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| - When we went inside the spa, there's a slipper rack right by the entrance door but we were not asked if we wanted to change to slippers. The waiting area is very spacious and nicely decorated with bamboo designs and stone fountain, but the zen forest theme illusion quickly gets ruined by the big long display of beauty products for sale right next to the fountain.
Beside the waiting lounge is the beauty bar. However, the divider between the two is a see through glass. I don't know but if it were me in the beauty bar, I'd feel uncomfortable that random people in the waiting lounge can see what's going on in the beauty bar.
There's a hallway that loops around in a square formation. This is where the massage and facial rooms are. The rooms are very spacious and nicely decorated with proper furniture. You will also see metal handle bars in the ceiling since they have the type of massage where the masseuse will stand on you. Some rooms have showers in them. It seems like they don't regularly check the bottles as we found empty bottles of shampoo and body wash in our shower.
They don't have a lot of options for drinks and food unlike other places I've been to. For drinks, they one have water and jasmine green tea. And for food, they only serve fresh fruits (in which case was orange and grapes for us).
I tried two different massage services:
1. 45-minute foot massage ($45) - When we were about to start, the masseuse asked whether I wanted to change to a pair of shorts that they provide or stick to the jeans I'm wearing (which I can roll up). I opted to stick to jeans since it is normally what I do in other places.
I had my feet soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, and then the masseuse took my feet out to dry them up and get ready for massage. She didn't introduce herself coming in.
One thing I noticed was she tried to roll-up my jeans further but it wouldn't anymore so she just left it the way it is. This somewhat bothered me as I felt that there was a reason she wanted to roll it up further (e.g. massaging more area above the knee). She should've asked if I wanted to change to shorts after this fact. I would've changed to shorts had I known my jean roll-up was not high enough because I don't want to miss out on what she had in store for the massage. But she decided to start the massage anyway.
When she started the massage, she asked if the firmness is good. I really liked the foot massage as it started with the correct firmness for me and it was consistent all throughout. And what I liked the most, which is one of my criteria and very hard to do for foot massage, was it was hard and firm without being being painful all throughout.
2. 45-minute relaxation massage therapy ($50) - After my foot massage, I had the body massage. This time, it was a guy who did the massage. The guy didn't introduce himself as well, nor did he ask if there was specific areas I would like for him to focus on. He also didn't ask if there are any areas that needs to be avoided. Though there is none for me, I know high-blooded people cannot get the back of their necks massaged.
I actually prefer a guy doing massage normally because they are inherently strong in massage so it's good they have option for male masseuse. He started with my back by pressing some pressure points to figure out the firmness then started the actual massage. He asked me if the firmness was ok: it was just right - correctly firm without being painful.
As he was switching from hands to elbow on my back, I noticed the massage became weaker. This broke the consistent firmness I've been happy with from the start. I didn't know if he was just getting tired or something. By the time I wanted to tell him to make it harder, he switched back to using his hands and the firmness was correct again.
In this time, my face started getting sore and uncomfortable from the hole in the bed. It wasn't big enough to cover my face so I had to move my face around during the massage. This was a bit disconcerting as I normally like to sleep during a massage. I also felt my knee getting sore as the bed is a bit too flat and firm. In other places I've done massage, there would be a pillow in the lower leg area so that it assumes normal position.
For the rest of the massage, he did the my back, butt, legs, shoulders and foot. But he didn't massage the front body whereas another friend of mine who did the same massage got front body. So there's still some inconsistency on the body massage.
Overall, I really enjoyed how the masseuses do the massage here. Very rare that I don't have complaints on the firmness or painfulness (and by pain, I mean the type of pain that makes your body tense up and fight against the massage), but both my massages got it right, except for the short hiccup in firmness when the masseuse switched to elbow.
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