THE ORIENTAL SPA, BANGKOK
The Oriental Spa, Bangkok - Luxury Travel Magazine
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The Oriental Spa, Bangkok | |||||
| By: John Borthwick, Issue 16 – Spring 2003 | |||||
| (The Oriental Hotel, Bangkok) | |||||
| “It furthers one to cross the great water.” That venerable tome of Chinese wisdom, the I Ching – or ‘Book of Changes’ – is always urging people to get their feet wet, to strive for the farthest bank, so I hop onto The Oriental Hotel’s jaunty river shuttle. Admittedly, Bangkok’s turbid Chao Phrya River may not be particularly ‘great’ water but on its opposite bank waits The Oriental’s spa, where I am booked for the half-day Executive Rejuvenator program. The spa is a temple of teak and calm in a century-old, traditional Thai building from which the hustle and bustle of Bangkok’s traffic noise is perfectly excluded. I’m ushered to a treatment suite where even the shower cubicle – in black marble and with six spray jets – seems like a water temple. Khun Onsri, my masseuse, then commences a regimen of treatments that will take three-and-a-half hours and includes a body scrub, seaweed body wrap, one-hour essential oil massage, facial and finally a foot massage. Nothing jars or intrudes except perhaps the ambient music which is a single CD of Western piano classics on constant replay. I drift into that zone of suspension and serenity which, for me, is the hallmark of a good spa. It’s a place of surrender to the therapist whose skilful stretching and pressing, flexing and soothing techniques soon have me losing track of time and words. Only after I have been painted from head to toe with seaweed mud, then wrapped to ‘cook’ for 20 minutes, do a few words come to mind. Bliss being one of them. Next comes a long, deep massage with ylang-ylang and patchouli oils, followed by a facial and scalp massage. After a gentle pressure-point treatment on my feet, I am ‘done’‚ and it is time to return, reluctantly, to re-cross the great water. The Oriental Spa, opened in 1993, is one of Asia’s first dedicated hotel spas and is regularly voted Best Spa in the World. It offers some 50 different options ranging from a 30-minute Papaya Body Polish (US$35) to a wide variety of massages and beauty treatments. The top-of-the-range programs last three days and two nights, and cost from US$660, including deluxe accommodation. | |||||
| Details: | |||||
| The Oriental Hotel: Thai flies 26 times a week from Australia to Bangkok. Contact travel agents or call 1300 651 960 for information and bookings, www.thaiairways.com. Tourism Authority of Thailand, (02) 9247 7549. For Mandarin Oriental Hotel bookings, 1800 123 693, www.mandarinoriental.com | |||||
Crown Spa, Melbourne | |||||
| By: Emily butts, Issue 16 – Spring 2003 | |||||
| (Crown Spa, Melbourne) | |||||
| Wander down Crown Spa’s marble hallway in your fluffy bathrobe and slippers (stately columns to the left, 25-metre indoor pool to the right, aromatherapy oils lingering in the air) to an apartment-size treatment suite, and it’s obvious that this doyenne of Melbourne’s booming spa scene is still one of the city’s best after eight years in operation. Tucked into the second floor of the grand and glamorous Crown Towers complex in Southgate, Crown Spa’s treatment suites are visual therapy, each with a private steam room and enormous spa, palatial bathroom, twin treatment tables, a sleek white chaise lounge, futon, and masses of mirrors. The rich décor is in warm cream and sandstone tones, with intricately carved ceilings, beech timber panelling and soft oriental rugs, gleaming marble vanity units and highly polished taps, and electric blankets on the treatment tables, a style at once both opulent and instantly relaxing. Such flawless surroundings are the perfect introduction to a relaxing spa treatment, and the choices are many and varied. Crown Spa has a menu of more than 60 rejuvenating therapies, including the intriguing alguomer hydrobath (a marine algae and thermal water-jet massage to help slim and detoxify the body), and the firmative action facial, using Aveda plant extracts, rich with vitamins and minerals. There’s also an extensive range of face, body, hand and foot treatments on offer, as well as make-up, waxing, tanning and hair-styling for a special occasion (dinner in the hotel’s Koko restaurant, perhaps, before a flutter at the casino’s gaming tables). A one-hour massage, after time spent in the private steam room and pressure-perfect spa, is a melt-into-the-table moment. Therapists combine ancient Chinese and Thai techniques, customising the rigorous rubdowns to guests’ needs, varying the intensity, finding the problem areas, avoiding the sensitive spots and smoothing out all those neck and shoulder knots. A good massage is a work of art, and at Crown Spa the therapists are serious about their craft. They sit firmly in the foreground of this Roman epic, while the decidedly decadent décor, gently bubbling spa, heated treatment tables and soothing music provide the backdrop. Add the spectacular indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, gymnasium, bike hire, personal training, in-room treatments on request, and you have the perfect hotel-spa combination. A one-hour massage starts from $110. | |||||
| Details: | |||||
| Crown Spa: Bookings, (03) 9292 6182; www.crowntowers.com.au. Virgin Blue flies to Melbourne from most Australian cities. Bookings, 136 789. | |||||
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