A Thai coddling on my trip into White Lotus country

In Phuket and Koh Samui, Annabel Grossman gets a taste of what it’s like to holiday like the ‘one per cent’ – and uncovers a few hints of what viewers can expect from series three

- Annabel Grossman

Looking out over a sleepy bay from my hillside villa at Layan Life on the north coast of Phuket, I’m feeling just like Jennifer Coolidge. Or perhaps more accurately like Jennifer Coolidges’s White Lotus character, the wildly wealthy and hopelessly clueless Tanya McQuoid (RIP).

My skin still carries a light sheen of coconut oil from my morning massage, my muscles gently ache from the posture realignment in the afternoon and my stomach feels pleasantly – but not overly – full from the carefully curated meal just prepared by my private chef, taking into account my specific dietary requirements.

I had come to Thailand as part of a mission to uncover what we can expect from the new season of the hit HBO series – and it all seemed to be going rather well.

By the time I reached Phuket after a spin through Koh Samui, it had very much been a non-stop array of extravagant meals, golden beaches, sprawling villas and impeccable service. So far, so White Lotus. Fueled by a desire to see this part of southeast Asia before the White Lotus crowds descend and make the islands even busier, along with a borderline obsession with the first two seasons, the plan was to snoop my way around the hotels where the show was filmed and dig out some clues as to what will make season three different – while getting a taste of holidaying like the one per cent.

The fact that a Four Seasons hotel would feature had seemed like a no-brainer to me (both the first two seasons were filmed in these swanky resorts in Hawaii and Sicily), so with my limited time in Thailand I was going to focus on the Anantara hotels.`