A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEALING

andBeyond’s new wellness programme in Bhutan offered the prospect of personal transformation. Could it also help my daughter and I find each other again?

- Words: SHAMILEE VELLU

My daughter, M, was 11 and entering that tender, uneven stretch between childhood and whatever comes next.

Her moods were capricious—something might delight her one moment and irritate the next. She'd grown wary of touch, suspicious of instruction, quick to retreat behind slammed doors and glowering expressions that plainly refuted her insistence that she was “fine”.

I'd like to say I met this budding adolescence with serene understanding. In truth, I often answered her barbs with irritation of my own, my patience eroded by work and the escalating demands of adult life. It was clear that easy solutions were not forthcoming.

So I took her with me to Bhutan.

Officially, I was there to experience the new wellness offering at andBeyond’s Punakha River Lodge. The luxury safari company, long associated with its excellent conservation-led lodges from Africa to South America, is part of a wider shift in luxury adventure travel, where wellness has moved from side note to central focus.

“A decade ago, wellness in travel was often interpreted through a narrow lens,” said Nicole Robinson, andBeyond's chief marketing officer. “Today, our guests are no longer just seeking escape; they're seeking recalibration. Wellness is no longer confined to a treatment room—it shapes how people sleep, move, and connect.”

That evolution also reflects demand. The modern traveller typically arrives overworked, underslept and digitally overstimulated, and wellness-centred tourism is now projected to surpass US$1 trillion (RM4.1 trillion) by 2028.

Privately, I had another agenda. I wanted a few days in which my tween and I might find reasons to like each other again.

EVOLVING FOR WELLBEING