Arts & Crafts, Courses Activities
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Houey Hong Vocational Training Center for Women
You can learn how to dye textiles using natural pigments and then weave them on a traditional loom at the Houey Hong Vocational Training Center for Women. The NGO group, run by a Lao-Japanese woman, established this centre north of Vientiane to train disadvantaged rural women in the dying art of natural dyeing and traditional silk-weaving practices. Visitors can look for free or partake in the dyeing process (US$12, two hours, two stoles) or weaving (US$15, whole day). You keep the fruits of your labour.
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Batik Courses
Plenty of places in the Sosrowijayan and Prawirotaman areas offer short batik T-shirt courses of one or two days' duration. High art they aren't, but they provide a good introduction. The tourist information office also has a list of those offering courses.
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Baden-Powell Institute
This small, well-run and affordable Institute offers courses in Spanish language, as well as Mexican politics, cooking, culture, guitar and salsa dancing. It books homestays (per day M$365) for students.
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Throat-Singing
Throat-singing is Tuva's great draw, yet finding performances is rather haphazard. Sometimes they're listed on www.tyvantranslator.com. If not, try asking at the National Theatre.
On the 1st floor of the sizable Cultural Centre, the Khöömei Centre can help arrange throat-singing lessons - to find it, walk between the cloakroom and snack bar and keep going. However, to simply hear a sample try going up to the 3rd floor from here (by the back rather than the main stairs) to a room where Tuvan musicians practise most afternoons around 14:00. Alternatively, contact Aylana Irguit or Aldar Tamdyn, who can usually arrange a short demonstration of the various styles. Around US$20…
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Fagnoon Art School
Fagnoon Art School is a wonderful art centre in the fields between Giza and Saqqara. Children can slosh paint around, model clay, work with wrought iron or print and paint on textiles, all in the shadow of the Saqqara step pyramid. You can bring your own food and drink, although fiteer (pancake/pizza), coffee and water are usually on sale. To get here, take a microbus from the Pyramids Rd 12.5km in the direction of Saqqara and asked to be dropped off at Sabil Umm Hashim.
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Hey Doodle, Doodle
Budding young ceramicists get their chance to display their talents at one of the city’s more interesting kids’ venues. Children pick a piece of pottery, paint it whatever way they like, and collect it a week later after it’s been fired and glazed. The odd adult has been spotted with a paintbrush in hand too. It gets busy at weekends, and group bookings must be made in advance.
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pottery workshops
Tour groups tend to find themselves shopping for pots in vast warehouses on the outskirts of town. It's much more enjoyable (and infinitely cheaper) to patronise one of the smaller pottery workshops right in town, most of which will happily show you how to throw a pot or two. These are located in the small streets around the main square and in the group of shops opposite the PTT.
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Shoe Beadwork Course - Souvenir Menj
Those interested in learning the beadwork techniques for Nonya shoes should enquire at Souvenir Menj, a huge shoe shop that can help organise private courses. Since there aren't too many enquiries, prices aren't set and are up for discussion - also be warned that teachers aren't always available. Of course if more people ask, classes will become more regular. Ask for Dawn Tan.
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Phare Ponleu Selpak
Phare Ponleu Selpak, a multi-arts centre for disadvantaged children, puts on circus shows and dance performances. From Monday to Friday, it's often possible to observe the drawing, music, dance and circus students practising and see an exhibition of students' art. To get there from the Vishnu Roundabout on NH5, head west for 900m and then turn right (north) and go 600m.
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'Post Tsunami Experience' Tour
The worthwhile 'Post Tsunami Experience' Tour leaves from Nang Tong Supermarket in central Khao Lak and includes an authentic Thai lunch. Proceeds and anything you buy along the way help support local economies. Also stop by the centre for drop-in Thai cooking or language classes at 15:00 every Wednesday, and check the schedule for occasional craft and dancing classes.
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St Joseph's Adult Education & Skills Centre
Tucked away in an ancient Portuguese building, St Joseph's Adult Education & Skills Centre has for the last 20 years provided training to disadvantaged women. Visitors can take a free tour of sewing, crafts and tie-dye classes, and purchase reasonably priced items such as patchwork products, embroidered purses and cute children's clothes at the on-site boutique.
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Centre Culturel Blaise Senghor
For dance courses, try the Centre Culturel Blaise Senghor. Its bleak façade doesn't do justice to the creative bustle going on inside. In Point E, the Atelier de Danse Keur Jaaraf (574 4056; Rue 1XD) is an inspiring little dance company that runs courses for adults and children, covering most major styles of dance.
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Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros
The Universidad Veracruzana’s Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros offers short-term, accredited programs on the Spanish and Náhuatl languages and on Mexican culture – including cooking, dancing and guitar classes – and homestays (M$4790 for two weeks, M$9385 for a month).
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Artes Plásticas
Learn music, dance, photography, design and drama at Guadalajara's best art school, held in a reclaimed, graffiti covered colonial relic in the city center. Exchange students of all ages are welcome, but instruction is in Spanish. Register through the University of Guadalajara.
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Instituto Jovel
Instituto Jovel is professional and friendly, and has a top-class reputation among students. Most tuition is one-to-one, and it has a beautiful location. Classes in Mexican cooking (M$195), jewelry-making with amber and silver (M$325), and salsa dancing (M$52) are offered too.
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Hands on Art
Hands on Art, at the southern end of the South Bank Parklands, is a nonprofit centre for innovative art activities where kids can get mucky with paint and clay. The centre caters for children aged four to 14 and bookings are essential.
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Escuela de Español Sol Maya
A new language school with a number of good community-based volunteer opportunities for students. Classes in Mexican cooking (around $98 to around $160), backstrap loom weaving (around $160), and group salsa lessons (M$54 per hour) are also available.
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Mosaics Workshops
Janet Gallagher at Cafe DecArte regularly offers classes; the fee includes all your materials, which will (hopefully) become a beautiful bowl; she also teaches local kids as part of the Muchachos de Mosaico program, and you can buy their work here.
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École d'Art et de Culture Khmers
The École d'Art et de Culture Khmers has classes in traditional music, apsara dancing, painting, sculpture and shadow puppetry. It's often possible to observe a class or see students practising. Drop by to find out when.
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Crat
CRAT sometimes runs brief introductory workshops on azulejo painting and stamping, aimed at tourists. A lesson costs around €25, and you can usually pick up your freshly fired tiles a few days later.
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Zecsman Design
You can try your hand at a spot of batik-painting at Zecsman Design. Tutored four- to five-hour classes cost RM50 for work on cotton and RM70 on silk, and a full-day course costs RM100. You’ll need to book ahead.
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Centro Cultural de Lenguas
Centro Cultural de Lenguas offers Spanish-language classes running from one hour to four weeks, as well as music, dance and cooking classes. Homestays (per night from M$313, including meals) are available.
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Language Classes at YMCA
Want to learn the local lingo? Come to the YMCA for their Bahasa Malaysia classes. Other languages offered include Thai, Mandarin/Cantonese, and Japanese, as well as courses in martial arts and different types of dancing.
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Cielo Maya
On the path between the docks, Cielo Maya is a Tz'utujil women's collective that sells fair-trade woven goods and offers weaving and beading classes from around US$2 per hour (materials not included).
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Nikon Photo Studio
For as little as around US$2, you can pose in traditional Khmer costume and have your photo taken at Nikon Photo Studio along the waterfront. Prices include makeup and a suitably kitschy background.
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