Before we left the UK we had dinner with our friends Troy & Lindsey in their lovely house in Bristol. They're both Thailand veterans, and by the time we drove home we had in our possession one brown envelope which they had very kindly covered on both sides, in small handwriting, with recommendations. As we had to detour around the mainland we weren't able to use most of them this time round, but we were able to use one recommendation in Koh Phangan – The Sanctuary, a secluded health resort in the south-east of the island where they had done a detox fast. Apparently this kind of retreat is much cheaper than they are in the UK, and as we needed a bit more beach time and were keen to exorcise the last of the toxins from 5 years of London-living, we decided to give it a go.
The Sanctuary is very hard to get to. From Ko Tao we took a ferry to Thong Sala on the south-west of Ko Phangan, then a shared taxi round the roller-coaster coastal road to Hat Rin. This town's population ebbs and flows with the moon – it's the home of the 'Original' Full-Moon Party – but as we were only in a waxing phase there was absolutely no-one around. Even though it was a ghost town, we had to wait for over an hour at the docks before we could convince the only taxi-boat driver that there weren't going to be any more customers to share his boat with us. He eventually agreed to take just the two of us on his 'long tail' boat (named as the propeller is attached to the engine by an eight foot pool that swings out astern for maximum maneouverability) on the final leg of our journey up to Hat Thian and The Sanctuary.
Hat Thian bay was gorgeous; a small two hundred metre stretch of white sand flanked on both sides by bare rock and boulders, and cushioned by a damp forest that marched right down to the beach from the inland mountains. It's fair to say I have never felt as good as I did as we coasted into that bay. Dev, Todd, I know I always make fun of your choice to be vegetarians, but our 'pre-fast' week with no meat (and no booze, caffeine or carbs come to that) left both Sarah and I feeling incredible – bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. If totally boring. The bonus of actually getting The Sanctuary was that we were no longer the lone sad cases sitting in the bar in Ko Tao with blank faces, fruit juices and salad. A real low for me was when a waitress had accidentally brought a burger to our table and we had to wave it away. Bitch.The Sanctuary is a village. Huts of of different shapes and sizes are dotted around the south side of the bay, back into the forest and up the side of the headland. Our room was a little hut on stilts set back from the beach on the edge of the forest. Once we'd checked-in and dumped our bags we went back to the main building to begin.
The next three and a half days were filled with a kind of regimented relaxation. Every hour or so we had to eat or drink something. No real food or drink, only herbal or probiotic pills or disgusting 'shakes' made with clay and fibrous 'psillium husks'. Sarah had difficulty keeping these down, especially as we had to drink the first at 7am; however my university education saw me through in fine form (Thank you Marguerites Club). At 4pm we had to go for our colonics – the less said, the better – then at 7pm, the highlight of the day, we all sat down to eat a watery vegetable broth.
Only a handful of the people staying there were actually fasting, the rest were doing yoga, meditation or (trying to type this without my eyes rolling, or putting inverted commas around it...) spiritual healing. It definitely made for an interesting selection of people on the beach. There were 3 other people doing the fast at the same time as us – two professional traveller / yoga-instructors and one bricklayer from London who seemed to have ended up there by mistake. My first morning fasting Sarah and I joined him in one of the yoga classes, and I sat next to him at the back marvelling at the strange shapes the lycra-clad people seemed able to pull themselves into. They were all so bendy its a wonder they can walk straight. I didn't go back. The bricklayer however had also accidentally booked himself a week's worth of yoga classes, so dutifully trudged up the hill to sit on his mat every morning.
Perhaps not surprisingly, on the 4th day (when we were released), I felt horrendous. It was like I'd been concussed - light-headed, dizzy and slightly sick. This is normal apparently - 'it takes a week or so for you to feel the real benefits'. Hmmm. Sarah felt fine, and looks better than ever. We spent our last day at The Sanctuary sunbathing, recovering and eating only fruit. It takes about a week for your body to get used to eating real food again, so you're meant to introduce things slowly, starting with fruit. After fruit comes 'raw food' (carrots, essentially), then cooked veg, then carbs, then fish, then meat. I've developed my own plan where when I get hungry I eat, and if I get very hungry I eat a lot. I felt pretty hungry yesterday morning so whilst the chips and burger at 11am may have been overkill, they did taste amazing and I don't feel concussed anymore so that must be a good thing right?
All this said, we did really enjoy the experience. It's something I don't think we would have tried (willingly) back home, and we met some interesting people we definitely wouldn't have met otherwise. The forced break was great too – nothing to do but read endless books, sleep in hammocks and sunbathe – it was good to stop moving for a few days. I'm not sure I'll fast like that again, but at the risk of sounding like a granola-eating hippy, the pre-fast definitely taught me something about my body and what different foods do to it. We both have the best intentions to make some changes to our diets going forward. Right! My full English breakfast has arrived, so I'll have to end there. Next stop Ko Samui!
PS. Thanks Jo K for providing the title for this post. We did not smoke pot.
Only a handful of the people staying there were actually fasting, the rest were doing yoga, meditation or (trying to type this without my eyes rolling, or putting inverted commas around it...) spiritual healing. It definitely made for an interesting selection of people on the beach. There were 3 other people doing the fast at the same time as us – two professional traveller / yoga-instructors and one bricklayer from London who seemed to have ended up there by mistake. My first morning fasting Sarah and I joined him in one of the yoga classes, and I sat next to him at the back marvelling at the strange shapes the lycra-clad people seemed able to pull themselves into. They were all so bendy its a wonder they can walk straight. I didn't go back. The bricklayer however had also accidentally booked himself a week's worth of yoga classes, so dutifully trudged up the hill to sit on his mat every morning.
Perhaps not surprisingly, on the 4th day (when we were released), I felt horrendous. It was like I'd been concussed - light-headed, dizzy and slightly sick. This is normal apparently - 'it takes a week or so for you to feel the real benefits'. Hmmm. Sarah felt fine, and looks better than ever. We spent our last day at The Sanctuary sunbathing, recovering and eating only fruit. It takes about a week for your body to get used to eating real food again, so you're meant to introduce things slowly, starting with fruit. After fruit comes 'raw food' (carrots, essentially), then cooked veg, then carbs, then fish, then meat. I've developed my own plan where when I get hungry I eat, and if I get very hungry I eat a lot. I felt pretty hungry yesterday morning so whilst the chips and burger at 11am may have been overkill, they did taste amazing and I don't feel concussed anymore so that must be a good thing right?
All this said, we did really enjoy the experience. It's something I don't think we would have tried (willingly) back home, and we met some interesting people we definitely wouldn't have met otherwise. The forced break was great too – nothing to do but read endless books, sleep in hammocks and sunbathe – it was good to stop moving for a few days. I'm not sure I'll fast like that again, but at the risk of sounding like a granola-eating hippy, the pre-fast definitely taught me something about my body and what different foods do to it. We both have the best intentions to make some changes to our diets going forward. Right! My full English breakfast has arrived, so I'll have to end there. Next stop Ko Samui!
PS. Thanks Jo K for providing the title for this post. We did not smoke pot.
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