9 Apr 2006 – So yes, folks, I am well and truly in Hua Hin, Thailand now. It’s been a week since I’ve been here, and just today, I’ve had my first day off – pretty nice, it being a Sunday, though I don’t think this will be the long-term arrangement, too good to be true.
So let’s see, what have I been up to? Training, training and more training. Well, I’m here to work afterall. Yep, being a Health and Wellness Consultant puts me in the forefront in terms of the guest, hence I have to get to know every aspect of the resort, and CS has been absolutely thorough in that. Not only have I went round to meet all the different department heads and went “on tour” of all the various facilities, I’ve also had to try out quite a few classes, and as a bonus, almost all the spa treatments on the menu. Well, you know, part of the job, how am I going to explain to the guest what the treatment was all about not having experienced it for myself? And frankly, while at first my colleagues warn that I can actually get too much of a good thing and I didn’t believe them, I’m starting to see that for myself now. After being massaged in the same spot for 3, 4 times in a day, those muscles can get really sore! Almost to the point where you just want to say “Stop! Leave me alone!” Never thought I’d see this day – one too many spa treatments???
Oh, oh, let’s not forget those less than appetizing treatments as well, for instance, Colonics! For the clueless, it’s a procedure where they clean out your insides by sticking a tube up your anus and flushing bucket loads of water into your colon. Yeah, get the picture? Imagine how thrilled I was to have to do that… and what happened? Let’s just say I survived, barely.
On the bright side, my diet has definitely taken a turn for the good. Apparently 80+% of the guests here want to lose weight, thus all the food served is low in fat, low in calories, and has no added sugar or salt. In fact, lots of the ingredients, especially the veggies, are organically grown in the resort’s own gardens. It’s quite funny, under every item in the menu or at the buffet line, there’s a little note telling you how many calories and grams of fat that dish contains. E.g. lemongrass tea, which can be found everywhere in the resort: 0g fat, 0 calories – yep, a clear winner! Catch is that it’s also very diuretic, makes you wee tons! Which is also good, even if not convenient.
So as a H&W consultant, again, I get to eat stuff off the guests’ “spa cuisine” menu – ooh, very fancy… except that it’s all served cling-wrapped on blue melamine plates in the staff canteen. Haha! Let’s see, for dinner tonight, I had a Grilled Scallop Salad, Roast Lamb Cutlets served with Mashed Potato and Wilted Spinach and for dessert, fresh pineapple. Yes, I am back in tropical fruit heaven. Was suffering in Australia for the last 5 years. This is coming from someone who previously ate 10 servings of fruits per day, had to re-educate my tastebuds quite a bit downunder, BUT not anymore! Here, I can have more than I can swallow, all nicely peeled, deseeded and ornately cut too!
Work-wise, it has been pretty good indeed, busy but not too hectic nor stressful yet. Though those that have come before have warned that this is only the honeymoon period, so don’t expect it to last. Speaking of which, yeah, it’s quite a decent team of people that I’m working with – both “farangs” and Thais alike, everyone’s really nice and helpful and supportive, so far anyway. Belinda, another H&W consultant who’s been here 4 months is just great, she’s been an absolute star both in terms of showing me around the place and just sharing about her life and experiences. The other day, someone just mentioned though that this environment we’re in is pretty much like “Big Brother” and yeah, I guess it’s only a matter of time before I see the cracks in the picture. Not too soon I hope. Right now I’m quite content to think everyone’s an angel.
The biggest distress for me by far has got to be not having my Billie around me. Like geez, after being with the guy for 10 years, of which 7 we were living together, it does take a bit of getting used to not to have him by my side. The toughest part is at night in bed. Not that we’re the cuddly type, not for the last 5 years anyway, but still there’s a certain sort of comfort when you know your loved one is beside you when you’re sleeping. And hee hee, not to embarrass him too much but actually after all these years, when I was still back in Sydney, he’d used to still tuck me into bed every night, and always always planted a kiss on my forehead. So yeah, I definitely miss that. And you know, just the ease of having a man around, Mr Fix-It-So-I-Don’t-Have-To-Lift-A-Finger. Sigh… but that’s part of the reason why I opted to come right? To grow, to take responsibility for myself…
I must admit that at the moment, I’m still not that good with being alone. I’m alright around the resort and in my own room, but the thought of going into town quite scares me really, especially in a strange place where everything seems so foreign and I don’t speak the language. Yeah, haven’t gone much further than Sawadee kaa and Kop Khun kaa. In a moment of sheer recklessness, I did go to the new shopping mall (five minutes down the road) the other day to grab a few household items. And today, after a visit to the organic gardens with Angelika, my manager (who coincidentally started the same day as me), I took a little walk down to the beach, just a stone’s throw away from the staff living quarters. Indeed I did, for a grand total of 5 minutes! Oh well, baby steps… one day at a time.
Ok, that’s it from me for now. Not too bad considering I don’t even have internet in my room yet. Yeah will you believe it, I’m only typing this out on my laptop, need to figure out some way to actually get it uploaded. Oh well, tomorrow.
