now closed.

There is no website but the company has a FaceBook page at: https://www.facebook.com/aglimpseofmandalay/

Check out more of our videos from Myanmar/Burma here.

Read more about our visits to Myanmar/Burma here.