Bawah Reserve. Tropical bliss in the back of beyond. – GAY TIMES – Gay Times Magazine
But there’s an angle to Bawah that there’s no getting away from, and it’s its Wellness thing. The whole place is meditative to start with, the nature getting you right there. The daily massages also help. The far-flug-ness, ditto. But then the people, which sounds like we’re on the verge of saying something very naff, are joyous. And take mental health very seriously. Without ruining anyone’s buzz, I’d just experienced a whole bunch of personal trauma back home and Lisa, who looks after this side of things, read me like a well-fingered book. She was therapy, against a backdrop of tropical beaches.
And Lisa was there, at the end, waving me and my mate off, crestfallen, or at least I hope she was. As the titchy propellor plane revved up its revvy bits to take us back to Singapore and then normal life, she handed me a little package. ‘I hope this helps.’ A collection of hand drawings, signed with a heart. Not only do you not get that at the Ramada, but these weren’t your back-of-loo-door doodles. I’m looking at them now, beautiful line drawings – some coloured-in, others waiting for the rainiest of days – and they’re like mini-Cocteaus.
It all came form a conversation we were having over Martinis (obvs) on one of the eastern beaches, just by the Jules Verne bar, and we were talking about mental health and the powers of meditation, and how colouring in can relax the fear centre of your brain – the amygdala – and what our favourite crunch biscuit is, the usual. And it turns out Lisa was taking notes.
Like I say, Bawah Reserve isn’t like anywhere else on earth. Give it a go yourself, if you think the schlepp’s worth it.