Elements Spa - Update

I went to Elements Spa today and had the most "torturous" massage ever. In fact, I wouldn't even call it a massage as the therapist applied acu-pressure for most of the 60mins session. And I specifically requested for a therapist who can do Balinese/Indonesian massage.

My fave therapist has left :( So now I am stuck with a package (luckily left just a couple of sessions) and no other "recommended" therapists. It is so hard to find good therapists now. I know majority of people who went for massage sessions, they are mostly office workers and so tend to have tension at the shoulder/back area and would prefer a "hard" massage. And it seemed like therapists who "specialized" in the hard massage are mostly from mainland China, and they used their skills (usually Tui Na or acu-pressure, etc) to do that.

They are not very good with the relaxing Swedish massage at all. They are so used to doing the hard massage, they seemed to forget that sometimes customers do want to give their bodies a break and just have a relaxing, soothing massage. Or they applied their knowledge of trying to "unblock" the "blockages" in the body or bloodstream or whatever. (I never did understand what they are saying to me.) and to do that, they tried their darnest to use all the strength they have (or so it seemed) to press hard.

So yeah today, the therapist (I have tried her a couple of times and she was ok then cos I always specified I do not want to have Tui Na, just regular massage with a bit of firm pressure) saw from my card that it has been over 6 weeks since I last went there for a massage. She kept "tsking" and said I should go more often and then I wouldn't be so stiff now.

The fact is I had 3-4 massages just in October but at other spas, which I didn't tell her. And my stiffness is due to the position of my laptop at home.

So throughout the session, she went on about me having to go to see her regularly so I wouldn't be stiff, and she applying acupressure on me more than the usual Indonesian style massage which I liked. Maybe I should have interrupted her midway and asked her what exactly she is doing, but sometimes it is hard to do that cos you really have no idea what they are doing.

Bottomline - yakking away is bad, acupressure is equally bad when unrequested.

Well, at least I know I will definitely not be signing up another package once this ends.

I don't know why, but I really do not like to have a massage done by a mainland Chinese. Too many bad experiences - mostly cos they like to do Tui Na which I thoroughly disliked. The first time I had that, my arm swelled up. Apparently the technique was all wrong, and the "qi" or "blood" or whatever was stuck and caused the swelling.

I very much prefer Malay therapists or Singaporeans or Malaysians and Thai (for Thai massages only). They are much better. The most soothing, relaxing massage I ever had was done by an Aussie in Byron Bay (my fave place in Oz). It was totally pain-free.