Lombok: Spa Reboot.
At about the age of 26 I got engaged, moved to Boston, and developed a bit of an acne problem due to the awful humidity of Boston summers. And then the Boston winters came, and made my skin dry... But still broken out in places. To combat it, I started going to a spa once a month for facials.
At two different times in one day, I had appointments scheduled. Each time I showed up, I was given a glass of lemongrass and ginger juice, and shown directly to my treatment room. And each treatment room had it's own outdoor shower...
Or bathtub...
The whole spa experience felt unique to the spa and location. It seemed like each therapist knew what they were doing, and were very good at it. It was unlike anything I had really experienced in a spa in a very long time.
I mean, I had to have pretty skin when I walked down the aisle at my wedding!
And I did. But for the past 10 years - almost 11 - indulging in spa treatments. It may have started with facials with a purpose... But it quickly grew to trying all kinds of things just for fun, typically once a month. And I did that for a long time. So long that by last summer, I came to a conclusion...
"I'm over spa-ing."
Crazy, I know. But some people buy lots of clothes. Some people buy lots of shoes. Some people are foodies. Some people do lots of travel (like me, now). I was a spa addict. And I was bored with it.
So I stopped. And every time someone mentioned hitting a spa, I'd go along if it was a special event for someone. But overall, it just held very little appeal to me. But the idea of spa-ing came up when I started to book all of my travel for this Seven in Seven tour. Especially when it came to looking up things to do while in Indonesia.
"I guess trying some Indonesian spa treatments in Bali couldn't hurt," I said.
Well, I booked them. And I was equally bored.
At the resort in Bali - which was gorgeous - I had a massage, facial, and a hair treatment. All "native" in creation to the area. And while they were nice. I just wasn't wowed. My saving grace for having spent the money on the spa experience was that it was incredibly inexpensive. For the three things, I paid about $45 USD.
It wasn't a huge expense for something that was slightly relaxing. But I vowed that this would be the last indulgent spa experience for quite some time.
Then I got to Lombok...
Another gorgeous resort - this time on the beach - in Indonesia. And their spa menu was incredibly cheap as well.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to try some treatments," I said. "But different ones than last time."
So I booked a hot stone massage and a volcanic mud wrap. If it ended up failing to wow me, I was only in the whole about $65 USD. Which for two and a half hours of treatments, was far from being a bad deal.
But when I got to the spa, right away, I could tell that this would be a far, far superior experience than that of any recent spa experiences.
(This is what I stared at while lying face-down on a massage table.)
The spa section of the resort had a dedicated number of treatment rooms that each sat off a courtyard. There was no dark hallways. No needing to sit in a tea lounge or meditation room (although those can be nice) while you wait for the therapist to "hurry up" with their last client.
At two different times in one day, I had appointments scheduled. Each time I showed up, I was given a glass of lemongrass and ginger juice, and shown directly to my treatment room. And each treatment room had it's own outdoor shower...
Or bathtub...
I loved it!
My first treatment was a hot stone massage for 90 minutes. I love these. But rarely get them. The reason being some spas over-heat the rocks, and can scald you. The therapist was very diligent about pulling the heated rocks out of the bowl she was heating them in, and holding them in her hands before putting them against my skin to use. I didn't get burned once. And she was excellent with the pressure.
The second treatment I had was a volcano scrub body wrap. I'm usually not a fan of scrubs, as the therapists can get kind of aggressive with the pressure and the grains they use. But this therapist (a different one from the morning's treatment) was gentle. And after she pulled me out of the wrap portion (because after they apply the scrub, they then wrap you in these blankets to pull the toxins out of your body), there was some much sweat/water that fell out of the blankets! I had sweat so much out from the scrub! And I was only wrapped for 20 minutes!
After getting unwrapped, I sat in the tub of floral water (pictured above) and soaked for another 20 minutes.
"This was excellent!" I said to myself.
My first treatment was a hot stone massage for 90 minutes. I love these. But rarely get them. The reason being some spas over-heat the rocks, and can scald you. The therapist was very diligent about pulling the heated rocks out of the bowl she was heating them in, and holding them in her hands before putting them against my skin to use. I didn't get burned once. And she was excellent with the pressure.
The second treatment I had was a volcano scrub body wrap. I'm usually not a fan of scrubs, as the therapists can get kind of aggressive with the pressure and the grains they use. But this therapist (a different one from the morning's treatment) was gentle. And after she pulled me out of the wrap portion (because after they apply the scrub, they then wrap you in these blankets to pull the toxins out of your body), there was some much sweat/water that fell out of the blankets! I had sweat so much out from the scrub! And I was only wrapped for 20 minutes!
After getting unwrapped, I sat in the tub of floral water (pictured above) and soaked for another 20 minutes.
"This was excellent!" I said to myself.
The whole spa experience felt unique to the spa and location. It seemed like each therapist knew what they were doing, and were very good at it. It was unlike anything I had really experienced in a spa in a very long time.
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