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Lessons for Life
JAMES WALLMAN REVEALS THE TOP TEN WAYS TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW WHILE ON HOLIDAY
COME and join the increasing number of holiday-makers who use their precious time out to enrich their lives permanently by studying a new skill – and, in the process, gain important cultural insights into the country they are visiting.
THAI’D UP
Learn to cook the cuisine of the country recently named the world’s number one foodie destination by Lonely Planet – Thailand. Lessons at the Chiang Mai Cookery School, the northern city’s original academy, last from a genial 10am to 4pm, during which trainee chefs learn about local vegetables and spices through trips to the market, and how to make curry paste.
As much as the course is about shopping and chopping, it’s also about eating the real Thai food you’ve just made, such as fried fish with chilli and basil, hot and sour prawn soup, papaya salad with sticky rice and steamed banana cake.
Similar courses can be found elsewhere throughout the country. In Phuket, Pat’s Home Thai Cooking Classes are run by an ex-restaurant chef, while the Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts (SITCA) on Chaweng teaches both professional chefs and visiting tourists a few tricks of the trade. Chiang Mai Cookery School, tel +66 (0)53 206315, www.thaicookeryschool.com;
Pat’s Home Thai, tel +66 (0)76 213765; SITCA, tel +66 (0)77 413172, www.sitca.net
ART ATTACK
Holidays are a great time to let your inner artist out, and what better way than to try your hand at the ancient Asian art form of batik? Begun in Indonesia over 1,000 years ago, batik produces results that can be quite beautiful – and the added bonus is that you don’t actually need any special talent or much patience to have a go.
Batik is a six-step process, but the people at Dusit Laguna Resort in Phuket do all the tricky bits. They lay out fish, elephant, orchid and beach designs on T-shirts and napkins, and melt wax along the outlines of the shapes, creating a barrier for the dye.
Then the artist (that’s you) mixes paints to create the desired colours before applying them in a painting-by-numbers manner.
The following day, you can pick up your personalised souvenir – or turn it into a gift for your granny, depending on the results. Tel +66 (0)76 324324, www.dusitlaguna.com
NATURAL CURES
Pick up some free tips on the ancient system of Chinese medicine from two of Hong Kong’s foremost experts. The city’s ex-chief pharmacist and senior pharmacist at Eu Yan Sang, a provider of Chinese medicine since 1879, teach tourists their trade every Wednesday aft ernoon.
In one-and-a-half-hour classes, the pair pass on knowledge that has been distilled over 5,000 years of usage, observation and refinement by their ancestors. They begin by explaining the central concept of yin and yang – the interdependent opposites – then describe the uses of various herbs, roots, bark, flowers and seeds such as huang qi, ren shen, rou gui and chen pi (astralagus, ginseng, cinnamon bark and tangerine peel). Tel +852 2508-1234, www.discoverhongkong.com
Below, learn the secrets of traditional Chinese medicine from the experts at Eu Yan Sang.
BOX SET
Learn to defend yourself Thai-style – and get incredibly fit while releasing tension at the same time. Th ose who want to take their training seriously should try the Muay Thai Institute just north of Bangkok, the only training school accredited by the Ministry of Education.
At the 10-day beginners’ course, for $160, novices learn to use their elbows and knees as weapons and feet for defence, as well as the history and culture of Thailand’s national sport.
Lessons for the less committed or those wanting a touch more luxury are available at Phuket’s Dusit Laguna and Chiva-Som in Hua Hin – where supermodel Naomi Campbell is rumoured to have trained. Muay Thai Institute, tel +66 (0)2 992-0096, www.muaythai-institute.net; Chiva-Som, tel +66 (0)32 536536, www.chivasom.com
DANCE DREAMS
One of Khmer classical dance’s most stylised and beautiful forms is named aft er the nymphs seen as statues and bas-reliefs in the Angkor temples. The apsara dance is, in fact, an exquisite vocabulary where each movement signifies a diff erent entity or object, such as a fruit, flower or animal.
There are 4,000 hand gestures alone. Many actions, especially those involving the whole body, are entirely contrary to natural movement. In order to perform this intricate body language dance, girls begin training at six years old – unsurprisingly, then, it can’t be picked up in a few hours. But teachers at Phnom Penh’s University of Fine Arts give private classes, teaching a little of the culture and a few of the gestures. For help finding a teacher, call Amrita Performing Arts, tel +855 (0)23 220424, www.amritaperformingarts.org
KUNG FU KING
The one place in the world you’ll find everybody kung fu fighting – with moves that are fast as lightning – is at the martial art’s spiritual home, the Shaolin Temple in China’s Henan province.
Training is taken very seriously – latecomers and slow runners are oft en shouted at or hit with a stick at workouts. German trainee Matthias Fiss says, “The stretch training is not until pain arises, but far beyond pain. With the splits, the pupil lies on his back while two other students hold his arms and legs and the coach forces the student to do the splits. I could hardly move for the next few days.”
Hong Kong off ers an easier, free-to-all option at the Sunday Kung Fu Corner in Kowloon Park, where you can pick up some kung fu skills and learn a few basic moves.
For the Shaolin Temple and nearby schools in Dengfeng and Zhengzhou, visit www.shaolin-wushsu.de; Sunday Kung Fu Corner, tel +852 2724-3344, www.discoverhongkong.com
MASSAGE MAGIC
One of the highlights of a visit to the Land of Smiles is having your worries stretched away by a traditional massage. Why not learn to do it yourself so that you can bring blissed-out grins to the faces of family and friends when you get home?
There are two main types of nuad boran (ancient massage). The southern style, also called the Wat Po or Royal tradition, favours stimulating energy lines through deep plucking and flicking with thumbs and fingers. The northern yoga style uses gradual pressure, rocking movements and deep stretching postures to release energy, and tends to be favoured by Westerners. Practise stretching another’s cares away with a one-day introductory or two-week beginner course at Sunshine Massage School, Chiang Mai. Tel +66 (0)53 262574, www.sunshine-massage-school.com
RIDING HIGH
Ever wanted to find out what it’s like to be in charge of a four-tonne monster that seems to have a mind of its own?
The Anantara Resort Golden Triangle in northern Thailand off ers a three-day mahout (elephant “driver”) training course at a 160-acre bamboo forest camp in nearby Lampang. Besides learning basic commands to enable you to “drive” an elephant such as pai, baen and how (“go”, “turn” and “stop”), participants are involved in the daily care of their steed. The downsides means waking at 6am and being present for the elephants’ morning excretions. The highlight, though, is river bathing, when pachyderms are at their most playful and mahouts find it impossible to stay dry and out of the water. Tel +66 (0)53 784084, www.anantara.com
OM AND AWAY
Escape from the daily grind at home – and take that chilled-out holiday feeling back with you – by learning to turn off , tune out and drop in to meditative bliss at a retreat.
The high point of the various events held at new holistic spa Kamalaya Koh Samui is a meditation cave once used by Buddhist monks. The first inhabitant was best known for his ability to communicate with other species, especially the two cobras that shared the cave with him.
The last monk added the unique skylight. Meditating in the cave might not guarantee better conversations with your pets or boost your DIY skills, but it will help you maintain a less stressed outlook on life.
Tel +66 (0)77 429800, www.kamalaya.com
TAI CHI
Ever seen those people in parks, the ones who look like they’re doing aerobics in movie-stylised slow motion, and wondered what they’re actually up to?
Wonder no more. Join them. Tai chi is an ancient martial art that aids suppleness and relaxation. Get a feel for it at the Yangshuo Tai Chi Chuan Health Centre, near Guilin.
Wang Zhi Ping, who has been teaching at Yangshuo since 1986, recommends a minimum of 10 days of twice-daily practice to get a good grasp of the movements.
But Wang also notes that even people who practise with him for a few hours truly enjoy it – “because they have tasted real Chinese tai chi.”
He teaches Yang style 24, which is simple enough for beginners to learn and provides the relaxation and health benefits of tai chi. Tel +86 (0)773 890-0125, www.southchina-taichi.com
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