茵萊湖的行程包括参加本地菜烹飪班, 我本來没什麽大興趣, 但來到 Inle Heritage這場地和看到各項的安排後, 有點喜出望外之感, 所以拍了些照片跟大家分享。據說Inle Heritage是不謀利機構所辦的訓練場地, 有點像職業學校一樣。他們這裡有六間漂亮的高脚平房, 提供酒店服務, 另外有一餐廳和烹飪教室。烹飪教室教授茵萊湖本地菜色給参加的遊客, 平常就訓練學生。他們還要學習外語。在烹飪教室內, 我們每個學員分配一位學生作為助手, 對我們來說, 這助手很管用, 對学生來說, 他們在第一綫跟外國遊客接觸, 除了可練習英文口語之外, 同時還能近距離了解主客的文化差距, 對未來在服務業和旅遊業的工作上有莫大俾益。
I have to confess that I am not a big fan for cooking classes, however, I was so impressed with this place, Thahara Inle Heritage where our cooking class was held, that I wanted to post a few pictures of this lovely place. On their website, they introduce themselves as: “Inle Heritage is a not-for-profit organization that preserves the cultural and natural wealth of the Inle region, and helps it to thrive as a place to visit, work and live.”
Indeed, the place is really nice. The whole complex is thoughtfully built, the idea of the setting is similar to that of a vocational training school that provides hands-on training for young folks who would love to pursue a career in hospitality industry or tourist industry. Students are from all over Myanmar, my assistant in the class was from a remote area close to the Thai border in the southeast. She had hard time making me understand the exact location, so I asked a straight but stupid question. I asked her how long it would take her to fly to He Loe Airport. “There is no flight from there, I take a bus and it takes 3 days and 2 nights to get here”. Inle Heritage offer 6 stilt bungalows accommodation (we didn’t stay there), a restaurant and a cooking school that teaches Inle Cuisine cooking to both tourists and students, and there was a cat sanctuary as well. In our class, a student was assigned to each of us as a personal assistant. In such a way, we are getting big help with our cooking and in return, the students get a chance of practicing their English and their inter-personal skill in the real world.
Inle Heritage map Inle Heritage 的平面圖
⇑⇓ 烹飪需要的食材、新鮮香料都是自種的。
⇑⇓ All the vegetables and culinary herbs are all from their own garden.
Inside is the cooking stations, these are the students who help us.
⇑⇓ 第一步是先下田採食材,下去摘食材和香菜的環節就很療愈。
⇑⇓ The first step was to pick your own vegetables and culinary herbs, it was fun and educational to city folks like us.
⇑⇓ 這裡就是生菜和椰菜花…(其實我專心拍照, 也忘了摘了什麽) 。
⇑⇓ Time for lettuce, broccoli…. (I was preoccupied of taking pictures, can’t recall what was really being picked, lol)
⇑ 回到厨房。
⇑ Our cooking stations.
⇑ All the spices were prepared for us, fresh vegetables from the garden.
⇑⇓ 第一味, 茄子湯。
⇑⇓ The first dish – eggplant soup.
⇑⇓ 第二味, 沙拉。
⇑⇓ Green bean salad.
其他的就不po了。
I am not going to show all the dishes we had cooked, for obvious reasons…
⇑⇓ 煮完了, 就往餐廳吃我們的成果。
⇑⇓ After everything’s said and done, we headed to the restaurant to share our food.
⇓ 我們没有做甜品, 但去他們的甜品房参觀, 甜品是學生做的, 香蕉糕和巧克力蛋榚。味道很好。
⇓ We didn’t have time to make the desserts, banana cake and chocolate cake, student=chef prepared them for us. What a beautiful presentation ! and tasted really good.