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Sun, sea and stretch: yoga for hedonistic hens
Spirit yourself away from wedding worries and head off to the paradise island of Phi Phi with your five best girlie mates. Get in shape for the big day with yoga sessions on the beach and get the blood flowing with some scuba diving. The perfect way to balance your Yin and Yang
Fretting over the wedding cake design and what colour to dress the bridesmaids in became a distant memory as soon as I stepped onto the idyllic island of Phi Phi.
A backpacker haven and famed for its diving, Phi Phi is a short boat ride from Phuket, one of the main resort areas in southern Thailand, and the chosen destination for my hen week. My five best girlie mates and I were more than ready to de-stress and chill out on a yoga retreat; for a week at least.
I was under strict instructions to banish all wedding worries while savouring my last girls-only holiday in style. So the six of us, sweating and red-faced under the fierce midday sun, flip-flopped our way to our gorgeous bungalow huts at Phitharom Resort, located on the west side of the island, just 10 minutes' walk from the pier.
Luxurious beach huts
Already, I could feel the stresses and strains of being a bride-to-be ebbing away. Phi Phi allows no motorised transport, so arriving in my rather upmarket beach hut - all varnished wooden floors and plush Thai silk bed linen - I could only hear the sound of waves lapping lazily at the shore and my fridge whirring to life in the corner. Ah, bliss.
But our Zen-like life of rest and relaxation, as we contorted ourselves into strange and startling shapes, was not to begin just yet.
Before our first morning class the following day at the very un-holiday-like hour of 7am (the retreat offered one morning and evening session) we had the tough task of beach bar investigation to undertake.
So after meeting our yoga instructor, an inevitably supple-looking Irish lady called Keira, we sauntered to the Reggae Bar, our first stop for the evening.
Bizarrely, as well as ludicrously strong cocktails, this seemingly innocuous place also offered ringside entertainment in the form of Muay Thai (kick) boxing.
Taking its toll
About four hours and far too many large rum and cokes later, we stumbled back to our huts, feeling drunkenly bonded but about as prepared for our morning yoga class as we were for a fight against pro boxing champs, even if they were ladyboys.
Sure enough, the next morning dawned and I woke to realise I'd slept straight through my alarm and missed the first class.
Embarrassment and nausea set in as I threw on my new Thai fisherman trousers and staggered to the lesson in a beautiful little room overlooking the sea, arriving just in time to miss the yoga and start the daily half-hour meditation exercise.
Meditation was about all I could manage. From that point, I decided to cut out alcohol for the rest of the week. There was no way I could derive anything worthwhile from yoga in a hungover mess. This turned out to be a wise decision, as kick-starting the day with 90 minutes of exercise, followed by meditation and a hearty breakfast, made us all feel wholesomely healthy and truly revitalised (if a little sore).
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