All posts tagged: Massage

Taiwan: Taipei – Wu Fen Pu 五分埔 Shopping and Rao He Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Taiwan has joined Japan in our most loved Asian countries. We love Taiwan for the incredibly friendly local folks. We love that the Taiwanese respect queues, that our random masseur recommends the best location to view the 2014 countdown fireworks while avoiding the crowds, that our public bus driver helps us with our luggages without being asked, that random Taipei folks we meet in wintry He Huan Mountain takes a polaroid of us with their camera to give us as a souvenir without asking anything in return, that food vendors offer to throw the rubbish in our hands for us from previous stores because we look like we are carrying so many items, that their service is warm and sincere. The kind acts of many Taiwanese we met really warm our hearts and make us want to return to Taiwan more often! We spent ~7 days in Taiwan including travel time: Day 1-2: Taipei Day 3-4: Alishan Day 5: Sun Moon Lake, Cing Jing, He Huan Mountain, Taroko National Park Day 6: Taroko National Park …

Maya Ubud Resort and Spa @ Ubud, Bali

I visited Maya Ubud Resort and Spa in Bali back in 2010, and it remains one of my favourite tropical resorts in Asia. This was recommended by my ex-boss who is Indonesian, and since he is local, I booked Maya Ubud without researching much, and it was a very good recommendation indeed! I had an enjoyable relaxing stay with Miss A, and fond memories of the resort still lingering after almost 4 years. It was also the first time I went to Bali not for the beach, but for mountains and scenery. The Spa (Spa at Maya) is possibly the MOST relaxing spa I have ever gone to in my life. Maya Ubud is ~1 hour from Bali’s  international airport. It only has 108 luxury guestrooms and private pool villas on many hectares of land, with a river running through the resort, so it is extremely private, quiet and picturesque. We stayed in the lowest tier room  in Maya Ubud  (Superior Room) and it was already very comfortable. The room was ~40 square meters, with 2 single beds, …

Maya Spa @ Khaoyai

As I wanted to drive to visit Muthimaya, where I stayed for a work trip 4 years ago, N and I decided to visit Maya Spa, which is situated in the Kirimaya-Muthimaya Resort.  Maya spa is definitely premium –  1900bht for 2 hours Thai massage. But it was really worth the calming, relaxing experience with quality deep (painful) massage. Honestly, it felt more like a sports massage! As part of the free value added service in Maya spa, the masseur also gave me free hair braiding service. First time I got my hair braided 🙂  Other places in the Khaoyai region you may also enjoy: Thailand – Khaoyai region Resort – Sala Khaoyai (I) Resort – Sala Khaoyai (II) Attraction – Khaoyai National Park Attraction – Gran Monte Vineyard Attraction – Palio Massage – The Housekeeper of the Mu Si – Only 300baht for 1.5hr Foot Massage! Restaurant – Vino Restaurant – Mori Street Food – Meatball Noodles

Massage – Super Value for $ Thai Massage

To experience the full local Khaoyai experience, we went to check out on where local Thais enjoy their massages in Khaoyai. The first massage place I called asked me to try out a massage place near Palio when I mentioned I was near Palio. The lady on the phone told me the name of the place is called “The Housekeeper of the Mu Si“, to which I went “AGAIN?” and she repeated – “The Housekeeper of the Mu Si”, and she was very helpful, giving me directions in broken English. We had a lot of fun driving up and down the main road along Palio trying to find the place since there are NO english signboards, and unfortunately, I lost some photos when I changed phones so I have no pictures of the exterior/Thai name for you 🙁 So am using this photo from Neng S’s Foursquare to show what the place looks like: The massage was decent and super value for money! We paid 300bht (=SGD12) for 1.5hours foot massage, but it turned out …

The Side of Thailand More People Should See

Having worked and lived in Bangkok for a short period of time from 2009-2010, I had the privilege of exploring some of the interesting sites around Bangkok such as Ampawa and Ayutthaya. Among them, Khao Yai left the deepest impression because of the 13 degreesC night (yup, you read it right – it does get so cool especially from Nov-Jan at night), which is very rare cool weather in this part of the world near the equator. I also recalled European looking architecture with vineyards so Khaoyai is a short getaway to feel far from our Asian roots. So when we had a chance 3 weeks ago to plan a short trip over the long weekend, I decided to re-visit Khaoyai and also introduce N to this beautiful province of Thailand. Khaoyai is a beautiful mountaineous province, 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok, and is a popular short weekend getaway spot among Bangkok city folks to switch gears over a slow weekend. For me, I hardly repeat my eating and travel spots as I want to …