Visiting a spa is the ideal holiday activity or more accurately the ideal non-activity. Being massaged, creamed, steamed and generally pampered is the ultimate indulgance and the best possible way to relax and unwind. And Bali is the ultimate spa destination with a vast range of exotic tropical ingredients to spice up your spa experience, the most luxurious environments of natural wood, clay and stone and the most caring and genuinely warm attendants to assist you, there is definitely no better place to indulge.
Often hand ground by mortar and pestle, the traditional Indonesian herbal concoctions that form the basis of most spa treatments are a sensual feast. More creative modern adaptations also make use of smorgasbord of delicious ingredients such as yogurt, papaya, coconut and a veriety of essential oils.
In the popular Javanese "lulur" bath, for example, an exotic blend of spices is used to cleanse and nourish the skin while it is being massaged. The bright yellow mixture has a soft, sweet smell that is conducive to the positive relaxation experience.
The spice blend can be showered off with yogurt, leaving your skin feel cool and fresh.
Spa design has become a specialized art in itself, with marble and stone, coconut wood and teak, woven cottons and silks commonly being used to decorate the spa area and create an inspirig ambience.
The rooms themselves are often spacious and tastefully apointed, sometimes with large sunken spa baths, often with soft lighting and gentle piped music. Some spa resorts are set up like villages, with thatched roof spa huts lining pathways of stepping-stones across a fish pond full of water lily. Each of these huts may have its own garden with waterfall and open but private outlook.
The Balinese make wonderful masseurs too with a strong tradition of therapeutic care and a gentle but firm approach to massage. Traditional Balinese massage techniques have been passed down through the centuries, but the range of massage available in Bali is not purely Indonesian. In fact, all corners of the massage world are represented here on this tiny isle. It is possible to have Eastern, European, Swedish and Hawaiian lomi-lomi massages as well as Japanese and Thai techniques. Long firm strokes, circular rubs, acupressure, muscle manipulation and movement of the joints can all be combined to create the ideal massage routine. Massage that makes use of these techniques should relieve muscle tension and improve circulation of the blood and lymphatic system, helping to oxygenate vital organs and remove toxins.
It is easy to feel comfortable and at home when you are greeted with a bright smile and some appropriate words of welcome which comes naturally to the Balinese.
