I stayed at an inimitable family-run ranch in Canada a while back. Echo Valley Ranch & Spa, near Kamloops, had me cocooned between a desert canyon, mountains and valleys, and was by far, the highlight of my Canadian rambles.
From their Thai massage therapists to the Thai-inspired architecture, and gourmet meals cooked from home-grown produce before your eyes by super-talented, executive chef, Jason Folk, you are nurtured daily towards optimal mental and physical health. Their border collies walked me back to my room at night (without fail!), and my mornings began with colourful banter with the resident turkeys. Eagerly learning to horse-ride, Western-style, and hesitantly learning to brown bear-spot, Echo Valley Ranch & Spa (without the mental clutter of TV or Internet) allowed me to rediscover the bare bones of nature, and get back in touch with myself. Run by Norm and Nan, my hosts could not have been more hospitable. Their ranch is also their family home, and I ended up feeling like an extension to their family of staff. I'll warn you, they are extremely difficult to part goodbyes with! I'm a changed person. July 2014 proved to be the month where I had a chance to step back, lay back and look back. In my cocoon of a technology-free world, I had much time to reflect and re-evaluate, and time to ponder many previously unasked questions about my life, my health and me.
I visited the pioneers of Ayurvedic tourism, at their hotel-cum-clinic, on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. Barberyn Reef Ayurveda Resort is the apex of professionalism within its field. My experience was an eye-opener, as well as a back-opener, a chest-opener and a mouth-opener. I spooned in multitudinous Ayurvedic tonics, popped various herb-based pills, mixed and swallowed various esoteric powders, and got slathered in herbal pastes, medicated oils and ghees. Synchronised Ayurvedic massages, herbal baths, acupuncture and special treatments prescribed for your niggling ailments are the highlight of each day, where several times of the day, you are treated from the inside out, by the inimitable Ayurvedic cuisine. It’s a no-nonsense kitchen, and having snake gourd curry for breakfast, steamed lady's fingers for lunch and string hoppers for dinner became my norm (despite the sound, they're vegetarian dishes!). My initial reservations of living in a TV, mobile and caffeine-free environment went out with the first purgative treatment. It's amazing how fast you can rid yourself of unhealthy daily habits, and actually begin to enjoy uncomplicated solitude, and looking forward to pots of (some, unheard of before) herbal tea preparations. Once I began noticing changes to my health, I was bouncing off to yoga at 6.30 a.m. every morning. Then there are the locals, many of which work at the resort. The Sri Lankan people are true ladies and gentlemen, in the most literal sense - calm, gentle, warm, refined, cultured and mannerly, and you soon fall under their charming spell. There were a couple of them that I wanted to take home with me. But that’s another story… The people of Sri Lanka have won me over. I know I’ll return to their shores… |
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