PAMPERING has its limits. Mine came after the archery lesson and before the aromatherapy massage. It was my second day of the two-Day Stress Reduction Programme at the Gold Coast Hotel.
I realised that becoming beautiful, chilling out and turning off the mind, was hard work.
The Gold Coast Hotel is Hong Kong's $3 billion Biosphere tucked away in Tsuen Wan. The 100-acre resort/conference centre offers respite and recreation to those who want to escape the madness of weekday hustle and pretend they're someplace else.
This Garden of Eden with its giant swimming pool, 450 rooms, and palm-fringed view of Castle Peak Bay is only a 30-minute hoverferry ride from Central.
Thumbing through brochures for the Spa's Weekend Spa Package brought back memories of past spa holidays. One Christmas holiday was spent fasting in Palm Beach, Florida at a cheap, no-frills compound where a sun-tanned octogenarian responded to 'doctor' by his adoring 'nurses'.
Then there was a week at a mountain retreat outside Los Angeles. For a dozen inmates, the reward for non-stop mountain hiking, aerobics, yoga and weight-lifting was raw vegetables, no coffee and an hour-long massage, if you could drag your body up the hill to get it.
Miracles aren't promised at the Gold Coast Spa, only implied. I hoped the stay would erase the creases on my forehead, the bags under the eyes. And healthy eating would kick out my favourite toxins.