I had the chance to indulge in a really lovely, decadent massage experience at The Landmark in Central, Hong Kong recently. It was called the Oriental Harmony spa package and was 120 minutes long, consisting of a foot bath, an hour long body scrub and a soothing massage by not one but two (female) therapists. It was pretty awesome.
I could not take any pictures in the spa, not even in the lobby, due to privacy concerns and all that nonsense, so this is a picture free post, sadly.
An hour before my scheduled spa appointment, I showed up to enjoy the Landmark's ridiculous, souped up heat and water facilities, which included a vitality pool, experience showers, tepidarium chairs, stimulating ice fountain, laconium and amethyst crystal steam room.
They also have something called a Rasul room, which is the equivalent of a mud bath, except much fancier, but requires advance booking and an advance fee.
I started in the laconium, so called from the Roman baths when the Romans would begin their bathing experience in a moderately heated, dry room to kickstart the purifying and detoxifying process.
From there, I tried out the cold experience showers (the ice plunge and then the mist) both of which were freezing and scary. I could feel my lungs physically contract, as though I really could not breathe.
They also had an ice fountain that was exactly that - a fountain piled up high with crush ice. I skipped the ice fountain. No way was I going to scoop that up and plop it on myself.
I then dipped into the warm vitality pool, which is actually a lounge chair made up of metal rods submerged in water that emits very strong jacuzzi-like pulsations for a vigorous two minute massage. The strong water jets made me feel like I was levitating.
Then I tried another warm experience shower, which consisted of a series of nozzles that sprayed me at various angles from head to toe. In short, at this point, my spa experience was akin to a very expensive car wash!
I then dried myself off and tried the tepidarium chair, a hard stone lounge chair mildly heated to body temperature that is supposed to help revitalize sore and tender muscles. I was unimpressed because I did not feel any effects from this chair.
In contrast, I had a nearly violent reaction to the crystal amethyst steam room. I sat in there and almost immediately was drenched in sweat. After two blasts of steam that seemed to elevate the temperature in the room astronomically, I stumbled out of the crystal room slightly dizzy.
I promptly retired to my tepidarium chair, chastened.
The foot bath and scrub was so wonderful that I pretty much dozed off. After I showered off the scrub, the two masseuses went to work.
I will admit that the massage by two therapists simultaneously (four hands/limbs all at once) is a little bit unsettling and, dare I say it, kinky? But don't worry, nothing untoward happened and after about five minutes I was completely relaxed and too blissed out to give it any further thought. The hour passed way too quickly.
Oriental Harmony was awesome and its relaxing effects did not wear off for a while. Glad I got to experience it!
I could not take any pictures in the spa, not even in the lobby, due to privacy concerns and all that nonsense, so this is a picture free post, sadly.
An hour before my scheduled spa appointment, I showed up to enjoy the Landmark's ridiculous, souped up heat and water facilities, which included a vitality pool, experience showers, tepidarium chairs, stimulating ice fountain, laconium and amethyst crystal steam room.
They also have something called a Rasul room, which is the equivalent of a mud bath, except much fancier, but requires advance booking and an advance fee.
I started in the laconium, so called from the Roman baths when the Romans would begin their bathing experience in a moderately heated, dry room to kickstart the purifying and detoxifying process.
From there, I tried out the cold experience showers (the ice plunge and then the mist) both of which were freezing and scary. I could feel my lungs physically contract, as though I really could not breathe.
They also had an ice fountain that was exactly that - a fountain piled up high with crush ice. I skipped the ice fountain. No way was I going to scoop that up and plop it on myself.
I then dipped into the warm vitality pool, which is actually a lounge chair made up of metal rods submerged in water that emits very strong jacuzzi-like pulsations for a vigorous two minute massage. The strong water jets made me feel like I was levitating.
Then I tried another warm experience shower, which consisted of a series of nozzles that sprayed me at various angles from head to toe. In short, at this point, my spa experience was akin to a very expensive car wash!
I then dried myself off and tried the tepidarium chair, a hard stone lounge chair mildly heated to body temperature that is supposed to help revitalize sore and tender muscles. I was unimpressed because I did not feel any effects from this chair.
In contrast, I had a nearly violent reaction to the crystal amethyst steam room. I sat in there and almost immediately was drenched in sweat. After two blasts of steam that seemed to elevate the temperature in the room astronomically, I stumbled out of the crystal room slightly dizzy.
I promptly retired to my tepidarium chair, chastened.
The foot bath and scrub was so wonderful that I pretty much dozed off. After I showered off the scrub, the two masseuses went to work.
I will admit that the massage by two therapists simultaneously (four hands/limbs all at once) is a little bit unsettling and, dare I say it, kinky? But don't worry, nothing untoward happened and after about five minutes I was completely relaxed and too blissed out to give it any further thought. The hour passed way too quickly.
Oriental Harmony was awesome and its relaxing effects did not wear off for a while. Glad I got to experience it!
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