Notes From a Holiday

Eating well while on the road can usually be a challenge - you don't have a kitchen on hand to prepare nutritious meals, you're in a different timezone that's turned your whole system upside down, let alone your digestive tract, you've usually been flying for some time, so dehydrated skin and water retention or bloating (blechhh!) can happen. Basically - it's not pretty.  And add to that you're on foreign ground, so navigating your way to good food can be tricky especially if you're in some place off the beaten track, with no Google reviews (oh internet, we're lost without you). Fortunately, this last trip wasn't one of my usual journeys where everything described above is a common occurrence. I went away for some "me" time to one of my favourite places - Yoga Thailand on Koh Samui, Thailand. I was studying Pranayama and Ashtanga yoga with my teacher there. All food was provided for at the retreat, and there's always vegetarian, vegan, raw and sometimes fish/ seafood options on the menu. When I was there last year, I'd also added on a 7-day detox at their wellness spa. This year, I figured I'd skip the detox since I'd (kinda, sorta) done one already this Spring and just eat the really good, clean, unprocessed food they make. That's pretty much a detox in itself!

Everyday, the brunch and dinner menus are written up on a chalkboard. I took some photos to whet your appetite:

Every time I'm in Yoga Thailand and eating their delicious flax-seed crackers, I keep telling myself "one day I shall buy a dehydrator just so I can make these crackers. And kale chips. And dry my own fruit...". I'm being cheap about it as I just can't get over how expensive they are. :(

The food here is so good that they've even published their own "Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook". I've got a copy of it from last year and if you're looking for easy, fast and simple vegetarian recipes, this one's a good one. The majority are Thai and Indian recipes, with some raw dessert options too. Practically everything that's on their daily buffet menu is also published in this cookbook. I'd highly recommend it, especially if you're not a gourmet chef (in other words: LAZY), like me. :) Click on the picture of the book below to get to its link on Amazon:

I had an amazing time there, and it was good to reconnect with old yogi friends from before too. The retreat was hard work, with 5 hours of practice each morning, followed by afternoon lectures and another hour of practice in the evenings, but it was totally worth it. As it turns out, I didn't get to finish reading all five books I'd brought as (of course) I spent more time socializing than I thought I would. HA! Who cares?! I was on holiday... Now that school's out for summer, I'll have more time in the evenings to catch up on that backlog of reading. I'm already missing my daily fresh coconut juice, straight from the husk.

Here are some photo highlights from my adventures around the island, hope you enjoy them!