Koh Samui Oct 2012 Part IV - Spa Spa

Continued from Part I - Hansar Samui Resort, Part II - Bophut, Part III - Food.

In this final instalment of our Koh Samui trip, the highlight is SPA! Spas and massage palours are very common in many parts of Thailand, but it seems that the "Tiger Balm" massage is unique to Koh Samui. Basically, Tiger Balm is used together with massage oil during a massage and it's a very soothing and warm sensation, especially when massaging the back, shoulders and neck.

This time round, we noticed more spas and massage palours have sprung up in Chaweng area. Usually there is no need to make appointments as the spas have more than enough staff to cater to the patrons. But it does get crowded nearer to midnight, perhaps most people wish to have a massage for a good night's sleep?

Anyway, while we were at Chaweng, we just randomly picked a relatively new and big-scale spa. The therapist will wash our feet first before start of any treatment.

These comfy chairs are for foot and shoulder massage.

This is where we had our Tiger Balm full body massage.

I think this is for pedicure.

In terms of skills and service, we weren't very impressed. The first time we went in the afternoon, service level was better (not many customers around) but the therapists try to upsell us to a more expensive Tiger Balm with oil massage which was double the price. Tiger Balm massage was 400 baht, whereas with oil is 800 baht. We didn't mind as the oil seemed to blend better with tiger balm.

The second time we went, it was close to midnight and the spa was very crowded, we had to stand and wait for available massage chairs, and the therapists seemed to be rushing through each job.

Our last day at Samui, we discovered this Peace Tropical Spa which was about 5 minutes (on bike) near Hansar Samui. We decided to go for a one-hour massage with the two hours we had before departing for the airport.

Iced Bael Fruit tea was served with a cold towel.

The spa was sprawled over a lush garden. This pavilion is for thai massage, I think.

One of the massage villa.

Our spa villa came with a large bathtub but we didn't have a chance to use it.

Spacious massage room at the spa villa.

We liked the sturdy wooden massage bed. Both of us opted for the neck and back massage that came with Tiger Balm :) The skills of the therapists were not bad, and service level quite good too.

The massage cost 1300 baht per pax; much pricer than those smaller-scale spas we went to at Chaweng. But still cheaper than the upscale spa like the one at Hansar Samui, where an hour massage cost 2500 to 3000 baht. Didn't have the chance to try the spa at Hansar Samui, partly also because of the price. I was happy and satisfied with the cheap cheap good good tiger balm massage :)

Ahhh, I miss the tiger balm massage already.

That's all for the trip, hope we could return to Koh Samui soon again!