Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [559]
Mom Tri’s Cooking Class ( Map; 0 7633 0015; www.boathousephuket.com; Th Patak West, Kata; 2 classes incl lunch 3200B; 10am-1pm Sat & Sun) The Boathouse’s award-winning executive chef, Tummanoon Punchun, carves a bit of time out of his schedule to teach the basics of Thai cooking. Classes take place just off the Boathouse dining room, so you will cook with a view.
Pum Thai Cooking School ( Map; 0 7634 6269; www.pumthaifoodchain.com; 204/32 Tha Rat Uthit, Patong) Runs excellent Thai restaurants in Phuket, Ko Phi-Phi and France. At the Phuket branch you can learn easy haute cuisine the Thai way for 450B for a one-dish class, 900B for a two-dish class and up to 4650B for an over-six-hour, five-dish class.
Tours
The following tours are geared towards 4WD enthusiasts:
Bang Pae Safari (0 7631 1163; 12/3 Moo 5, Th Srisoonthorn; tours from 800B; 7.30am-5pm) Based on the outskirts of the Khao Phra Thaew Royal Wildlife & Forest Reserve, this elephant trek, 4WD and canoe outfitter takes guests through the nearby rubber plantations and canals. The tour is fairly soft as far as adventure goes, and is best done in the wet season.
Phuket Paradise 4WD Tour (0 7628 8501; 24/1 Moo 1, Hwy 4233; tours from 1500B; 8.30am-6pm) Here’s your chance to 4WD on dirt roads through the jungles of Phuket. You can be a passenger or driver, and tours last either one or two hours.
Volunteering
Soi Dog Foundation (08 7050 8688; www.soidog.org) is a well-organised unit aimed at sterilising and caring for stray dogs. Volunteers are needed for feeding the dogs but it’s just as helpful to donate funds towards the projects. Check the website for updates and details.
Starfish Volunteers (08 1723 1403; www.starfishvolunteers.com) runs three volunteer projects in Phuket: child care, dog rescue and gibbon rehabilitation. Those working with children spend their time at a daycare for kids under the age of five whose parents are below the poverty line. The dog centre has now neutered over 14,000 dogs but there is still much work to be done to safely control the pet population. At the gibbon centre, volunteers work with animals that have been rescued from the tourism industry before they are released into the wild.
Festivals & Events
The Vegetarian Festival (www.phuketvegetarian.com) is Phuket’s most important event and usually takes place during late September or October. The TAT office ( Click here) in Phuket Town prints a helpful schedule of Vegetarian Festival events; check out the festival website and see the boxed text on Click here for more info.
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UM…DO THOSE WOUNDS HEAL?
Ever seen a picture of Phuket’s yearly Vegetarian Festival? If you have, you would definitely remember – daggers piercing cheeks, razorblades cutting tongues – the makings of a child’s nightmare. Basically, the festival celebrates the beginning of the month of ‘Taoist Lent’, when devout Chinese abstain from eating all meat and meat products. In Phuket Town, the festival activities are centred on five Chinese temples, with the Jui Tui temple on Th Ranong the most important.
After the abstention from meat eating, the Vegetarian Festival involves various processions culminating in incredible acts of self-mortification – walking on hot coals, piercing the skin with sharp objects and so on. Shop owners along Phuket Town’s central streets set up altars in front of their shopfronts offering nine tiny cups of tea, incense, fruit, candles and flowers to the nine emperor gods invoked by the festival. Those participating as mediums bring the nine deities to earth for the festival by entering into a trance state and piercing their cheeks with a variety of objects – tree branches, spears, slide trombones and so forth. Some even hack their tongues with saw or axe blades…
During the street processions,