The Five Habits for Successful Living... (Spa Samui)

Member Name: helencb

Product:	Spa Samui
Date:	13/02/06 (2264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They know what they are talking about..!

Disadvantages: Distance

Spa Samui Resort has been featured on a couple of “reality” TV shows on Channel Five over the last couple of years, notably “Celebrity Detox” and a similar show tracing a week in the life of four otherwise unknown Brits who travel to this Spa looking for improvements to their health and wellbeing. It was the former show which prompted me to first look at the resort via the internet about eighteen months ago, and after sharing the link with my sister, I had forgotten all about it, until she advised me that she planned to visit the Spa towards the end of her four month trip to Asia. Before I knew it, I was booked and on my way for a nine night stay.

Spa Samui first opened on Koh Samui, Thailand in 1992, following a health wake up call that the owner Guy Hopkins had following the death of his mother. The Spa now comprises of 71 bungalows spread over two sites – the Spa Village, and the Spa Beach. The Spa Beach is the older of the two, and building work is underway to create more accommodation at this property. The two properties are approximately ten minutes apart in the resort of Lamai; about twenty minutes drive from the Island’s extremely pretty airport.

Although the Spa has a vegetarian restaurant listed among the top 50 in the world, most guests come here in fact to Fast for seven days, to detox and cleanse their systems and the site advocates a healthier lifestyle through its “Five Habits System to Longevity”. These five habits are Cleansing, Breathing, Food Combining, Meditation and Peacefulness and Exercise.

Why Detox?
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It may just be seen as the latest fashionable thing to be doing to our bodies but the fact is, here in the UK we have the worst record for colon health in Europe. Consider the changes to our diets over the last 100 years ago and even longer, when food was scarce. Today we don’t give our bodies our chance. On top of that there is the environment we live in, and the products we use on our bodies, all with substances that were not meant to be absorbed into our bodies! Diets don’t work, as we spend a fortune on them annually, but rebuilding our body at a cellular level, by ensuring we have enough of the right nutrition that we were designed to eat works. Some of the superficial benefits of detoxing become obvious fairly quickly, such as clearer skin, less tiredness, weight loss, cellulite reduction, better sleep, but a longer approach should see some of the symptoms of even “incurable diseases” such as Asthma, adult onset diabetes, ME, arthritis, can even retreat given time. We have so many diseases today which are widespread and yet seem to be symptomatic of our modern lifestyles.

I did detox at a centre about 16 months ago and afterwards I felt healthier than I had done in perhaps ten years with all niggly little health issues disappearing. Gradually over the last ten months real life got in the way, and with a new job and new routine, plus other pressures, meant that I had lost my way a bit and I was recognising that some of those minor ailments might reappear if I didn’t try and get on track – hence the reason for this trip to Samui.

Reservations, Accommodation, Getting there, and Checking In
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The reception staff are very prompt at replying to availability requests via their website (www.spasamui.com) and I found an answer always came back to me overnight. I made my booking via email. There is no secure facility for credit card guarantee for the booking, and they do ask for this to make the reservation, although you do not pay a Baht until you check out. For speed, I emailed my credit card to guarantee, although I accept this was not wise and it would be better to call and confirm this once you have the dates and accommodation type of your choice.

Accommodation at the Spa is unbelievably cheap when compared with Western prices. I had a “Thai Panoramic” bungalow, with king size bed, AC, fridge, safe, shower room, TV and very spacious verandah complete with hammock all for 2000 Baht for the ROOM per night. This equates to 25 GBP excluding any fast program, meals or treatments. There is accommodation available from as little as £6.41 a night, and all have their own bathroom although some only have a fan and not air conditioning. The suite, with its own private outdoor shower area is 3000 Baht per night.

My room was very comfortably furnished and was serviced every day. The reception area was fairly large, with TV and sold health products and books, as well as housing a small library built up of previous guests’ books. There is also an internet café, with four machines, meaning there was hardly ever a wait, and a small travel department who could arrange sightseeing trips around the Island.

The most sensible way is to take the Bangkok Airways flight from Bangkok, and these fly several times a day in each direction for about 3500 Baht each way. You will arrive at what has to be one of the prettiest little airports in the world, it is just adorable!

You can go overland via bus and ferry too, from Bangkok for around 400 Baht, but unless you are back packing and on a tight budget the extra time and effort don’t seem worth the net saving.

On arrival at the airport, you can get the Limo Van to the resort or take a cab, which should be about 200-250 Baht. The Spa does have its own minibus service, and they will take you back to the airport for 250 Baht, or £3.20.

I arrived fairly late in the evening, and reception were expecting me. I was swiftly shown to my room and my luggage was carried up to my bungalow for me. All the accommodation is dispersed among the vast and very steep grounds. Unless you have the legs and lungs of a mountain goat, I would seriously consider against the Panoramic bungalows as the journey up in the heat and while fasting can take its toll on you! There was absolutely no way I could have lugged my case up the slopes and 40 steps to my accommodation! The benefit of these rooms (apart from the fantastic view) was the proper AC unit; many bungalows just have fans, and the heat was something, even in December

It is recommended that you pre-cleanse prior to starting a fasting program, and I was asked if I had managed to do this. I hadn’t in full, part due to weakness on my part, and part due to the fact that I had just been travelling for 24 hrs, when pre cleansing is difficult to achieve. I was advised to do one day of pre-cleansing and I could still fit in the seven day fast within the limits of my schedule. My sister had checked in for over two weeks and was able to do three days following the pre-cleansing diet before going on to the fast. She had been travelling for months though and wasn’t eating the best diet any longer, having grown slightly tired of Asian food!

Pre-Cleansing…….
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The Pre Cleansing program involves 2-10 days of eating lightly to prepare the body ready for the 7 day program, or it can in fact be done at home as a rejuvenation program itself. It is very straightforward and involves a Liver Flush Drink twice daily, and a diet of fruit and salad or lightly cooked vegetables. Meat, Rice, Pasta, Alcohol, Coffee and Dairy are all off the list! The Liver Flush drink is actually very tasty and can be made by blending 2tbsp olive oil with 0.5 tsp cayenne, lemon and orange juice, ginger and garlic. This cost 75 Baht at the restaurant.

…..and the Fasting Program
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The seven day Fasting Program at Spa Samui costs $260 US for the seven days and includes a comprehensive program to ensure that the effort is worthwhile. It has to be stressed that Fasting does not mean Starving, and the elements of the program include five detox drinks daily, intestinal cleansing and herbal nutrition tablets, clear broth and coconut water twice a day, and carrot juice. The only ‘extras’ are the carrot juice and coconut water at 75 Baht and 20 Baht respectively. (Coconuts are abundant on this island with two million a month being harvested!)

The important thing to remember on a fasting program is that you will need to be on some kind of schedule to accomplish everything you need to do, and it is therefore unlikely that you will want to, or have time to be doing a great deal of sightseeing, particularly in the first few days as you are trying to figure out if you really can survive without eating!

Detox drinks comprise of pineapple juice or watermelon juice mixed with bentonite clay and psyllium husks. This should immediately be followed with a glass of water. These are essential for giving the colon a good clean out, and elimination of any mucoid or partially digested food, which may have built up on the colon walls. A few people may find the drink hard to take, but most seem to have little problem with it. Drinks are available from the Detox centre under the delightful restaurant and are scheduled every three hours from 7am until 7pm. The nutritional tablets are scheduled every three hours from 830am to 830pm. This means that every 1.5 hours during the day you will be drinking something. There are weighing scales at the Detox centre, but to be honest the focus here is not on weightloss as much as it is on cleansing the body. The approach isn’t a quick fix for weight loss and I doubt it is sustainable anyway if old habits are not broken.

The soup itself reminded me of a stock cube, and while I didn’t have too much difficulty in taking it others found it too bland, although it could be livened up with lime juice and garlic or coriander.

The coconut water was great for building up electrolytes and we were encouraged to take two coconuts daily.

A key part of a detox program such as this is to eliminate waste matter and toxins from the colon. The body is getting a seven day break from digestion essentially, and the colemas are important to ensure that the toxins which have been dumped into the colon are not simply reabsorbed. Two colemas should be administered daily, and these are self administered in your own bathroom, following adequate instruction from the Spa staff. Those who have not been exposed to this kind of treatment often say that they cannot imagine having it done, but the procedure is totally painless, can be relaxing and you feel great afterwards. And the tube which goes inside you is less than 0.5 cm in diameter so you really have nothing to fear!

The Spa uses Coffee colemas which are extremely powerful in decongesting the liver. Garlic colemas can also be used if parasites are suspected in the colon.

Given that I didn’t eat for seven days, I rarely felt hungry. I had mild nausea on the second day, but this is normal as your body is detoxing and the best way to deal with it is to just go with it (or go to bed!) as it will soon pass. Or have a coconut!

It is important to rest too, and while I was always up by 6am, I was usually in bed well before 9pm, and for the first few days, I had several cat naps in the hammock too! What are holidays for?

Other Treatments/Services Available
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The Massage Sala is an open sided massage room which can accommodate up to about 8 people at one time, and was open from 10am daily. There was a vast range of treatments to try here, and all so competitively priced. Typically a Thai Massage would be around 300 Baht per hour. The treatments that I tried included a Thai Massage with oil, (which hurt like hell!), a Thai Herbal Facial, a Thai Clay Facial, which included a session in the steam room in the price and Ampuka, which is an intense treatment concentrating on massaging the colon, but all other energy points within the body too (and this hurt too, but it is great to do if you can immediately before a colema). I also had ear candling at 700 Baht, and managed to shake of my persistent earache which I had been suffering since my journey out to Koh Samui. Reflexology is also offered. Although having treatments such as this in the open air is unusual for westerners, in general I found the experience very enjoyable.

The Steam Room is a wonderful large room which could probably house 15 – 20 people. It is built partly into the rock at the Spa Village, and the steam comprises of a mix of around 30 different herbs so it is definitely effective in unblocking the sinuses as well as opening your pores. Using the Steam room while cleansing is extremely beneficial as the skin is a large organ for elimination and plenty of toxins are being released during this fast. Admittance to the Steam Room costs 200 Baht for up to one hour (several short sessions) and includes a sarong, towel and use of the outside shower nearby.

Yoga and Chi gung classes were offered practically every day at around 845am at the Yoga Sala. This followed the morning’s one hour meditation session, which is a great way of starting the new day.

Tea Ceremonies are held each week, and this gives you the opportunity to try different Oolong teas and have a chat with SanBao the Chi Gung instructor. You can also purchase traditional tea pots, taster cups and sniffers and tea – I really enjoyed this session, and I am not a tea drinker normally!

Neil, the other coach in the morning meditation sessions also offers hypnotherapy. Following a telephone chat, I did decide to have two sessions with him. I won’t go into the detail (indeed he advises you not to discuss it with anyone after the session), but I did find the sessions themselves extremely powerful and motivational. These take place in the privacy of your own bedroom and cost 1500Baht per session, which although much more than most treatments at the resort is still cheap by western standards.

Reiki is offered on a donation basis for the first session. I did try and arrange an appointment but was unable to fit one in unfortunately.

The Spa Beach offers Cooking Classes. A fellow guest did take part and advised he was shown how to cook a three course Thai Meal. Cooking is done in pairs and is eaten in pairs (i.e. you cook a meal for two), although you don’t have to have a partner with you to participate. Again at around £20 a head this is a very cheap way to get insight into the technique of a great chef, and the fellow guest felt like it was five star dining, and very straightforward to make.

FOOD!
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I did manage to eat a few proper meals at the restaurant, and all were beautifully presented, very healthy and very cheap. Typically a dinner would cost around 85 Baht or a little over £1. After breaking my fast on my final evening, I enjoyed a wonderful Greek salad, followed by a pineapple softy with cinnamon (pineapple pieces pushed through a Champion Juicer to make the most wonderful Pineapple “Ice-cream”. I also enjoyed some stir fried vegetables with roasted garlic on my first day, and cabbage rolls. I was sorry that I could not stay for longer after my Fast (as it is generally easier if you do, and because I wanted to sample more of their fine menu.)

They do have wines on display, although given the nature of the Resort I think I only saw one bottle being opened during my stay!

Final Thoughts
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One thing that struck me throughout my stay was the high levels of service provided by the Spa staff. They were prompt with every request and only had to meet you once to know your room number. Some 35 of the 100 staff at the Spa are family members of Toi Hopkins, the owner’s wife, and this is very much a family run business. Members of the management team were regularly on hand at meal times to answer any queries or concerns about the fast or on health in general.

I also found the Spa Village resort a very pleasant place to stay. While this was not the most active holiday I have ever done, due to the fasting program, it was wonderful to have nine days to myself just catching up on books I wanted to read, and lazing about in my hammock, while doing my body a favour!

Compared with the previous spa centre I had been to, I definitely preferred this one, as nothing was pushed upon you. Of course if you wanted to do well at the detox program itself, you needed to make sure you were taking the detox drinks and supplements regularly, but there were no sales talks at any time as there had been for loads of products at the previous centre. The staff were flexible and would make takeaway drinks, if you did want to go down to the beach for the morning or visit the (very cheap) shops.


There are always critics of any alternative therapy, but I know I would rather find an alternative solution to health than to rely on the medical system here in the UK, with its focus on treating the symptom rather than removing the cause. Definitely Recommended. I hope to get back there sometime within the next couple of years! This trip has definitely given me the motivation I needed! Oh and I lost 11lb too.


www.spasamui.com

Spa Samui Resorts
P.O. # 1, Lamai Beach
Koh Samui, Suratthani
Thailand 84310
Tel: 6677-230-976
Fax: 6677-424-667

Be sure to pack an insect repellent – I was bitten to death!

(Exchange rate approx 78 Baht to £1 GBP)

Any questions, drop me a note or a comment and I will get back to you...(I stayed at Spa Samui during Dec 04)

Summary: A long way to travel, but worth it for their knowledge, the price, and the environment.