For someone who hasn't had a spa experience for what is the longest time, coming here to Bhawa Spa on Eight was, if I may say, one of the most refreshing, and comforting experiences I didn't know I needed.
It wasn't merely just the place or the ambience.
It was the hospitality.
I don't think I've ever had such lovely hospitality in all the years I've gone to spas.
It's the spirit that's ingrained inside them, I think.
Upon entering this lovely place, you're invited to remove your shoes and change into comfortable house slippers.
After that you're guided to a luxurious-looking settee where they first present you with a wet towel (beautifully rolled up) accompanied by a glass of what I think is a slightly sweet but tangy roselle tea.
Whilst drinking the tea, you're requested to fill up some sort of a form- very easy to fill- where they ask you if there're any areas you wish to be concentrated upon.
I requested the areas of the head, and the left shoulder.
Oh, and I also liked the tea.
Some of us are familiar with the sweetness of roselle tea, but this one had a clarity to it that refreshed the mouth and the palate whilst wrapping its tangy, slightly sweet, natural flavor over your tongue.
It was comforting.
This afternoon at Bhawa Spa on Eight I chose the Bhawa Stress & Anxiety Relief Massage & Therapy.
If it sounds complicated, well, it is.
This treatment begins with a lovely foot bath (that they term the oriental foot retreat) where you sit on a cushioned chair in your designated room and have it done in quiet, dim cool light with bath salts stirred in a basin of warm water.
Onto the massage bed you go right after, and the masseuse begins the warm Bhawanese Thai massage on the lower front part of the body. Over and over again she asks how the pressure is, whether it's right, and whether I'm okay with it.
I can't remember if she began from the legs or the arms, but I think it might have been the legs, beginning with one then moving to the other. Somewhere along the way she might have worked the front of my shoulders and my arms, but after a while she had me turn around, and began the massage on the back side of my body.
Let's just say that I could feel a couple of areas which were more achy than I thought they were.
All in all it was one of the most comfortable massages I'd had in a long while.
It might have been that on the form I'd indicated I wanted soft pressure, but more likely it was that her skilled hands did it right to such an extent that I fell asleep.
Not that I wasn't expecting to.
But I'd expected to only fall into slumber during the signature head and scalp revitalizing massage (especially since head and scalp massages are my thing) but I actually slept somewhere between the part where the masseuse worked the back side of my body to the aromatherapy oil massage.
To be honest I don't even know just when, or which part of the massage she began applying the oil, but the sensation of warmth all over one's body is unmistakable, and my skin felt fragrant and smooth after it was all over.
I wish I could describe to you exactly how the head and scalp massage was- it being one of my favorites- but all I can say is that I felt her fingers working over parts of my head rubbing into areas where the nerves (and vessels) were sensitive... and then I was fell into a deep sleep again.
Only when it was all finished- when the masseuse had me sit up so that she could thump my back- did I manage to groggily slip awake.
I'm really glad to have had this experience again after so many years.
Not sure if it's normal for people to fall asleep during Thai massages but I guess I must have been more tired than I thought, which I didn't know.
Doesn't matter though- each to their own.
This evening the session here at Bhawa Spa on Eight ended with another glass of tea (I can't remember what tea it was) together with a light snack of mango sticky rice where the mango was presented as cute little round balls, and the coconut cream was poured into a little jug which you could then pour over your sticky rice.
It's a pity I don't have a picture.
But I was still somewhat groggy at that time, and so a picture of that memorable dessert snack will have to wait until I go back again at another time.