THE convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby spent three hours yesterday in a Denpasar beauty salon close to the Bali hospital where she is being treated for depression amid concerns she could commit suicide.

Corby appeared well on the road to recovery, with inquiries by the Herald revealing that she had sneaked out of her hospital room over the past few nights to buy ice-cream at a nearby mini-mart. Store staff said Corby seemed healthy. "She was here, shopping with her family and the police guarding," said the counter attendant. "She bought clothes, even ice-cream. She was laughing. She doesn't look sick."

At the Gardenia beauty salon staff refused to say what treatment Corby received during her three-hour visit. Aside from hairdressing and facials, the salon also offers spas and massages.

The head psychiatrist at Sanglah Hospital, Nyoman Ratep, said the visit was permitted because the salon was in hospital grounds and she was accompanied by medical staff.

Corby was "doing better", Dr Ratep said, adding: "She's still being treated, she's still on medication". She would remain in the hospital for "a few extra days", Dr Ratep said.

Police also accompanied Corby, who made no comment but appeared upset when she discovered photographers had staked out the salon. She tried to leave through a back entrance, but discovered journalists were waiting there, too.

Leaving the salon, Corby tried to shield her face with paper, and then walked away with a blue baseball cap pulled low.

Corby is again in the international spotlight with the screening in the US of Ganja Queen , a shorter version of the Channel Nine documentary which was broadcast in Australia last month. It raised questions about the involvement of her family in drugs and admissions from her lawyers that they concocted parts of her defence. Corby has always maintained she was an innocent victim after being caught with a boogie bag containing four kilograms of marijuana in 2004.

She was transferred to the hospital from Kerobokan prison two weeks ago after doctors said she was suffering from hallucinations and depression, and had lost weight.