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Bored and tired of visiting typical spas in hotels, shopping malls and office buildings? Looking for something that is both different and interesting, brings you back to mother nature and rub off a bit of colonial Singapore -  all at the same time?

Yes indeed, The Lush Spa is uniquely situated in the Singapore Polo Club where time seem to have sat still since colonial days in Singapore and rich locals and expatriates come to the club for their daily horse rides and to sip tea in open verandas.

Located off Thomson and Balestier Road and just across the former Police Training Academy, the Singapore Polo Club is now a private social club that offers it’s members and the public a little different from the typical country club by incorporating horse-riding, polo games and equestrian training into it’s scope of activities.

The Lush Spa is located on the 2nd floor of the clubhouse with a bird eye view of the lush green polo riding field.  The reception area of the spa is decorated with spa products and a small seating area on the side.

My hubby and I were met and escorted by our therapists to a large couple’s room, with two massage beds, a jacuzzi and a steam/shower bath. The spa room was large and has very high ceiling with windows all round.

Large and airy couple’s room -
note the lush jungle just outside the windows

You can literally look out to the primary jungle that came almost to the edge of the windows and hear crickets and birds throughout our massage session. When heavy rain started towards the middle of our massage session, the pitter/patter of rain on the high ceiling added to the rustic and cosy mood of the room and we thought we were back in exotic Bali!

We began with a floral foot bath and followed by their famous Lush Signature treatment. For this treatment, olive oil was used to massage our body.

After 45mins of a full body massage, I was so reluctant to get up. My masseur softly whispered to me that my treatment was over and would wait for me at the relaxation corner to have my cup of tea.

Couple’s Hot Tub -
why must spas always have a large clock to remind you of time?

While we were enjoying our tea, the spa owner approached to ask for feedback. As it was raining heavily, we were unable to leave the Spa, hence we sat back, read the magazines and waited for the rain to stop.

The spa owner informed us that this Spa started originally by offering only mobile massage services to corporate offices. Their mobile massage popularity grew and hence they they decided to open a permanent spa boutique. Not only do they provide mobile massages services, they also organize spa retreats and spa parties for corporate offices and personal social parties alike.

The small but comfortable rest area

Would I come back? Yes, if I want to smell and feel mother nature all round me when I have a spa session. This is literally the only place in Singapore where a signboard cordon off certain part of a carpark beside a primary jungle and it reads - “Do not park here - Falling durians”! How more rustic can you get in urban Singapore?

My only concern is that prices are a little higher than typical similar spa boutiques and they do not seem to tie-up with any credit card companies for any promotions or discount. However, the spa owner was nice to offer us a 15% discount when we asked for one! So, although there may not be any typical credit card offers, do remember to ask for a discount directly at the cashier!

Note: While located in a private club, members of the public may visit the spa and the various F&B outlets in the club without restrictions.

Location of The Blush Spa @ Singapore Polo Club, 80 Mount Pleasant Road S(298334)

Size: Small size spa with all private rooms. Hydro-massage bath and jacuzzi available in some of the rooms.
Facilities: Small toilet and rest area
Friendliness: Polite staff and good massage therapists.
Pricing: Starts from US$40 for a facial, wrap or bath. US$80 for Body massage. Various spa and beauty packages available and starts from US$120.

Like many countries, spas in 5-star hotels in China has gone upmarket as well. Gone are the days when mainland China spas are dodgy, performed only Chinese TuiNas or has poor service attitude.

Many of the 5-star and resort hotels in the big cities are competing to bring in the best spas and many are marketing their in-house hotel spa as a key attraction. I stayed 2 nights in Crowne Plaza Hotel in Xiamen, China and was able to use the fitness centre, swimming pool and spa to great satisfaction.

Crowne Plaza, Xiamen at night

The Crowne Plaza is an international hotel chain that tends to cater to business traveler than the leisure traveler. Even then, 5-star business hotel tends to provide a good swimming pool, fitness centre and a spa because even business travellers would want these facilities as a minumum in a good business hotel. The Crowne Plaza is less than 6 months old as of this date and is centrally located in Jiahe Rd in Xiamen, China. Because it is so new, the fitness centre, swimming pool and spa are relatively devoid of people and I enjoyed great individual attention when I was there.

The swimming pool was a relative small one and one can only do 20meters laps. However, ample sunshades and deck chairs were provided for one to enjoy a tan and a swim. I also used the gym which was a little small and lack the full range of fitness machines although it had the necessary running, cycling, sit-up machines and a full range of loose weights.

The Gym

The changing room also had a full complement of sauna, steam and hot pool and the facility attendant was very attentive and was always around with a fresh towel. Once I had finished using the facilities and changed up, I went over to the Touch Spa located on the same level. The Touch Spa is a local Chinese spa chain that models itself after the top luxurious spa chain in various parts of the world. Due to it’s upmarket image and service, it is now the residential spa facility in Sofitel, Sheraton and Crowne Plaza chain of hotels in China.

The Touch Spa in Xiamen is nicely decorated in traditional Balinese concept and has 11 single and 1 couple rooms done up nicely. All rooms come with toilet, shower and rest areas. Some rooms even come with a hot pool.

The service attitude in the spa is top-rate and service staff would give a slight bow and greet you whenever they pass by you. The spa offers all traditional forms of massage including aromatherapy, Thai, Chinese Tui Na, foot reflexology as well as a host of facial and body treatments.

There is also a rest area that has comfortable sofas and soft music for you to relax after a massage session. One good extra mark for this spa is that you can choose to relax in this room as long as you want. Because the spa is still relatively new, there are not many customers and I had the entire rest lounge to myself.

Prices tend to be a bit high by China’s standards. As an example, a aromatherapy massage for 60 minutes would easily cost US$80 not including a 15% service tax added to the price. As a guest of the hotel, you are entitled to a 25% discount which is effectively only 10% given the 15% tax.

Will I return? Well, if I am busy with work and cannot hunt for a good spa, then I’m prepared to pay for the upmarket price. As much as it is expensive by China’s standard, the prices offered are still competitive when you compared with major cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing or Singapore.

Pix credit: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com

Location of The Touch Spa @ Crowne Plaza Hotel Paragon, Xiamen, China No.199 Jiahe Road, Xiamen 361012, China

Size: Upmarket, luxurious Mid size spa with all private rooms. Hydro-massage bath and jacuzzi available in some of the rooms.
Facilities: 11 single and 1 couple luxurious massage rooms. One area dedicated for foot massage and the other for rest.
Friendliness: Polite staff and good massage therapists.
Pricing: Starts from US$40 for a facial, wrap or bath. US$60 for Body massage. Various spa and beauty packages available and starts from US$120.

Busy urban people all over the world practise Yoga today. Many people see it as a therapeutic exercise that strengthen the body and relaxes the mind.  Much research and articles has been written about how Yoga brings about wonderful benefits to busy people and Yoga classes are the top exercise routine in many fitness studios.

I practise Hartha Yoga regularly too. I know there are various forms of Yoga but Hartha Yoga suits me fine and I’ve been too busy to explore other forms of Yoga. Imagine my surprise when I read about Facial Yoga. This certainly sound interesting…

A wrinkled face is not a good look but as the years catch up with you, short of going under the knife there’s no way to avoid it.

Or at least there wasn’t, until a new set of facial exercises called face yoga promised to turn back the clock, returning your face to its smooth, youthful prime, without a scalpel in sight.

Face yoga has already won devotees among the forever-young-looking celebrity crowd, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston said to be big fans. It’s the brainchild of New York yoga teacher Annelise Hagen, who teaches it at the swanky New York Health & Racquet Club.

You can read an article and see pictures about Facial Yoga at this website

Facial Yoga is also known as Happy Face Yoga because many of the facial postures in Facial Yoga revolve around different kind of smiles. I guess smiling always make one looks younger and fresher and perhaps that’s why Facial Yoga exercises tends to smile a lot.

You can check out some of Facial Yoga videos below. If you practise Yoga in a studio, you may want to ask your Yoga instructor the next time you see him or her about Facial Yoga!

Source of quotation: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Does any of the following impulses apply to you?

1. Love to turn bathroom into private ’spa sanctuary’.
2. Love the smell of spa products?
3. Enjoy pampering oneself?
4. Have good fingers and love to DIY?
5. Thinking of starting a small home business?

You know, I have always thought that the best job in the world is when your job becomes your hobby and your hobby is your job! Is that possible? Can job and hobby become one?

Many of us buy spa and aromatherapy products because we love the smell or like to pamper our skin. Have you ever stop and added how much these spa products cost? Many of them can be quite expensive. Have you ever thought of making them yourself? Can making such spa and aromatherapy products be a viable hobby and business at the same time?

I have been reading a DIY guidebook on making spa and aromatherapy products. The thoughts of making potpourri, fragrance sachets, home-made soap, aromatherapy blends, balms and bath salts certainly piqued my interest.

Hey, what if I can expand my home spa products DIY handicraft into a small home business? What if I can package them nicely and sell them to the many spa or massage boutiques I am familiar with? How about friends and colleagues who are fans of spa and aromatherapy products as well? With recession and job loss being rampant nowadays… I never know if such skills can become useful one day?

The Handcrafter’s Companion
Create spa-quality products for fun and profits

In this guidebook, you get a concise guide on what are popular spa products, how to make them, where to source for ingredients, tools needed, health and safety aspects of spa products, the kind of niche spa business market available and how to market your spa products.

An amazing range of spa products are covered and these include fragrant potpourri, bath salts, balms and lotions, handcrafted soaps, bubble baths and aromatherapy blends.

The author first starts you on a broad overview of spa product ingredients and tools needed to make them. She then moves on to health and safety aspects of making spa products, go into branding, marketing, packaging and selling issues and then move on into recipes and techniques to making the various spa products.

You are guided throughout including useful measurement conversion tips, where to source for wholesale spa ingredients, techniques to make variations and flavors of the same spa products as well as useful web references.

Useful spa product making tips and guides

This guidebook is available on electronic format which makes it easy and convenient to have around. I am a fan of e-products because you can easily have it on your computer or print out individual pages for easy reference.

What do I not like about this guidebook?

There are simply not enough pictorial reference. For example, how does lavender or nutmeg or cinnamon looks like? It would be good if there is a picture for each popular spa ingredient so that it is easy for a beginner that is new to DIY spa products to relate to it.

I also do not like that there is no contents nor index page for easy reference. It can be quite tiresome to scroll up and down when a content or index page can make searching or referencing the various recipes a much easier task.

Many recipes and ingredients guide for home-made spa products

If you are looking for a basic home-user guide to start your spa products making adventure, then this will be a useful guide. You can start with tinkering to make a few basic products and then see if this is a hobby that will grow on you. If it does, there are many more other but more expensive good reference books which you can refer to later. If it is not your cup of tea and turn out to be a passing fancy, then you would not have spent too much money and effort on this e-book either.

Be a little bit more adventurous! Kick off your own spa and aromatherapy making adventure by purchasing this guidebook! 

Once again, I’m back in Bangkok, Thailand for a short weekend trip. This time, it is not for business but solely for leisure….. i.e. shopping, dining and most importantly, visiting a Thai Spa. Nice bliss from work anytime!

I have been to Bangkok so many times but was hardly familiar with Bangkok’s shopping malls. There were simply too many shopping malls, too many shops and too little time. I also tend to spend too much time at street markets, checking out Thai eateries and visiting spas that I hardly have time for shopping malls.

This time, like a good shopping tactician, I made plans to shop solely at the Central World Plaza. My online research tells me that The Orientist Spa is also located at the Central World Plaza, Bangkok. Further research indicated that The Orientist Spa is famous for using traditional Thai herbs and techniques to give visitors the full benefit of traditional Thai spa and massage traditions. This certainly sounds interesting and worth a visit.

There are three Orientist Spa branches in Bangkok and they are Ari Branch, Ladprao Branch and Central World Branch.  Each branch is conveniently located near subway stations in Bangkok. Since my target was The Central World Plaza, the Orientist Spa of Central World Branch was my target.

Central World Plaza

The Central World Plaza , a huge recently renovated mall, was formerly known as the World Trade Centre. There are two main big department stores in Central World Plaza, namely the Zen Department store and Isetan department store.In addition to these 2 key anchor departmental store tenants, you can find food courts, supermarket, cinemas, shops and plenty of restaurants. This shopping mall has more than 500 shops and no less than 50 restaurants. Many famous international brands and almost all Thai brands are well represented here.

It took me and my girlfriend some time to locate The Orientist Spa at Central World Plaza since the complex is so huge. The Orientist Spa is located on the 6th floor near the Toy R Us store. As we did not make any prior appointment, we thought we might just try our luck to see if there were any vacant slots.

The reception area of The Orientist Spa is bright and comfy with soft music and a strong herbal aroma floating from the oil burner. On each side of the reception area, there are comfy sofa for guest to seat and relax while waiting for their massage.

Reception Area

We asked if there were any slots available for massage and the soft spoken lady handling the reception apologized that there were currently no empty slot till two hours later (we were at the spa around 1pm). She also explained to us their spa packages and we eventually booked for the next available slot. We went for further shopping and make short work of the two hours wait.

We started our spa session with a serving of cold flowered tea and was asked to choose the type of oil we would like to use for our massage. The 3 kinds of aromatic oil were their own in-house blend, Thai herbs and Lavender oil. Both my girlfriend and I chose our desired fragrance and shortly our masseurs greeted us with the traditional Thai ‘Wai’ greeting. We were then led to our treatment rooms.

Private treatment room

Surprisingly, the spa is quite big, I saw many treatment rooms along the walkway and one area solely for Thai massage as we walked to our dedicated treatment room.

I wanted to tell my masseur that I would like to take a shower before I start my treatment. However, before I could say anything, she asked if I would like to take a shower. This is so attentive.

We had opted for a 2hrs & 15 mins Orientist Refreshing Body Spa Package which consists of a Scrub with curcuma/grape seed, a facial mask with curcum and a 60mins aromatherapy massage.

Overall, I enjoyed the treatments. However, the initial part of the massage was not very comfortable as perhaps there was too much oil on the palm of the masseur and she slipped off twice in a row when she was trying to massage my back.  This caused some discomfort and I believe this was due to the lack of experience of the masseur.

Another setback was that the treatment rooms are not sound proof and I could hear the person next door chatting away with her masseur clearly. Either the spa should make their rooms more soundproof or discourage their masseurs from engaging in loud conversation with customers.

The Orientist Spa is perfectly poised as an exclusive relaxation oasis to relax and relieve tired and over-shopped shoppers and tourists in this large shopping mall. Do look out for it if you are ever shopping in this part of Bangkok.

Tips: If you are a tourist or first timer, the spa offers a 20% discount on top of the regular price.

Location of The Orientist Spa @ Central World Plaza, Bangkok
Level 6, Asian Senses (Dazzle Zone), Central World, Rajdamri Rd, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Size: Mid size spa with mostly private rooms. Hydro-massage bath and jacuzzi available in some of the rooms.
Facilities: Mid size massage rooms. One area dedicated for foot massage and the other for Thai massage.
Friendliness: Polite staff and good massage therapists.
Pricing: Starts from US$20 for a facial, wrap or bath. US$40 for Body massage. Various spa and beauty packages available and starts from US$70.

Pix credits: http://cdn.wn.com and http://www.theorientistspa.com

Spa Thematique, a boutique spa located in Holland Village, Singapore has brought a recession-busting spa package known as Spa Unlimited to the local spa market. Spa Unlimited is uniquely designed to stretch your spa dollars for today’s lean economic time.

I had called the spa earlier to make an appointment. The person who answered my call was a man. I had certainly called quite a number of spas in my lifetime but this was the first time a man had answered my call! Luckily, he was very polite and answered my questions without any hesitation. He recommended me to try their Spa Unlimited package.  I was eager to find out more and the gentleman said that he would get his colleague to return my call.

A couple of hours later, a lady returned my call and explained their Spa Unlimited promotion. In a nutshell, the Spa Unlimited is something like a Spa Buffet. In a spa menu consisting of a massage therapy, a foot therapy, a body pampering session, a waxing session, a facial and a ear candling session, a customer can choose to do one, two or all of the sessions in the menu for one fixed price.

For food buffet enthusiasts, this is your spa equivalent of a buffet - eat some or eat all you want! (Booking conditions apply; please call and check with spa before rushing down!) My friend and I opted for all the treatments in the menu except the body pampering and waxing sessions.

The Spa Thematique is tucked away on the 3rd floor of the Holland Shopping Centre. For those new to Singapore, Holland Village is the place where yuppies, stylish youngsters and expatriates in Singapore hang out in trendy shops, side-walk cafes, al-fresco restaurants and pubs in the day and especially at night.

Reception Area

The Spa Thematique is designed in an Oriental concept, complete with oriental decor, furnishing and furniture.  A lady attended to us and asked us to change into house slippers and locked our belongings at the locker at the reception area. We were offered Lychee tea to sooth our throat.

The lady led us to our treatment rooms.  We were told to undress and lay down on the massage bed.  I was surprised that our masseur did not go through with us on the treatments we have opted.  As this Spa Unlimited package consisted of a few different treatments, I asked the masseur what were to be the sequences of the treatments. Only then did she explain to me.

Private Treatment Room

Nice reflexology chairs

We started off with the 60 minute Oriental massage (which is a combination of Shiatsu and Javanese massage techniques), ear candling, a facial (cleanse, tone, mask and massage) and ended with a foot bath/reflexology.  The entire treatment took about 3 hours. All these for the incredible price of S$150/- or US$100/-

Overall I enjoyed the treatments especially the foot reflexology.  I believe Spa Thematique is a relatively new spa fighting in a tough spa market and would like to congratulate this local boutique spa for:

1. Providing a nice comfortable spa and massage ambiance in busy Holland Village
2. Giving ultra value to spa goers with their Spa Unlimited concept

Spa Thematique has the right location, the right decor and the right ambiance to go far. However, they will need to work on their “people-ware” to give more vibes to their customers - more smiles, more friendliness and more willingness to explain what they’re doing. Singaporeans and expatriates are used to receiving warm smiles and friendliness from visiting spas in Thailand, Indonesia and China and will want to expect the same of Singapore spas; especially smaller boutique spas.

They also need to tone down their marketing hard-sell; no one wants to be sold spa packages when they’re relaxing and enjoying their treatments. Do it after treatments; never during treatments. Remember, customers are always more receptive when they have been spoiled and pampered but can get annoyed when disturbed while enjoying themselves.

The next time you are in Holland Village to shop, eat or drink and feel the urge to pamper your head, body or feet in a nice and cosy environment, do make a visit to Spa Thematique. You can’t go wrong with their Spa Unlimited package!

Location of Spa Thematique, Singapore:
211 Holland Village, Holland Road Shopping Centre #03-40 Singapore 278967
Tel: 6469 6949 http://www.spathematique.com.sg/

Opening Hours: 10.30am to 9pm (last appointment is 7.45pm) daily
Size of Spa: Small/Medium with private treatment rooms
Facilities: Steam Bath, Hydro-Bath, Showers.
Friendliness: Friendly receptionist.
Pricing: Massage starts at S$85. Facial, waxing, scrub and other spa treatments available.

Disclaimer: This review was done with compliments of treatments by Spa Thematique. The staff and masseurs were neither aware nor informed of my visit. Neither did the management influence nor edit this review. I want to thank Spa Thematique for wanting a neutral review. This will benefit Spa Thematique, spa-goers and the spa industry in the long term.

Spa owners may write to me if they wish to have their spas reviewed personally by me.

I spent another weekend in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is one of the richest country in Middle East and obviously, the rich and famous here are spoilt for choice when it comes to pampering themselves.The weather is super in Qatar at the moment. The day time is in the mid 20C and make walking and driving enjoyable. We drove around the city of Doha, visited an Old Shouq (marketplace) as well as check out some nice restaurants and hotels in Doha.

I came to know about Sharq Village & Spa from a Qatar guide book.  I read that the spa in that hotel resort is managed by the Six Senses Spa so I took the opportunity to check out this spa when we decided to have lunch at the Sharq Village.

Sharq Village & Spa is indeed a luxurious 5 stars hotel.  It is situated on Doha Bay which is only 5 minutes away from Doha International Airport. The hotel is well decorated in an Arabic Village style. The main building host the Reception, shops, meeting rooms, bar, lounge and a restaurant.

Within the Sharq Village & Spa houses the Six Senses Spa.  It is located on one side of the hotel.  The design of the Six Senses Spa is very different from a typical spa.  The beauty & uniqueness of this spa is that it is designed like you are walking along a quiet and peaceful Middle Eastern village with old wooden doors, mud-hardened floor and billowing Indian cotton curtains.

The Six Senses Spa is of 6,500 sq.m with 23 treatment rooms. There are four separate spa villages each offering a variety of treatments.  As you enter the huge entrance (a traditional wooden door with drop down curtain), you will see 3 reception tables on your right.  Spa facilities like the gym, jacuzzi, sauna etc are on the 2nd level.

A gentleman approached and explained to me the Spa treatments & facilities. The Six Senses Spa offers all the traditional treatments such as Swedish, Thai, Balinese and Aroma massages. The spa has dedicated areas for yoga, meditation, tai chi and other wellness practices, as well as relaxation rooms and prayer rooms.

As Qatar is an Islamic country, ladies are also offered a private entrance and reception, a private gym and exercise area, as well as a full-service beauty salon offering hair, nail and henna tattoo treatments.

To be honest, I was very tempted to try out the spa. However, we were there for lunch and decided we’ll make a decision while having lunch. Well, lunch brought me back to my senses and I decided I had too full a lunch that I couldn’t possible have a massage for another 3-4 hours at least. (Buffet lunch at the Sharq Village was superb…with entire fish and even lobster served but that’s another story altogether)

I also decided that since I would be back in Singapore in a day or two, paying 2-3 times what I would normally pay in a good spa in Asia was a no-no for me.

However, if you are ever in Qatar and have the time and money to spare, you must certainly check out the Six Senses Spa in Sharq Village. Or at least check out the superb buffet lunch at their restaurant…

Location of Six Senses Spa, Qatar:
Ras Abu Aboud Street, P.O.Box 26662, Doha, Qatar
Size of Spa: Large, with private treatment rooms
Facilities: Jacuzzi, Suana, Gym. Separate man and woman facilities
Friendliness: Extremely friendly
Pricing: Did not try but believe to be US$120 and above for massage treatment

We look after our body by working out at the gyms and relaxing in spas.

However, time and tide waits for no man or woman. We do get sick. And the biggest killer in most developed countries today is cancer. All of us will surely know at least one friend or relative who have succumb to cancer; some, unfortunately at a very young age.

Despite great advances made in modern medicine, cancer still remains as one of the modern killer that still has medical science stumped. We are no nearer towards a medical cure for cancer than we were 40 years ago.

Where modern medicine fail to cure, in step alternative treatments. Many such treatments are just old wives’ tales. Some are plain quarks. Some are just unproven hypothesis.

But stories of successful alternative treatments has always persisted. Patients whom the doctor has diagnosed as being terminal often turned to alternative treatments and has doctors stumped when they realise some-one they diagnosed as being cancer-terminal later walks away cleared of the illness.

These alternative treatment ranges from Qi-gong to herbal remedies to alternate diets. What are the more believable treatments? Has there been more ’scientific’ research?  What are the cure statistics? How do we differentiate from the more believable alternative treatments to the hocus-pocus treatments? Who have actually survived using alternative cancer treatment methods?

A research team shows there are over 350 existing natural and alternative cancer treatments which have shown to stop or slow down cancer. People have used these gentle and non-toxic treatments instead of or alongside conventional treatment, or after conventional treatment has failed.

The research compilation shows testimonials of thousands of patients who have followed these alternative treatments together or separately with modern medicine and had their cancer slowed down or cured.  This include patients suffering from bone cancer, breast cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, Ovarian cancer, malignant melanoma, lung cancer, liver cancer and prostate cancer.

If you have always been interested in alternate cancer cures but do not know where or how to differentiate the better alternate treatments, these series of well-researched e-books compilation will be a good place to start your research.

* This article is offered for reference purpose only. Further research and consultation with your doctor is strongly advised.

The popularity of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Massage has spread far and wide from the shores of China. This is true even in the Middle East where products and services from China are not always well accepted or respected.

In the basement of the 5-star Sheraton Doha Hotel and Resort in Qatar, along with classy hair and beauty salons, is a small Chinese traditional medicine clinic run by a qualified Chinese Physician. The clinic offers traditional Chinese treatment such as acupuncture, moxibustion, detoxification and cupping.

In addition, the clinic also offer traditional Chinese foot reflexology and Tui-Na massage as part of it’s services. You can tell that this is a very popular massage service in Qatar because despite opening from 10am to 10pm daily(except Friday), you can hardly find a free slot to make an appointment for treatment.

I tried the 1 hour foot massage. Before starting treatment, I was required to fill in a personal particular form and also to indicate if I was suffering from any medical ailment. I was also required to have my blood pressure taken. Despite having Chinese reflexology and massage all over the world, this was the first time I ever had to go through such scrutiny!

In respect of Islamic culture as practiced in the Middle East, the clinic was divided into a male and female section. The massage therapists are all from mainland China and I was told that female therapists may only provide foot and head massage to male clients and body massage will be provided by male therapists for male clients.

The 1 hour foot massage included a foot wash in hot water before the actual foot massage begun. The foot treatment was very typical Chinese foot massage and I had to ask the therapist to increase the strength and intensity of the massage. I was told that most clients here are Caucasian expatriates or local Arabic and their average pain threshold are not too high. Despite that, it was still a very popular service among both expatriates and local Qataris alike and the booking calendar runs over especially over the week-ends.

I was offered Chinese tea after the treatment. Because I speak Chinese, I was surrounded by the therapists after a while because quite a few of them are pretty home-sick and wanted to speak to some-one who was able to converse in Chinese as none of their clients could speak Chinese.

Unfortunately, despite being located in a 5-star hotel, the clinic was not well furnished and feel more like a run-down TCM clinic located in the poorer districts of Chinatown rather than the typically well designed massage boutique you can expect to find in a posh shopping mall or hotel. Hence, I did not want to stay long as it did not have the conducive environment I would like to relax in after a massage treatment.

This despite a whopping 180 Qatari Riyah(@US$50) for a 1-hour foot massage and 200 Qatari Riyah(@US$55) for a 1-hour Tui Na massage. You can pay half that price in Singapore or one quarter that price in mainland China for a similar treatment but in a much more nicer ambiance and greater facilities.

I guess it will be a while before I return.

Location of International Chinese Body Care House:
Sheraton Doha Hotel & Resort
Al Corniche Street, West Bay, Doha, Qatar
Size of Clinic: Small, with separate treatment rooms for male and female clients
Facilities: None. No rest area. No changing area.
Friendliness: Not that helpful if you do not speak Chinese.
Pricing: About US$60 for foot massage. About US$65 for TuiNa massage. Upmarket rates for a non-up-market environment.

Pix credit: http://www.qia-qatar.com

Have you always wanted to have a spa party for yourself and friends?

How about getting your girlfriends together, enjoy a spa and massage, have high tea and receive a spa goodie bag all at the same time? Sound fantastic?

Well, check out what Totally Spa is offering you at this exclusive Weekend Spa party on 20, 21 and 22nd February 2009. Note:  Applicable if you are in Singapore during those days only.