Relax - The one about the last hurrah

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JOANNE'S JOURNEYS: day 1
Straits Times Online Editor Joanne Lee shares about her 'grueling' one-week detox holiday in Koh Samui in this exclusive blog feature.

LOOK out Tucson, here we come! Woohoo!

Well, we're not really off to Tucson. That was just a line from the movie Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion that my sister and I found particularly funny and it kind of applied to us last night when we set off on our first-ever sisters-only holiday together. I'd been invited to review a new-ish resort Absolute Sanctuary (www.absolutesanctuary.com) in Koh Samui, Thailand's premier yoga and detox resort - and I thought I'd bring her along for the ride since we've always wanted to do a sister-sister spa thing together.

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!
[Photo: Absolute Sanctuary]

It's going to be a bit more than just a spa holiday though: I've agreed to go on a seven-day Ultimate Detox programme - something that's not going to be pleasant, but something I really need to salvage this aging body of mine. Too much boozing and unhealthy, irregular eating habits has rendered me the heaviest and chubbiest I have ever been in my entire life.

One each at Bangkok Airways Skyview Lounge
at Terminal One.
[Photo: Janice Lee Fang]

Still, we're not going without at least a last hurrah - a can of Heineken at the airport and a glass or two of red wine with our Bangkok Airways meal. The direct flight to Koh Samui is a little over an hour and we were giggling a fair bit already on board while re-watching one of our favourite growing-up movies on Janice's iPhone - Pretty Woman.

Treated like VIPs on board Bangkok Airways PG 962.
[Photo: Joanne Lee]

By the time we arrived at Absolute Sanctuary's premises, it was about 9pm local time and there were no guests to be seen anywhere. Since it was so quiet and the hotel receptionist very apologetically said they did not serve alcoholic drinks there, we took one look at the "mini-bar" and decided to hop a lift to the nearest town Chaweng for a night cap.

The very unusual mini-bar.
[Photo: Janice Lee Fang]

Our last hurrah at Chaweng!
[Photo: Joanne Lee]

Two drinks later and a bit of night-time sight-seeing, we hightailed it back to the hotel to get a good rest before our first proper day at the beautiful Moroccon-style villa resort before midnight.

How were we to know what we were truly in for the next morning?

- Find out more in day 2's blog entry: The one about "absolut" of a very different kind

The one about the last hurrah

By Joanne Lee, AsiaOne | Mon, Aug 17 2009

It's going to be more than just an ordinary spa vacation in Koh Samui this time.