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Along the stretch of old shop-houses along Upper Thomson Road in Singapore is a unique massage palor, Wu You Lifestyle Therapy.

Upper Thomson Road has always been a hip hangout popular with young people and families alike with a good mix of eateries, cafes, pubs, hairdressing, facial, massage/spa palors and other interesting shops on both sides of the road. A little bit like a Holland Village (a hip/yuppie enclave in the West of Singapore) for the northern part of Singapore. You can take a public bus conveniently or drive to this area although parking may be a little problematic during weekends.

Wu You in Chinese means No Worries. I believe the owner of this massage palor wants to give his/her guests the pleasure of relaxation when they visit this small massage boutique. The words Wu You is also a very Zen concept and philosophy (meditation with no objects, anchors, or content)

Hence, I was not surprised that this massage palor was nicely and simply decorated along the clean lines of Zen philosophy. In the reception area, there is a water feature placed in a corner. It is a Zen concept that the sound of trickling water adds peace and calm to one’s mind. The rest of the palor were also designed along clean Zen line with neutral, earthy or brown colors as it’s main color theme.

Although this is a small massage boutique, the owner did not simply divide the massage beds using curtains so common of other small massage palors. Instead, each guest gets his or her own individual treatment room. This gives each guest absolute privacy, quiet and peace.

If you want to get the knots out from your muscles in a calm, quiet and nice place, come and visit this palor. Wu You is a great place to go to relax and get a decent massage unlike some of the other massage palours along Upper Thomson Rd which seems to want to squeeze as many massage beds into a small space as possible.

Keeping along the simplistic line of Zen philosophy, the massage menu is also simple and minimal with a only a few massage choices unlike the varied and complicated choices that some small massage palors may try to impress onto customers.

The massage therapists, which were mostly Malay as far as I could tell, are professional and good at what they do. A Swedish massage is less than $50 for a 60 minute session. I remembered I was one of the last customer to leave for the day when I visited Wu You a couple of months ago. The friendly therapist never failed to keep the smile on her face after what must have been a long and tiring day for her.

While I certainly loved the zen concept of this massage palor, I doubt I’ll make the effort to come all the way up here again unless I’m on my way to the northern part of Singapore. Nevertheless, if you are staying around Thomson area, then, I’ll certainly recommend that you should not miss this wonderful place. What’s more…food and drinks choices are aplenty around this area once you’ve come out from your massage!

Note: Advanced booking is recommended. I had to go back more than once before I could secure a place. This is apparently a small but very popular massage palor for the Thomson Road vicinity.

Location of Wu You Lifestyle Therapy
235 Up Thomson Rd, 574366, Singapore
Size: Small massage palor with about 8 private individual and couple rooms done in Zen concept
Facilities: Small shower and toilet area
Friendliness: Polite staff and good massage therapists.
Pricing: Starts from US$30 for a body massage. Discounted Spa and massage packages for members also available.

A new massage boutique palor is in town and judging from it’s decor and type of massage and spa services it provides, seems to be a direct transplant of one of the higher-end massage boutique palor from Mainland China.

Qian Zu Ge or literally, Thousand Feet Court, is a 3 months old massage boutique palor located in Balestier Rd, Singapore. The 5,000 sqf massage palor is nicely decorated in traditional Oriental Chinese style with a service emphasis on Foot Massage, Foot bath and Foot pedicure treatments. Of course, there are also other massage services such as Chinese Tui Na, Thai massage, Aromatherapy massage to the less common Gua Sha, Ba Guan, Ear Candling and even Ear candling. Other spa services such as Facial services, Nail manicure and Nail art are also available.

(Note: Gua Sha and Ba Guan are specialized Chinese Traditional Medicine treatment meant to restore your body’s Yin/Yang balance. Gua Sha involves scrubbing your back with a horn scraper and Ba Guan involves using heated vacuum cups on your body’s accu-meridien points)

I visited this boutique with my husband on a late Sunday afternoon and there were only a few customers around. Once passed the reception area, there were about 10 luxurious Chinese-style massage chairs in the main hall and another 8 in a private room. The private room can be further compartmentalized into 3 smaller rooms with individual LCD TV where you can have some privacy if you come with a small group of friends. (See picture on left)

We were given a pair of loose Chinese-style shirt and pants to change into.

I opted for a Aromatherapy massage and my husband wanted a Thai massage. Unfortunately, the Thai masseur was not available and he opted for a Chinese Tui-Na massage instead. Incidentally, we were told that the Thai masseur is a Thai and the Tui Na masseur is a China Chinese. Plus point given for employing native masseurs because somehow, only native masseurs practise their art the best.

We were ushered to a curtained-off compartment with floor massage beds. The compartment was nicely decorated (see picture) and there were space for 4 body massage guests in privacy. We had a pleasant one-hour massage as the masseurs applied the right pressure; slow and smoothing for aromatherapy massage and hard and direct for Tui Na massage.

Overall, this is a nice massage palor with nice decoration, clean towers, soft music and good service. There are even 2 computers with internet you can surf while waiting for a friend or if you have finished your massage before them. The changing room is interesting in that you get those fancy round shower cubicles; complete with side nozzles and music while you shower.

There were however, a couple of issues we were not too happy about. While we were having our massage, some of the staff were chattering away just outside our curtained massage compartment. After 10 minutes of incessant chatter, I had to ask the masseur to tell them off. I came here to relax and chill out; not listen to some high-pitch incessant chatter that is so common of Mainland Chinese folks.

Another issue I absolutely hate was that two of the male foot masseurs were curl up in the foot massage chairs sleeping away! I don’t care how masseurs behave in their rest area or if they sleep during their off-duty period but to do so in front of customers is absolutely unacceptable! I hope the management of Qian Zu Ge realise this and stop this bad practice immediately!

As of this writing, Qian Zu Ge is running a foot detox and massage promotion with OCBC credit card. I will recommend this Oriental massage palor if you want to spend a relaxing afternoon or would like a group massage with friends in privacy.

Location of Qian Zu Ge
221 Balestier Road, ROCCA Balestier #04-01, Singapore 329928, Singapore
Size: Mid-size massage palor with large common room and several private areas
Facilities: Internet PC, foot bath massage chairs, facial treatment room
Friendliness: Polite staff and massage therapists.
Pricing: Starts from US$30 for foot massage and US$40 for massage. Facial services starts from US$60. Discounted Spa and massage  packages for members also available.