Thai Hospitality At It's Best, by Richard Lewis

I'm on the beach in white sands near to our resort hotel. The sun is shining, the waves sound lovely with a faint reggae in the background. Today I did yoga in the early morning looking at the beautiful sea below, had a very Thai breakfast of fruit and steamed fish and have come to the Seaside town to have some me time. I went for a fitting of the custom made cashmere wool suit I'm having made by Mr. Hem (yes that's his real name). The suit is fantastic and costing £100 is breathtakingly cheap which in Europe would be only a once in a lifetime treat. An indication of how amazingly nice the Thai people are is that after measuring me up the other night he gave me a lift back to the resort on the back of his moped, whilst telling me all about his wife who is expecting a baby any minute. I told him to go home and stop giving lifts to customers. He only laughed.

At our hotel the luxury goes on and on with gorgeous food, beach, spa, gym, massages, swimming pool, kayaking, etc etc. But the most important thing is the people. Not only do we get the intelligent, supportive and caring community we've come to expect from a Skyros holiday. But also a deep and life changing image work course from Dina, courses in music, creativity and photography, plus we are also experiencing a level of service which goes beyond the usual holiday experience. It seems to me that the resort staff who work at Ayapura genuinely like their customers and really care if we are having a good time. I think Mr Owen, the restaurant manager, may secretly be the Buddha in disguise. He learnt the whole groups' names in a day, remembers what we all like to drink, and more importantly gently shares his interest in having a healthy diet and mind. He lent me a book on Buddhism, took us to the temple to meet the monks, and when I ask for coffee he brought me a chlorophyll drink first to counteract the negative effects. None of this is part of his job, he just engages with us on a human level and in a special way.

The rest of the staff are the same. Happy, helpful, kind, funny and seemingly not resentful that we are having such a good time. This kind of interaction is more rare in UK hotels. We have ridden on elephants, a speedboat, been in the jungle, observed a Thai karaoke (although too chicken to join in!) and still had time to get to know each other, debate with each other, and make long lasting friends over dinner and drinks in the evenings.

This is truly a special kind of holiday and I feel lucky to have been part of it.

Richard Lewis

Komedie skriftlig på Skyros Centre, By Ingunn

Min plan var å finne en yoga-ferie i Hellas, da jeg synes Hellas er et flott ferie-mål. Ønsket var å kombinere ferien med yoga. Jeg googlet litt, men til min store glede fant jeg noe som var enda bedre. Komedie-skrivnings kurs.

Jeg har lenge lekt med tanken om å skrive komedie. Man kunne kombinere en uke med sol, strand og ca.fire timers skrive-workshop på formiddagen. Inkludert var det tilbud om yoga på morgenen og smykke-lagning på ettermiddag/kveld for de som ønsket det. Sunn god frokost og lunsj. Etter lunsjen gikk som regel turen ned til stranden. Man fikk lekser til neste dags workshop, men dette ble gjerne sett på som noe morsomt og kreativt.

Læreren var en engelsk komiker, Arthur Smith. En veldig uhøytidelig, utrolig morsom og hjelpsom mann. Klassen jeg gikk i ble en veldig sammensveiset gjeng. Jeg var eneste medlem i gruppen som ikke hadde engelsk som morsmål. Til tross for dette følte jeg meg veldig inkludert. Fra starten av var jeg innstillt på at det kunne bli litt av en utfordring å skrive komiske fortellinger/vitser på engelsk. Det er naturligvis veldig mange ord og uttrykk som er mye enklere å både uttrykke og forstå på eget språk. Det sier seg egentlig selv. For min del ga kurset likevel en boost i selvtilliten på det å skrive kreativt, som jeg aldri ville vært foruten. Personelig tror jeg man må være hundre prosent innstillt på å skrive på et annet språk. Samt bør man også virkelig brenne for kurset man skal delta i, så vil oppholdet bli vellykket.

Reise-lederne på senteret var også svært hjelpsomme og service-innstillte,og det bidrog til en flott ferie. Jeg ble kjent med mange veldig hyggelige folk fra andre land i gruppen.
På kveldene var det også tid til å titte litt i sentrum. Skyros sentrum som vi bodde i, var en koselig typisk gresk nydelig landsby. Jeg delte et lite hvitkalket hus/leilghet med en engelsk dame fra kurset. I løpet av uken var vi også på en arrangert utflukt til senteret på Atsitsa på den landre siden av øya. Det var virkelig en opplevelse. Atsitsa`s natur bød på blandt annet krystall-klar sjø, furu og daddel-trær som i et lite paradis.

Det virker som Skyros Holidays har noe for enhver smak. Denne uken i slutten av september var en uke med masse latter og glede.

Ingunn


Comedy Writing at The Skyros Centre, By Ingunn

My plan was to find a yoga holiday in Greece, as I think Greece is a great vacation destination. The desire was to combine your holiday with yoga. I googled a bit, but to my delight, I found something that was even better. Comedy spelling course.

I have long toyed with the idea of writing comedy. One could combine a week of sun, beach and ca.fire hour writing workshop in the morning. Included was the offer of yoga in the morning and jewellery layering in the afternoon / evening for those who wanted it. Healthy breakfast and lunch. After lunch was usually head down to the beach. You got homework the next day's workshop, but this was often seen as something fun and creative.

The teacher was an English comedian, Arthur Smith. A very unpretentious, very funny and helpful man. The class I went to was a very tight group. I was the only member in the group who did not have English as their mother tongue. Despite this, I felt very included. From the beginning, I was set in that it could be quite a challenge to write funny stories / jokes in English. It is of course very many words and phrases that are much easier to both understand and express in their own language. Needless to say, really though. For my part, however, gave the course a boost in confidence in the creative writing, which I never would have done without. Personal I think you must be a hundred percent set in writing in another language. Each one should also really burn for the course you should join, then the stay will be successful.

Travel Leaders at the Center was also very helpful and service-adjusted, and it contributed to a great holiday. I got to know many very nice people from other countries in the group.
In the evenings there was also time to look a little bit in the center. Skyros center that we stayed in was a nice typical Greek lovely village. I shared a small whitewashed house / leilghet with an English lady from the course. During the week we were also arranged on a excursion to the center of Atsitsa Landre on the side of the island. It was really an experience. Atsitsa `s nature offered among other things, crystal-clear sea, pine trees and date-trees in a small paradise.

It seems like Skyros Holidays has something for everyone. This week in late September was a week with lots of laughter and joy.

Ingunn