With the world out of sight, Phuket’s Six Senses Hideaway keeps your body open to all of nature’s goodness
The last dregs of lethargy, brought on by recycled air in airports,and pressurised airplane cabins were cleared from my brain by the tangy sea breeze. The boat crew handed me a chilled towel rolled around a thick lemon grass stalk. I broke the stalk and the refreshing aroma of lemon grass infused itself into the cold towel. I dabbed it on my face and realised that my holiday had started.

I was on a speedboat zipping from the marina in Phuket towards the island of Koh Yao Noi in the Phang Nga Bay where the Six Senses Hideaway was located. The word hideaway is apt because the moment I stepped into my private villa there, I realised that this is where you could come and get away from it all. Each villa has its own infinity-edged pool (which seems to melt into the sea) with sundecks and is attended by a personal villa team trained to anticipate every whim. The bamboo theme goes brilliantly with the surroundings and the view from the lounge chairs on the edge of the pool is very soothing.

I was soon longing to go out and explore. The resorts water sports centre was the perfect one-stop for all this. The next day I spent scuba diving and canoeing around the Phang Nga Bay’s towering limestone crags.
Having worked up a raging appetite, I headed to the Living Room restaurant. A lesson learned that day was the Thai tongue relishes spice and the chef will charge your food with a volcano if you give him licence to go flat out with the spiciness of the dish. I found this out to my great discomfort but the waiter had seen this twist of events before and thus replied to my desperate pleas for water with a glass of milk. She told me that water would add fuel to fire whereas milk cuts spiciness the best. She was right.

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