First day of detox at the spa

Sunday (Day 1)

Weight:            74.5kgs

Food:                        none

Liquids:            approx. 5 liters

First day of the fast.  The first day is usually relatively easy, day 2 ok, day 3 quite bad as the body really starts detoxing and energy levels are low, and from day 5 onwards, I usually start having lots of energy as the body feels rejuvenated.

I slept like a baby, probably no surprise after 36hrs door-to-door travel, and woke up at 0630am.  I go for a walk around the resort, which is on the quite eastern coast of Koh Chang, Thailand’s second largest island, in the east of the country, and itself a relatively quiet place, so far fortunately not touched a lot by tourism.  It’s a far cry from overcrowded Koh Samui.  After the walk, I officially start the program, taking the first of many detox drinks, part of the daily ritual of detoxing:

0700                        Detox drink

(a mixture of clay and some herbs, meant to clean out your colon)

0800-0830            Meditation

0830                        Supplements (pills replenishing minerals, etc.)

0830-1000            Yoga

1000                        Detox drink; morning colonic (yes, really)

1130                        Supplements

1130-1300            Massage

1300                        Detox drink

1430                        Supplements

1600                        Detox drink; afternoon colonic (yes, really, again)

1730                        Supplements

1730-1900            Steam room

1900                        Detox drink

1930                        “Dinner” (clear vegetable broth, my nemesis)

2030                        Supplements

I quickly research the available extracurricular activities.  On a fast, I usually get through 2-3 books and various DVDs, but at some point you always get bored.  The options include

·      Kayaking in the bay by the resort (which I shall do)

·      Cycling – there are various fishermen’s villages and waterfalls within 10kms, and the island has virtually no traffic

·      Trips to deserted beaches (yes please) and to the island’s resort towns (no thank you – no need to walk around watching tourists eat in restaurants)

·      Diving (which I love, but with the slight worry on how well that would go with a semi-starved body)

·      Reiki, Tarot, etc. (I might do both)

·      Elephant trekking in the jungle (perhaps)

·      Dental treatments at the resort’s dental clinic (we’ll see)

Actual activities for the day – unfortunately it’s the yoga teacher’s day off...

·      1.5hrs cycling and trying to trek to a waterfall in the middle of the native jungle along a “trail”; frantically leaving jungle after coming across an approx. 3-meter long black snake flaring at me

·      2 hours of Thai massage to recover from snake incident

·      Hours of sleeping in the sun.  On a fast I always get the weirdest dreams and plenty of them, while usually I never dream or at least not remember.  Today’s prize for weirdest dream goes to a dream in which a bank collapses, but literally the bank’s skyscraper headquarters collapses, too, with a friend of mine deciding to work to the last minute and effectively killing himself with the bank.  As usual, I also dream about food, albeit that usually only happens on day 3 or 4 of fasting.  It’s always the same thing – I dream of eating a piece of chocolate or some other sweet and panickedly wake up thinking I ruined the fast.

Another (potentially) fun part of fasting is socializing with other fasters.   While in the Koh Samui resort, there would usually be 1-2 dozen fasters, here on Koh Chang right now there are only 5 including myself.  Except 1, all have done multiple fasts already.  There is Eric, a German guy from Dusseldorf and incidentally a Wharton grad; Lisa, an English girl trying to get to fit into her dress for a wedding in 2wks; Wii, a Singaporean who I haven’t met yet; and finally Jason, a chef from England.  In fact, Jason is a Michelin-starred chef (L’Escargot) and has a habit to talk a lot about food and recipes.  He says fasting inspires him to come up with new recipes and just before he pulled out a little notebook with ideas for a degustation menu – incl. avocado & crab meat starter, calf’s liver, turbot, and a chocolate-pistachio ganache with creme brulée.  Fortunately Lisa starts talking about tripes, I lose my appetite again, and go for my “dinner” of clear vegetable broth...   where a french family with 2 small kids is having dinner at the table next to me.  They are not on the detox program (it is not a requirement to stay at the resort) and are having a full Thai dinner, on top of their small kids ruining half the relaxation of the place.  I’ll add them to my nemesis list, besides the vegetable broth..