with 2,000 indigenous hardwoods and is filled with such flowering plants as heliconia, ginger and orchids.
(Clockwise from top left) A hair perfuming treatment offered only at Begawan Gin literally smokes the hair with perfumed incense as it dries.
A Jacuzzi at one of the villas.
The philosophy of The Source says that the more people are returned to nature for reflection, exercise and therapy, the easier it is for them to begin to experience their true inner healing and balancing energies.
Each of the five residences is drop-dead dramatic. They are testament to architectural achievement whereby built form and Jungle fuse in super-statement. There is now here more stunning to stay - or recline for a massage - in Bali.
There cannot be many swimming pool spots in the world that take your breath away quite like this. A stunning slab of black water teeters on the brink of Bali's most dramatic river gorge. The silence here is almost busy with a sense of spiritual activity.
Mandara Spa at The Chedi
The sounds of lapping waves on Bali's coast are swapped for those of lowing cows and crickets in the hilly country of Ubud. Far from the madding beach crowds, nature remains raw and abundant up here and the spas adopt an earthy ambiance in tune with the powerful landscape surrounding them.
The much photoghraphed Ayung River gorge in Ubud is often cited as one of the most beautiful in the world and one of the many benefits of visiting the Mandara Spa at The Chedi is its dramatic setting on the lip of this valley, hundreds of feet above the river. The whole hotel, including the imposing infinity-edge swimming pool, seems to tumble into the sheer leafy jaws of the gorge, made soft by a landscape stepped with trees.
Even that nostalgic image of maidens bathing naked at the water's edge is realized by the local village girls. So just setting off for a spa treatment down a leafy pathway of moss-covered stones, kickstarts that back-to-nature feeling before you even disrobe.
This mood au naturel continues as you lie under a grass roof of cathedral-like proportions before an audience of big banana branches and flapping palms. Outdoor bathing diverges from the spa norm and takes on a whole new meaning: your bath is sunk into a loamy lotus pond twice the size of the double spa villa, making any presidential suite seem meagre by comparison.
The pièce de résistance here is the Mandara signature massage, an other-worldly combination of five massage techniques. It is rhythmically performed, like a dance over your body, by two therapists working together in synch. Book it.
These soap bricks are mild and gentle to smell and to touch thanks to their 100 percent natural content. They are exclusive to Mondoro Spa
Like her sister hotel, The Serai in East Bali, The Chedi has a reputation as a foodies' hotel. Her fashionable cuisine is a topic for the chattering classes from Hong Kong to Los Angles.
The famous floral bath in action! In this context the flowers symbolize cleansing; they wash away bad luck. For Asian people flowers are part of everyday life, right down to ablutions.
Pavilion suites with steep, classic Thai-style roofs interspersed with landscaped gardens offer peaceful settings for practising yoga. tai chi and meditation.
Chiva-Som
Chiva-Som is the only dedicated health resort that blends the quest for physical and mental well-being with exquisite luxury. Interwoven with the grace of the Thai people, this is a spa in a class of its own. As a result, the world of spa-goers can be divided simply between those who have stayed at Chiva-Som and those who have not. People cannot get enough of the kaleidoscope of facilities: scrubs, wraps and toning treatments, hydro-therapy in all forms, iridology and Chiva-Som's very own equilibropathy, medical guidance as well as meditation on the seashore. And this is only a sampling of what awaits guests at this visually sparse yet karmic resort.
Most people come for a period of between three and 14 days: these are spent blissfully in a bathrobe, yet busily pursuing Chiva-Som's 'mind, body, spirit' philosophy with a programme tailor-made to help de-stress, overcome trauma or whatever. In between a session in the gym, an outdoor Thai massage and an introduction to tai chi at dusk, it's hard to find enough time to try the toys: water beds, flotation tanks, musical back massaging chairs..., let alone a gentle snooze by the pool.
Chiva-Som subscribes to the notion that diet and nutrition play a vital role in mind-body harmony. The kitchen caters for this with carefully controlled cuisine and a strict mealtime roster, offering a no-salt, no-fat buffet. However, the many lavish spa facilities and treatments take ones mind off food.
After all, at a US$26 million 'haven of life' (the meaning of Chiva-Som) with a staff to guest ratio of four to one, it's hard not to subscribe to the maxim that health and happiness are one.
Surely one of the most peaceful and luxurious 'wellness' centres imaginable, Chrva-Som overlooks the Gulf of Siam, just three hours drive from the centre of Bangkok.
The indoor spa area at Chiva-Som is enormous and full of facilities from a one-person jacuzzi pool to the innovative Body Blitz, a hydrotherapy treatment whereby high-pressure water jets directed at certain body areas work on lymph drainage to eliminate cellulite and smooth skin tissue.
Experts claim that half an hour in the Flotation Tank is the equivalent of eight hours' sleep. The temperature of the water mimics that of the body which is naturally supported by a saline solution. The feeling of suspension is designed to send you into limbo and leads to a deep feeling of inner relaxation.
One of the inner courtyard views, in keeping with the pared down mood of the pared down mood of the overall design style of the resort.
Mandara Spa at The Datai
The Datai resort offers a 'tropical' spa experience in one of its purest forms-immersed in the jungle. Every sense is invaded while you lie, open to the elements, in one of the four spa suites that are mapped out along a wooded stream far away from the hotel rooms.
