Friday, January 29, 2010

An Ayurvedic Spa Experience....

Monday, 18th January 2010.

Upon return to the Spice Village from the quick visit to the Periyar Nature Reserve and Park, pakdokter decided to go for a treat at the Ayurveda Chikilsalayam - an ayurvedic spa offerring healing massages ancient Indian style. There were many massage packages to choose from and pakdokter picked one which was supposed to be good for lumbago (backache - what do you expect, at this age! sure to have back problem), sciatica, arthritis and muscle pain. Except for sciatica ( pain from the back that shoots down the lower limbs due to nerve root pressure at the spine) pakdokter suffer from the remaining three, as pakdokter admitted earlier partly due to age and partly due to too much golf and too much sitting in the van for this trip!
Upon registering at the spa, pakdokter was first met and interviewed by an ayurvedic physician who made sure that pakdokter did not suffer from any major medical condition that would be a contraindication for the massage. And the physician complimented pakdokter for being lucky in having a good health. Pakdokter was then ushered into the massage room and had to wait for the masseur to come. Pakdokter has been quite used to being nursed and massaged by young and sweet Thai or Balinese female therapists in Thailand and Indonesia. So while waiting for pakdokter's masseur to come in, pakdokter fantasised and hoped that this time pakdokter's masseur would look like a young Pretty Zinta or Priyanka Chopra. Alas, when the masseur walked in, 'he' was a young man who looked quite like a young 'Anvar Ebraheem' with a healthy crop of moustache....
Pakdokter had to strip and put on a very narrow rectangular piece of loin cloth that barely covered the 'essential' parts of pakdokters precious private regions. The ayurvedic massage used copious amount of ayurvedic oil - coconut oil mixed with various types of spices meant to facilitate healing of the aches and pains. The first part of the massage focussed on the head as you sit up on a wooden stool - imagined your hair being drenched in oil instead of shampoo! The second part involved the body while you lie down on a wooden platform that looked very much like the autopsy table in the post-mortem room! Here too a generous amount of ayurvedic oil was poured all over the body and the massage involve long strokes that start from the shoulder to the foot of the opposite side of the body using the palm of the masseur's hands. The massage strokes were quite vigorous and looked like the movements of a Kalari Payatu martial arts exponent!
This was one massage where pakdokter stayed awake throughout the session - no, not because of the young 'Anvar Ebraheem' - but because the massage strokes were quite vigorous and the slippery body and table kept threatening to send pakdokter off the table/platform. Even the soothing background meditation music/mantra did not put pakdokter into the ususal snooze.....
The massage took about one hour after which pakdokter was sent into the steam chamber for a 15 minute steam therapy. It was like a sauna actually.....you sit up on a stool inside a steam cubicle with your head protruding out at the top as if waiting to be guillotined with the Maharaja's sword. After enough steam and sweating the masseur led pakdokter into the shower room where he rubbed pakdokter's body with dried grated coconut, herbs and spices which soaked up the sweat and the oil from the body. Then he poured pails and pails of warm water to rid the body of the oil and the spices. Once clean, he dried pakdokter's body with a clean sheet of towel. Hmmmm...It felt like pakdokter was a little boy again, being bathed by pakdokter's 'mummy' - but in this case here, by this young and good looking gentleman!
The treatment cost about 2500 Indian rupees - about RM 150 for the one hour and a half of an Ayurvedic experience. Pakdokter's verdict ? Well....its quite difficult to get 'unused' to the Thai and Balinese girls.....




pakdokter chose the whole body massage for lumbago, arthritis and muscle pain..




the steam/sauna chamber...



spices and herbs put up like in a pharmacy...




spices and herbs....close up..





pakdokter's handsome masseur.....






No comments: