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Holidays with an edge
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It is about "doing something" away from the cookie cutter tour, the predictable Lonely Planet schedule
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THIS IS the age of the immersion holiday, of experiential surround, an answer to the indefinable search for an underpinning to the drifter state of stereotypical holidays. This is about pushing the new, the never done before, the not yet popular. It is the outer and inner journey coalescing into an experience you can remember beyond the digital photograph. It is about "doing something" away from the cookie cutter tour, the two-night, three-day all meals package, the predictable Lonely Planet schedule.
Last summer, Sunita R. opted to teach English to Tibetan monks in Dharamsala. Arti and Sunil decided to take a cooking holiday in a 400-year-old converted paper mill on the Amalfi coast in Italy with an Italian chef in residence.
Sometimes, the destination is the experience. You could take a psycho spiritual tour up Machu Pichhu, the mountain whose vibrations the Incas worshipped. Caving in Borneo and Sarawak is the side of Malaysia few explore but the limestone formations of Sarawak are listed as one of the natural wonders of the world. Closer home spelunking or caving in Shillong is gaining a quiet following. Sailing on the Brahmaputra, aficionados will tell you, is far more exciting than on the Ganga. Sighting the river dolphins in the Sundarbans knowing the famed Sundarban tiger is watching from above and the ghariyal from below the waters has its own thrill.
The Chadar walk in the dead of winter, frozen river trekking on the Zanskar river is the most dangerous trek in Ladakh but it is a once in a lifetime experience you can inspire your grandchildren with.
My grandmother regaled us with amazing stories of seeing the northern lights in Norway as a young woman in 1929. She gifted us the wonder of an experience which 80 years later is still rather unusual. Kayaking in the outer Hebrides, horse and camel riding across the Gobi desert, walking along the silk route in Ladakh's Nubra valley, doing the alms rounds with Buddhist monks in Burma, walking in Che Guevra's steps in Cuba, are just some of the experiences that make for more interesting dinner table conversation than the usual trip to Singapore.
There are experiential tours where you live a different life. Live with Sapa tribals in Vietnam or with the Hmong or Padaung in Thailand. Or you could choose a different bed partner in the ghost at Buckfastleigh Abbey in Devon-appearance guaranteed. Volunteer travel — doing your bit for the environment, lost tribes, conservation — is the other side of experiential travelling. You could sign up for a cheetah conservation camp and spend two weeks in Namibia writing reports on watching cheetahs. Or join a rainforest conservation project in Patagonia.
You pay to volunteer, of course. In Ethiopia, you could volunteer for a wolf conservation project while taking time out to see the seven spectacular castles of Gonder that author Pico Iyer writes so poignantly about. P. J. Rourke in "Holidays in Hell" builds stories around travels in war-torn countries. It is a different kind of edgy experience but not quite the holiday you may have in mind if you are likely never to return.
There is the eco-holiday as well. Harper's lists 25 most eco-friendly resorts in the world. Among them, the Kapwai lodge in Ecuador is truly away from it all (the last two hours of the journey through silent forests in a canoe), with solar power, biodegradable products and organic food. And the Green Magic Nature resort in Kerala, which is built as tree houses nestled in 900-year banyan trees so you know you are impacting Nature gently or not at all.
A holiday with a clear conscience is a great way to teach children about eco-friendly living. Adventure, cultural, spiritual, learning, teaching, volunteering... there are different kinds of holidays to choose from. "Sail away from the safe harbour," said Mark Twain. Doing it differently is not cheap but the experience is far beyond anything you could get on a usual holiday. Your grandchildren will remember you for it.
GEETA RAO
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