The Ultimate Chill out....

We arrived on Ko Phagnan with a particular destination in mind and unlike the other backpackers on our ferry it wasn’t the famous full moon party.

We were headed to the remote beach of Hat Thien, to a place with a growing reputation amongst travelers and twenty somethings, The Sanctuary , a detox and yoga centre set on the beach surrounded by jungle.

Way back in London, I had booked us in for a fast and general detox and was delighted once I checked out our Thai style bungalow complete with separate circular bathroom and huge balcony complete with Hammocks.

I settled into the pace of the Sanctuary pretty much straight away, the restaurant was amazing, all organic with over 300 vegetarian dishes available. Even better the menu was organized so that you knew exactly which dishes you could eat pre fasting and which ones you could eat post fasting and on which days.

There was also a lovely spa attached to the Sanctuary with massages, facials, hot steam rooms and every sort of beauty treatment which overlooked the jungle.

Even better were the 11/2 hour Yoga classes set right up the mountain in an open air yoga hall. I attended these as much as possible and my Yoga instructor was one of the best I’ve ever had.

So I was loving it and preparing for my fast but Curt was very very bored. He found it difficult to settle down for a week, was restless, unhappy that the food was more expensive than the rest of Ko Phagnan and desperate for some excitement. We had discussed him leaving for Ko Tao to dive but money was becoming very tight as we had both spent far too much money in SE Asia and so that plan was scrapped.

Eventually ( after some extremely noisy and unpeaceful fights) we compromised with taking day trips to Hat Rin where we went shopping, lazed on the bigger and whiter beach there and fulfilled curts need for cheaper slightly less healthy food.

While this was going on I started my fast. I had to drink a mixture of clay and herbs on every alternate hour starting at 7am which encouraged internal cleansing and priobotics on every other hour. I also had two colonics which had completely scared me before the fast but turned out to be not bad at all, even kind of relaxing in a trippy sort of way. I would just lie back on my back in a special bathroom, let me gravity controlled colonic go to work, listen to my ipod and emerge an hour later as light as a feather.

I wish I had ended up doing the seven day fast but time and money prevented me. I will definitely definitely go back for that and sooner rather than later.
Curt and I both came away with lasting things from the Sanctuary, Curt came away far far better with firesticks due to all the time he had to practice. I came away with absolutely no desire for sweet food which seems to be lasting now a week or so later….
If you get the chance to be on this side of the world, The Sanctuary is highly recommended!