Wow! It has been an incredibly turbulent week and a bit... Ups, downs, in’s, out’s... It’s been emotional baby!
The detox itself – I lost 6.6kgs!!!!!!!! In ordinary English that’s a stone! Not that you’d really notice much, there is still soooo much more to lose!! But its a start, and I’ve lost inches around my tummy, hips, thighs and everywhere else that I took measurements. I definitely feel less swollen!
The not eating – that was relatively easy. There was only one day when I felt weak and I was in a ‘downward dog’ position doing the sun salutations at yoga at the time... I would feel a little hungry at night but nothing that couldn’t be ignored... The shakes were yuk but they kept you full even though they had no nutrition in them (just psyillium husk and bentonite which in plain language is fibre and a clay to pull out toxins). The nutrition came from the herbal pills. Treats during the day were carrot juice for lunch, coconut water for tea, and plain broth for dinner!!! And of course, the daily Thai massage and sauna. And as we were allowed ginger tea, it became a ginger cookie for a real treat!
No, what was hard, yet vitally important, and immensely, hugely fabulous, was the emotional detox which accompanied the physical. I can breathe. I feel happy. There is no undercurrent of fear, sadness, panic, self-pity. I simply feel happy. I can’t remember when I last felt this way. This is huge. The detox has achieved what months of therapy have totally failed to do. Clear my head.
(For those of you reading the ‘other site’ you can read my blog on the trials and tribulations of day one. It got better.)
All the uncertainty about what I was going to go – still there, but less so. I am definitely coming home. To stay. I’m a Londoner and I love my city and I want to live in my city, not travel aimlessly around. I’ll get myself a small flat, live more simply, and look for work. (Liz, if you’re reading this, I will come knocking for a long talk soon after I’m back!)
I’ve made some good friends here, we bonded over the shakes and what I will simply call the ‘straw action’... I hope we stay in touch.
Mostly we’ve been prisoners in the compound, tied to a timetable which involved doing something every 1.5hours. I started on some yoga and the stretching is good. I’ll try to keep it up when I’m back. Well, I do have a wii....! Sunday, four of us escaped to Thong Sala for some retail therapy which was a nice break, and today, Christa and I took the opportunity of our last day to go snorkelling. The drive through the island, into the hills and the jungle of palm trees was beautiful, breath-taking. After some fussing with the snorkelling equipment and the fact that I’m really not at all comfortable in water, I got used to it, and it was immense fun. And then into Thong Sala again for FOOD!!!!! I am having strange guilt pangs over going off-piste from the daily menu and have a barbecued corn on the cob. But it was sooooo delicious! And it had SALT on it!!! Soooo good to taste again! But I did walk on by the barbecued chicken, as I shouldn’t eat meat for another two days. (We have to build up our digestion again slowly). I also had a delicious fruit shake which had something called dragon fruit in it, a strange white flesh with black specks.
Tonight is a last dinner. The first dinner we can eat together. Vegetable soup. But it’ll be extremely good, the food here is all so good. And its simply just so good to be able to eat again!
Boat back to Koh Samui in the morning. Flight to Chiang Mai and I arrive in the evening. Haven’t booked my hotel, but am hoping the one that’s been recommended to me has space and will just see when I get there.
Thank you all for reading, your comments are lovely to read, reminding me that my friends are out there. I miss you all, and I’ll be back very soon. To stay.
