5 of Asia's strangest spa therapies
Nothing quite beats a session down the spa to reinvigorate our sense of self. Some therapies are even worth writing home about -- like these.
1. Durian rub down, Thailand
We know the durian smells bad and tastes good, but did you also know it gives a great body scrub?
According to well-known Hong Kong travel columnist Roger Wu, an ambitious Thai spa owner mashed up fresh durians to use as body scrub and facial paste as a gimmick to attract business. Here’s a translation of what happened next in Wu’s words:
"Those who aren’t fans of durian couldn’t get out of the spa quick enough. Those who have had treatments there came out a veritable chuck of durian with legs, and couldn’t get the stench out even when they showered. Not long afterwards, the spa closed down."
The spa owner’s ploy wasn’t completely bonkers -- Howard Murad, the skincare wizard behind eponymous label Dr. Murad, told the South China Morning Post that durian essence has moisture-retaining and anti-ageing ingredients.
But we think we’ll stick to factory-manufactured creams thanks.
Getting there: Closed down because of the stench.
2. Buddhist massage, Thailand
On one hand Bangkok's Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest of its kind in Bangkok; on the other it’s a popular massage school.
Wat Pho’s star attraction may be its 46-meter-long reclining Buddha statue, but what keeps tourists returning is their traditional Thai massage school located inside the temple grounds.
The wall inscriptions at Wat Pho are said to contain centuries-old Thai massage and yoga scholarship. The massage school capitalizes on this by teaching tourists the ancient art of reflexology.
Travelers can also skip the classes and opt for a quick rub, or get their nails manicured (though it's dubious what acrylic nails have to do with 'ancestral knowledge.')
Reviews of the experience found on tripadvisor.com vary dramatically, from “joint-cracking fun!” to “[the instructor] yanked on me in a way that actually slipped a disk in my back.”
Getting there: Wat Pho Traditional Thai Massage School, 2 Sanamchai Road, Wat Po, Tatian Bangkok 10200, tel +66 2 221-2974, www.watpomassage.com. A 30-hour general Thai massage course is 8,500 baht.
Read more about Wat Pho and 28 of the most relaxing spas in Asia.
3. Beery baths, China
Gimmicky hot springs in Guangzhou are nothing new, but hot spring theme park Shampoola Tourism and Holiday Forest piles bizarre on top on bizarre. The 533,600 square meter park is an orgy of artificial hot springs with 78 different pools of every imaginable flavor.
Not to worry if you’ve gotten tired of their red wine pool -- there’s always their beer pool. Or the rose pool. Or the bamboo pool. Or the green tea pool.
That said, Shampoola’s onsens remind us more of differently colored water pools, all with pretty much the same smell. But maybe it’s the thought that counts.
Also within the Shampoola complex is a ‘dinosaur’ theme park liberally sprinkled with large plastic dinosaurs, an artificial volcano that spews smoke every night, and a nightly ‘tribal’ show showcasing Chinese people dressed up in vaguely primal costumes. We don't really get it either.
Getting there: Shampoola Tourism and Holiday Forest, Qinyuan, Guangdong, tel 4007 007 148, www.shampoola.com (Chinese only)
4. Bird-dropping facial, Japan
We’ve got to hand it to the person who first thought smearing nightingale droppings on their face would make them prettier. Uguisu no fun, or literally nightingale droppings, is an ancient Japanese beauty ritual favored by geishas and kabuki actors to erase uneven skin tones and remove their cakey makeup.
A millennium later, the ritual has caught on in a New York beauty salon and within the domestic Japanese market. Followers of the faith maintain that the bird poop has been sanitized by a blast of ultraviolet light, and the smell neutralized.
5. Coffee hot tub, Japan
Yunessun Spa in Japan is currently headlining a coffee spa and a Japanese sake spa, but in fact the resort has been rolling out shocker after shocker since its inception.
The coffee onsen combines real coffee with hot spring water to give the skin a wake-up jolt, while the sake tub gives "beauty to the skin," their website vaguely stated.
Most unforgettable is their ramen soup broth spa, where bathers can melt their stress away in pepper-flavored water containing pork broth bits sourced from a nearby noodle shop.
Getting there: Hakone Kowakien Yunessun, 1297 Ninotaira Hakone-machi Ashigarashimo-gun Kanagawa-ken, 250-0407 Japan, tel +81 0460 82 4126, www.yunessun.com
Read more about Yunessun Spa and 20 truly odd relaxation techniques.
Know more bizarre places to get a rub down? Submit your contributions to the comments section below.
