Soul searching in Thailand

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This running-away-to-Thailand holiday is going very well. While I do feel a bit guilty about ditching life at home as well as my poor beleaguered fiance (sorry, honey!) who is slogging through winter all alone, but on the plus side, I’ve successfully proven that a person can arrange a major trip on 8 days notice. A trip I think of as my soul searching in Thailand trip.

A health trip to Thailand

I’m staying at a little place called The Spa Resort on the island Koh Samui and feel – as I so rarely feel when I travel – content. And isn’t that what soul searching is all about? Not so much finding yourself, as no longer being fuelled by the need to search.

it ain’t fancy, but it’s home

Just what does soul searching in Thailand mean?

I have no desire to explore. I feel a bit guilty about that as well. How can I come to Asia and not run around at a frenetic pace? So much to see! Pai! Koh Lippi! But this trip is different. It’s not about much except writing, clearing my head and giving my frost-weary body a break. Soul searching in Thailand, or anywhere else for that matter, is as much about the inner journey as it is about places you are seeing.

So I suppose you could do a soul searching trip from your living room. But soul searching in Thailand is a lot more fun.

Why we need to get away

It’s amazing how you can wake up one morning and feel you need to get away. My body felt all sludgy and the grey skies were depressing. I thought I couldn’t run off on such short notice – that I couldn’t simply get up and take off without, you know, planning.

I thought of all the reasons I shouldn’t go. Too much to do at home! But then …. I decided to do it anyway. Because sometimes you just need to be alone, to take stock of where you are in your life – especially when you have just gone through, or are about to go through a life-changing event.

In my case it’s getting married. In fact, the morning that we signed the contract to hold our wedding at the Park Hyatt Toronto, is the same morning my fiance had to drive me to the airport. Coincidence? I think not.

Best time to walk on the beach

Soul searching in Koh Samui, it’s hard to find a better place

Koh Samui, a southern island in Thailand, is a good choice for running away, though many would say it’s overdeveloped. Hey, I’m not arguing it, but there are many layers here and you can find what you want. It’s friendly. I like the people. And there is health food galore.

And what did you eat today?

When you go on a trip for soul searching you don’t need to dwell on the big issues or questions all the time. Soul searching means concentrating on the simple things, in hopes that the big questions will sort themselves out when you can get yourself into a calm state of mine.

So I think a lot about healthy food. I started off the morning with (okay, I know this sounds gross) a Faster Blaster with Spirulina, which is something like coconut, prune juice and hm, can’t remember what else, but it sounded hearty enough to get me through the torture of morning yoga.

Plus, I was running late and had no time for buckwheat pancakes with goji berry sauce and fresh fruit, which would have been my first choice. Since then I have had a spicy Tom Yum Goong (spicy shrimp soup) and a platter of papaya and watermelon. And a watermelon juice. And this is making me hungry … is it dinnertime yet?

Yum. Let’s have something disgustingly healthy!

Soul searching in Thailand means tranquility

So for now, besides eating, this soul searching journey in Thailand is about peace and quiet. I’m having lots of herbal steam baths, lots of beachy walks, too much hideous deet repellent and a whole lot of coconuts and fried shrimp with basil and chilli.

No shopping. I’m too blissed out and deep for that. (Haha, I lied. I bought a $12 dress and feel a major shopping expedition coming on).

Lots of quiet time

But while I’m doing these mundane things, what I’m really doing is soul searching. Maybe because I’m getting married I needed one last hurrah – at least that’s what I said to Mark. (If you can call going to a health retreat in Thailand a hurrah. We all have our own ways of having fun.)

“You make marriage sound like a prison sentence,” he said.

But that’s not what I think at all. I just needed to revisit somewhere I spent a lot of time being single. And Koh Samui is it. It’s kind of like I’m introducing my past self to my future self, and guess what? I’m pretty sure they’ll get along.

Read more about Thailand:

Escape Winter with Wellness in Thailand, Travel and Escape magazine.

Am I the only person who hates yoga? Yoga on Koh Samui

Life lessons learned on a beach in Koh Samui

Choosing a hotel in Bangkok in Bangkok

Read more about Luxury in Asia