Of all the people one might expect to find on a health and wellness retreat, I must rank as one of the most unlikely. I am just not the type to fall for the marketing scam of the millennium: pay a fortune to not eat anything. That's like going to a cinema to stare at a blank screen. Or swimming in a pool without water.Well, I have news for you. My dear friend Helen (from Joburg) and I are off to the fat farm. Yes, we are taking the plunge and have booked to spend a week at a health retreat on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand at the end of the month. But this is not your run-of-the-mill spa where you sip fruit juice and eat raw vegetables. Here you really starve and undergo colonic cleansing twice a day. To put it politely, nothing goes in and lots comes out!
How we will manage to survive for seven days without a slice of cheesecake, yet alone a rump steak and chips, is going to be very, very interesting. Apparently, they feed one all sorts of supplements and tablets that takes away the craving. And, in between all the massages, exercise sessions and consultations, you have little time for anything else. And you get very tired and irritable.I'm nervous of the yoga classes - and am too scared to even think about the colonic irrigation sessions! I could end up crippled for life! Thank goodness Helen will be there to laugh along with me - and keep me on the straight and narrow. We have opted for the premium accommodation - a two-bedroom villa with private swimming pool. That should make it a little easier.
On the other hand, isn't it a shame that we will be stuck in a lovely villa on a gorgeous tropical island and not able to enjoy a delicious mango milkshake as we lounge by the pool. I have heard of people who sneaked out of this health farm at midnight and caught a taxi to the 24-hour Burger King on the other side of the island to stuff their faces. Isn't that just ridiculous? Who would even think of doing something like that....?Helen, I know you have 100% faith in me, but it may be best if you sleep with the front door key under your pillow at night!
PS: I do not appear in any of the photographs on this page....
