Thailand

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• Temple of Secret Smiles - Cambodia
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• My Perfect Moment - Pangkor Laut
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• On Honeymoon Island, strictly alone at last - Phuket
• Our Ho Chi Honeymoon - Vietnam
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• Hanoi's New Dawn - Hanoi
• Saigon Surprise - Ho Chi Minh
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• Cherie blossom special - Japan
• Why they call Hong Kong toy town - Hong Kong
• Mysteries of the secret gardens - Kyoto
• The Geisha Game - Kyoto
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• Reach for the Spas - Thailand

TODAY'S TOP DESTINANTION SPAS are more like swish holistic hospitals than luxury hotels, where no (crystal gem) stone is left unturned in your quest for peak physical, emotional and spiritual performance.

They will detox you, destress you, rebalance you, banish fat and wrinkles, tone you up and even, in my case, excavate ‘sediments of sadness’ from your soul.

Nope, there is no neurosis or niggle that the crack team of nurses, naturopaths, nutritionists, body workers and other experts can’t tackle.

Chiva-Som has long been regarded as the best destination spa in Thailand.

Now the Six Senses Destination Spa, Phuket, has opened and is threatening its crown – not least because the new spa’s general manager was Chiva- Som’s founding manager.

As they jockey for position, Six Senses chooses a more spiritual route, with eco-spa and ‘fishetarian’ meals, while Chiva-Som is upping the scientific ante with a hot new medi-spa.

Both believe that for the best health MoT, an organic diet that is caffeine, sugar and salt-free is compulsory. Both offer organic wine by the glass after 6pm but it is not encouraged. Mobiles and laptops are banned in public areas.

It’s all so simple, chic and beautiful

Both provide various packages focussed on your individual goals (detox, anti-ageing, enhancing fertility etc) with all calorie-counted meals included and daily massages.

Spa trends are clear: raw food is rockin’ – fruit, veg and nuts are ‘cooked’ below 42°C to maximise nutrient content. Colonic irrigation is back in fashion and the workout of the moment is kinesis: both have kinesis studios that offer freeflowing movement against the resistance of metal cables.

Chiva-Som is the more urban – both in vibe and location. It is in the royal beachside province of Hua Hin, where the King of Thailand has his residence, two hours’ drive south of Bangkok.

The beach is built up and the sea is uninviting but it doesn’t matter. Inside the grounds you feel so cocooned in unobtrusive luxury that you have no instinct to leave.

Chiva-Som has an organic orchid farm, so flowers are abundant. Everywhere down the labyrinthine corridors leading to the 77 treatment rooms, there are strategically positioned stones, vases or Buddhas with floating lotus flowers.

It’s all so simple, chic and beautiful that it makes you want to cry, before you’ve had your first wellness consultation.

Mine was with renowned naturopath Sue Davis, who, like all the experts I encountered, was highly intuitive. It’s really the visiting consultants from around the world who help make Chiva-Som outstanding.

Most technically brilliant massage

They have at least two a month. Talking to Sue, who said that ‘85 per cent of the guests need help with emotional issues’, I realised what a multi-layered experience it was.

The quality and variety of help on offer is staggering: one minute I was having dead skin cells burnt off my face by a top plastic surgeon as he applied a collagen- boosting laser (ladies, the rejuvenating and tightening results were superb), the next I was on a massage table ‘opening my auric body to sound’ as a Thai man played spine-tingling music with a crystal bowl, calming brain waves.

As well as the most technically brilliant massage I’ve ever had with their physiotherapist – who lengthened one leg by an inch and alleviated long-term back pain – I had a plant essence reading with British flower essence expert Clare Harvey and spiritual healing (and sobbing) with Jacqueline Bourbon, who used to work for Richard Branson.

Both explained the emotional root causes of my burn-out and back problems.

After three days at Chiva-Som eating zingingly healthy food – did you know coconut water is nature’s own isotonic drink and has a similar electrolyte balance to blood? – I left feeling physically lighter but deeply nourished. Calmer and more positive. Location-wise, Six Senses steals the march on Chiva-Som.

Five minutes by speedboat off the east coast of Phuket, you arrive at a private island, Naka Yai, all pearly sand and piercing blue sea.

You begin your ‘journey’ by banging a large Tibetan gong twice and making a wish, before your butler takes you to your villa. Like Chiva-Som, every inch has been feng-shuied, but here every edge is rounded, so there are no hard edges to obstruct the flow of energy.

Everything is pareddown perfection – the neutral eco-chic bedrooms, exquisite landscaping, the infinity pool with loungers decadently positioned in shallow water. Like Chiva-Som, it’s not just the scale – 37 treatment rooms within an Indian, Chinese, Thai and Indonesian spa – but also the visiting consultants who upgrade your experience.

I had equilibropathy, a combination of acupuncture, Chi Gong massage and breathing exercises, with Dr Taworn Kasomson, who completely altered my posture and strengthened my back.

The choice of treatments is dizzying. I had blood analysis – useful as it highlighted mild anaemia – followed by Chi Nei Tsang, a deep abdominal massage, with Kelly, who excavated my ‘sadness’ by pinpointing my first rejection at a teenage dance. Uncanny. Six Senses is an A-list Mecca.

Hazy views of the Andaman Sea

Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan and you can see why. The raw food is seriously impressive, while the hotel’s carbon footprint is tiny as 95 per cent of everything consumed is local, with no meat.

This island is so romantic, with hazy views of the Andaman Sea, that it’s probably more geared to loved-up couples than Chiva-Som. Choosing is tricky.

Some might feel Six Senses’ sepulchral calm too much, others might think that the rooms at Chiva-Som are small. But I left both feeling mentally and physically rejuvenated, with my personal stock enhanced in every sense.