Are we crazy?

In the past when I heard of people going off to expensive health spas to starve themselves I could only shake my head. Imagine paying a fortune NOT to eat anything! However, as time has past and the weight has piled up, my attitude changed somewhat. So, when I read an article about the health retreats on Koh Samui where people lost 6 or 8 or10 kilos in only a week, I sent off an email to Helen and suggested the unthinkable. And she jumped at the chance.

Deciding which one to go to - there are quite a few - proved a major web surfing challenge. We finally decided on the Spa Samui Resorts, mainly because they offered accommodation in a two-bedroom villa with private swimming pool. If we were going to starve we wanted to do it in style. The cost would be around 40,000 baht (R10,000). However, when we discovered that the villa was booked, we switched to the Health Oasis spa, which could offer us a two-bedroomed beachfront cottage. As Helen was in Los Angeles, she would fly to Samui via Hong Kong and Bangkok. I would drive from Phuket, crossing from Surat Thani to Samui by ferry.

After going through all the literature and instructions, I started off with a seven-day pre-fast on Monday 19 May. Only fruit, veg and water. No coffee, no rice, no sugar. It was a little difficult, but luckily my friend But was visiting and he helped me enormously by shopping for trolley loads of fruit and veg, and then getting the meals together for me.

It wasn't too bad. There is a lot you can concoct with fruit and veg, and the amount is not limited. There were moments when I yearned for some Thai food, with a HUGE bowl of rice, but I survived.

Because I wanted to know how much I lost on the fast, I had to get myself weighed. Now, that's not an easy task in Thailand, where the scales mainly cater for the locals ie under 140 kilograms. Finally, my workmates located a scale that would take me - at a rubber purchasing shop. So three of us from the office set off and I was duly weighed. As the scale groaned under the onslaught, the Thai people in the shop looked on amazed.... One finally sidled up to me and said: "You must eat salad!" Little did she know that I was intending to eat nothing for a while...

I did not want to drive all the way to Samui by myself, so I used loads of emotional blackmail to get But to drive me there and handle the ferry crossing. On Saturday morning, 23 May, we set off at 6am. The adventure had begun...