The Sala Thai Restaurant serves up a fine flavour of Thai and Chinese cuisine from its romantically lit premises in the holiday resort of Northern England, Blackpool. The owners, Peter and Maew Lui, had enjoyed eight happy seasons running the business and had started a family of their own since arriving in Blackpool. Now they wanted to take on a new challenge - they wanted to extend their business to include a take-away element from extended premises. Not foolishly leaving anything to chance, they took the initiative to call a Feng Shui consultant to audit their Feng Shui prior to opening. Rising Dragon Feng Shui's senior Feng Shui consultant, Angela Ang took on the consultation.

"Good Chinese food is all about balance and harmony," spoke Peter. "Flavours should complement one another, and you shouldn't find that one over powers the other. Take our famous Sweet and Sour dishes for example. Tasting a little of the sauce, one should be hard pressed to say whether it is sweet or sour, because it is a careful balance of both. Likewise, within the dishes selected there should also be good blend of flavours. Fried foods are considered 'heaty' and these should be balanced with others like soups or steamed dishes to make for the most exquisite taste sensation. At the Sala Thai, we offer all the choice you could want to find a meal that is perfectly balanced and invigorating for the senses."

One of the many things a Feng Shui consultant must consider when looking at a house is whether it has balance. The simplest form of this analysis involves looking at the left and right hand sides of the building and looking for balance. This is known as looking at the Tiger and Dragon. Grand Master Sheng-yen Lu finely illustrated the complexity there is in this:

Some people asked: "What is the best appearance of a house?"

I answered: "Symmetry". It sounds simple, but in fact there a lot of learning involved.

Some people prefer to make their house exotic and outstanding with strange looks. As long as they keep the Five Elements in harmony, without contradictory forces, it is symmetrical.

The Esoteric teachings, for example, advocate "Five Wheels and Five Wisdoms."

The Five-Wheel tower has this shape: peach-tip shape at the top, beneath is a prolonged semi-circle, then is a triangle, further down is a circle and at the bottom is a square.

The Five Elements are Fire, Wood, Water, Metal and Earth. Earth generates Metal; Metal generates Water; Water generates Wood and Wood generates Fire.

If the Five Elements are arranged in that order together with their corresponding shapes, some rotation clock-wise will give you a shape that is original and outstanding.

If we are not craving for "fashion", an ordinary symmetrical house will be very lucky.

The "dragon side" and the "tiger side" must be symmetrical. This is a very important point.

If you stand facing to the gate, your left hand side is the dragon side and your right hand side is the tiger side.

It would be best to have perfect symmetry between the dragon and the tiger sides.

The symmetry could also be "a long dragon and a tall tiger."

Far from being an impoverished area, Blackpool does see variances in trade caused by seasonal fluctuations. In the summer holiday season, the warm weather draws people in their droves to enjoy Blackpool's three piers and numerous attractions. As the cooler weather draws in, tourism quietens down in Blackpool. Previously Peter and Maew had dealt with the changing seasons by wintering in Thailand and opening to catch the summer's visitors. Now they have two active young children to care for. Their need for stability and education had led the Luis to take a new perspective on work. Their new takeaway will offer their Chinese and Thai food all year round, allowing them to cater for the large population within Blackpool itself.

Photo courtesy of Virtual Blackpool

"I firmly believe in Feng Shui" said Maew. "Back in Thailand the Chinese will always talk about this. It is a known thing to have your business checked, but I notice that the Feng Shui used in the Far East is a lot more complicated than much of the stuff you see in books in the West. I don't think it is as effective as the traditional Chinese Feng Shui or as safe. Back home, we get a lot of stories about Yin House Feng Shui - that means where your ancestors are buried. It is well known that if the grave is inauspicious then all kinds of problems may result for the descendants from business disaster to bad habits and even craziness. If you have a good Feng Shui consultant help you create the right Feng Shui then you will be able to prosper and won't have so many trials to go through."

Like the fine flavours of Chinese and Thai food, the recipe for success in Feng Shui is not one which is easily home cooked. For Oriental things, you'll get the real flavour when you get an Oriental to do it for you. Better than trying to make your own Sweet and Sour or Satay sauces, go to the Sala Thai restaurant. Better than trying to fly your own stars or balance the Five Elements yourself, call Rising Dragon Feng Shui.

The Sala Thai restaurant can be found on Dickson Road, Blackpool and you can call them on 01253 752203. Rising Dragon Feng Shui consult nationwide everywhere in the UK and you can call us local rate on 0845 123 2918.