We arrive in Samui

We arrived on Samui Island at 12.30. As the ferry had taken longer than we expected, we only made it to the airport with a minute or two to spare. It was wonderful to see Helen and we had a good laugh about the prospect awaiting us. A running joke is that I would following in the footsteps of a another faster who could not take it anymore and caught a taxi in the middle of the night to the 24-hour Burger King in Chaweng Beach. And I had a car.... We decided that Helen would have to sleep with the car keys under her pillow. But what if she got the pangs at midnight....

We were very disappointed when we arrived at the Health Oasis. Parts of Samui are not the prettiest due to the rather disorganised and relentless development along the road that rings the island - and our resort was in one of these areas. However, it had a magnificent location right on the beach. The real problem was that the resort was rather rundown and didn't match our expectations. After seeing our cottage, we asked to check out alternative accommodation. Not much better, I am afraid, so we settled on the cottage. We would just have to make the most of it.

We went to the restaurant for lunch, which turned out to be a bit of a trying time when they could not get Helen's order of a caprese salad right and twice came out with a carrot salad. I tried a "liver flush" drink, which consists of orange juice, olive oil and garlic, among other things. The taste was decidedly odd...

We decided to take a drive around the island and check out Chaweng Beach, which is the busiest and most interesting resort. At least we could look at all the five-star resorts and dream. As we drove along, But was very quiet. But then he piped up: "No television, why you stay this hotel?" We roared with laughter. Of course, he was thinking about himself and the prospect of spending a night without TV. Unthinkable - and on a football night! Of course, he was quite right. Why were we staying in a rather crummy place that didn't even have TV in the rooms?

As we passed Lamai beach, we decided to check out the Spa Samui, where we had considered booking earlier. We struggled to find it, but when we pulled up outside we immediately decided that this was more to our liking. We rushed in and enquired whether a villa had become available. Sorry, fully booked. And what about your pool bungalows? Sorry, fully booked. "But you can try the new hotel next door," the receptionist suggested.

We walked next door and discovered that the hotel, My Q, was in a pre-opening phase. It looked rather lovely, with a huge foyer overlooking a swimming pool and a nice beach. And the moment we were shown a room we were sold - THIS is where we wanted to be. A lovely big room with a big balcony overlooking the sea, lovely big double bed, aircon, television....yes, this was more our style!!!

We haggled about the price and finally decided that Helen would have a seafacing room and I would opt for a mountain-facing one directly across the passage. We would pay the going rate for five nights and get two nights free. Sealed and signed. And Mr But was more than delighted with the change in fortunes...TV in the room!

We hurried back to the Health Oasis and informed them that we would be leaving. The lady at reception took it gracefully, but still charged us for a night. We were almost whooping with delight as we packed the car and left for the other side of the island.

We checked into our lovely rooms and hurried next door to the Spa for a delicious supper overlooking the sea. Helen had a brown rice salad and I choose three dishes, a veg curry dish, a baked potato and a plate of pumpkin. Divine!

So, we had finally arrived. Tomorrow morning we would have to be at the detox centre to register, pay and start our treatments. The saga was about to begin....