There is a story on cnn.com today about Thai cooking schools in Bangkok. Here is the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/01/18....ap/index.html

I have never looked into it before, but the ones they mention are more expensive than I thought.

Those 5-day professional courses are very expensive. I am taking a half-day Blue Elephant course in early March primarily because they offer a market visit while others don't. The cost of the 5 hour course is about US $95.

Cheryl and I did the cooking class at the Anantara Golden Triangle (includes a market visit) when they first opened, The cost was about US $50 per person.

Craig, I'll be interested in your report on the Blue Elephant Cooking School, as it is the one we've considered in Bangkok.

Kathie, will report on Blue Elephant cooking school and much more, hopefully.

Not Bangkok, but Chiang Mai.

We did a custom class with Yui www.alotofthai.com for the 3 of us, including a market tour and 1 simple dish and 5 complicated dishes for 4000 baht total...took us 9 hours I think. Fabulous, and very affordable at about $35.00 per person. Regular courses with her are 800 baht per person, or about $23.00.

we did a private (3 person) cooking class in chiang mai with "a lot of thai".
yui was fantastic, picked us up at the tamarind village in her 1968 datsun 4 dr,
took us shopping at a market and then we
cooked some of the best thai food i have
ever eaten...all for $100 for the 3 of us.
what a deal!

Kathie -- see my trip report Part 3 that I just posted. I loved my morning class at Blue Elephant, and highly recommend it! I'll be interested to hear Craig's impressions too.