The International Big Kahuna Of Spas

I'm deviating from my normal routine of weekly posting today, because there is important breaking news to report. I've decided to issue the first official award given by my blog, the International Big Kahuna of Spas.

Simply put, the Big Kahuna Award is the bar by which all other spas in the world should be judged. It is comprised of three "E's" or elements:

Environment - the atmosphere of the spa including cleanliness, unique atmosphere, philosophy and overall aesthetic appeal of the spa

Experience - the quality of the treatment including the therapist, massage oils, music, table, lotions, etc.

End Result - how well the treatment does the job, i,e: do you feel better afterwards etc.

The Mandarin Oriental Dheva Spa in Chiang Mai, Thailand (http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hotel/555000004.asp) scored a "10" on a scale of 1-10 in Carolyn's and my books on all 3 attributes. I've been to a lot of spas, and my 80 minute facial which was part massage/part facial has to be among the best ever experienced. Mandarin also gives each guest an individual spa treatment room for the ultimate in service and comfort. The Dhava Spa is not only about getting pampered, it has a whole being philosophy. As the website says, "Thailand’s first world-class destination spa is unique in both concept and design; created under the auspices of two health specialists and inspired by an ancient Mandalay Palace. The seven tiered roof is representative of the journey we hope you will begin with us, that is the seven steps to nirvana and the attainment of spiritual and physical perfection."

It was a real contrast from my first Asian spa experience of the trip at the TCM MedSpa in Hong Kong, where the cable TV installers seem to have taken up permanent residence in the reception area, and the fish in the fish tank look like they are going to implode.

Naturally, independent experts and auditors are going to have to validate this award. And, Sharon and I still have to produce the Spa Treatment Rating Scale (STRS) which will be used to prove out the future candidates and their worthiness.

P.S. We are in Bangkok now, and saw this great rainbow tonight:

Orchids and Elephants

Some folks have commented that last week’s post was a little gory and maybe poked a bit at Asian medicine, or at least at people who are not really trained to be Asian medics but play them in their daily routine. To end the story, my back is doing much better and no longer has road rash. Mom and I are in Chiang Mai, Thailand on the third stop of the trip. So this week I will address two topics that everyone loves – orchids and elephants.

There is a lot of misconception floating around about orchids. Maybe it is all my misconception but it seems to also afflict some people who run Starbuck’s in Singapore. First, many people don’t know the orchid is the official flower of Singapore. Furthermore, Singapore has a great botanical garden where you can see lots of orchids (for a small fee) and even go running (for free). It’s located right by my friend Jae’s house so I did both while we were staying with her. By the way, she is a great hostess and we had an excellent time!! Anyway, Starbucks is featuring banana drinks as their drink of the month for May, and they had some trivia on their chalkboard stating that orchids and bananas are from the same family. If that’s true, I can’t scare up any information on it. I did learn that the banana is related to the bird of paradise, the city flower of Los Angeles, CA - so maybe someone just got confused (http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/Posters/Civilization.htm). Perhaps one of you blog enthusiasts with some time on your hands can clear the matter up.

I always thought the orchid was the national flower of Thailand, because like everywhere you go here they give you orchids, and there are a gazillion orchid farms. In fact, the national flower is the ratchaphruek, a yellow cluster-shaped flower which grows by the side of the road. According to the ASEAN organization on National Flowers (http://www.aseansec.org/18203.htm#Thailand), the Thai people regard its yellow hue as the color of Buddhism and the color of glory. We have not seen any because the ratchaphruek is at the tail end of the season, which starts in February. But we will keep looking. We visited an orchid farm in Chiang Mai and saw these amazing orchids pictured here.

Regarding elephants, they are also found here in Chiang Mai as well as a number of other places. This was my second visit to the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp, and I was dismayed to learn that the elephant population here is not doing so well. Most Thai elephants are in captivity and their population has declined to one quarter of its former size in

the last 11 years. In 2007 there is a quite a baby boom going on, which bodes well. We met a 13 month old elephant named Sticky Rice at Chiang Dao, so this must be true. Most babies are at the Royal Elephant Center in Ayutthaya and Lampang's Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. Lampang was the birthplace of the first test tube elephant on March 7. 2007!!

http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/test-tube-jumbo.htmljumbo.html

Wikipedia has a lot to say about elephants. Of course they are mammals, and they are the largest land animals alive today. The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 265 lbs! An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. Elephants are symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures, and are famed for their exceptional memory and high intelligence. We agreed, after seeing the elephant show, where the elephants even paint a picture! We also got to ride up and down a big hill on one, which Mom says was not very comfortable. But she did enjoy feeding her elephant a banana.

The First 2 Days: Chinese Medicine at Work

Well, we made it to Hong Kong just fine despite the fact that a 14 hour flight is really long, and even longer in coach. We've already been busy seeing the sites, more on that later. The most interesting thing that happened to me by far was my run in with Chinese medicine with less than 24 hours on the ground.

Let me start by saying, I do believe in alternative medicines even though I have not yet let my sister, Laurel, do biofeedback on me. I also believe in getting massages after long plane rides, especially if they are good quality massages for reasonable amounts of money. So when our hotel referred us to the TCM Beauty Clinic on Tin Hau Street in Causeway Bay, I was psyched. Mom booked a 45 minute massage and I booked a 30 minute deep tissue massage and a facial. And it could all be had for about half what we'd pay at home! It was too good to be true - and in fact, it was.

My massage therapist and esthetician was Sandy Lee, the proprietor of the establishment. This was not the kind of massage you ease into - Sandy immediately went to work on my upper back and neck - kneading, pulling, prodding, you name it. In between my yelps of pain, she proceeded to outline for me all the ways in which my body is messed up and in need of major amounts of Chinese medicine. But great news - she would be more than happy to provide whatever is needed. She was definitely perceptive and noticed I can't fully straighten my arms (note to my trainer Mark Harris: if you're reading this you are vindicated). The massage ended with her placing about 10 things along my back and shoulders that felt like giant potato chip clips - but were actually suction cups the size of a can of Red Bull. She then left me sitting like that for about 20 minutes. Sandy warned me I would be bruised today and she was not kidding. I won't be wearing any backless shirts soon, my back looks like a game of Twister.


Then we moved onto the facial, which was better. It still involved a lot of kneading in painful places, which she assured me was very good for my chi or whatever. The last 30 minutes involved a lavender steam mask on my face which was quite relaxing. Having already been left under the suction cups and being in somewhat of a jetlagged state, I started to wonder if maybe this was one of those operations where they sedate you and harvest one of your kidneys. The only reason I did not start to panic at this thought was Sandy did not have much nice to say about the perceived condition of my kidneys and as such I was pretty sure she did not want them.


As odd as it sounds, I did feel about 100 times better at the end of the whole thing. Sandy sent me home with $100HKD of herbs (US $13) which I was supposed to take and come back to see her the next day. She is even willing to ship the herbs all over the world for just US $55 a month! Once I sprung free I realized the preposterousness of all this, and I am happy to say I won't be going back to the TCM Clinic even though the end result of yesterday, less the bruises, was good.


And I am drinking a tea with Chinese herbs, for inspiration, as I write this post.

Looking Healthy After our Massages & Facials

Halfway Around the World

A while back, I decided that a good way to decompress as I start my year off would be to leave the country and go halfway around the world for two months. As I've spoken to many friends and family members in the last couple of weeks, a lot of the questions overlap. Therefore, today's post will take the form of a PR Q&A.

Q. Why did you decide to go to southeast Asia, and why are you going at one of the hottest times of the year?
A. The large number of Dell expats currently inhabiting Singapore makes it a great base for Asian travel. Hopefully no one will get sick of me. Regarding the weather, it's summer in Texas so it's not like I'm missing anything.

Q. Are you going by yourself?
A. I will only really be by myself for about 2 days when I travel into Vietnam. My mom, Carolyn, is traveling over with me and will be there for two weeks. Then I'll meet Lisa Howe in Cambodia and Sharon Francia will meet us in Bangkok, Thailand. Sharon and I will spend about a week checking out some spas for quality control. Then it's back to Singapore where I have a couple of weeks of down time. The last frontier is a two week bike trip through Vietnam.

Q. Where are you taking your mom?
A. We will be visiting Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Here is a sample of some of the places we are staying (wicked!):
http://www.lhotelcausewaybayhv.com/intro.php
http://www.puripunn.com/
http://www.lebua.com/
In Singapore, Jae Borgard was nice enough to invite us to stay with her, which will be loads of fun!

Q. That sounds cool. What's next?
A. Lisa and I are going to visit Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I'm sure there is going to be some eating and drinking too. This place was recommended by Steve and Janet Gluskoter:
http://www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com/
We'll fly back to Bangkok and meet Sharon at the Four Seasons for a couple of days of much needed R&R. We will hear the best four words in the English language, "Welcome to Four Seasons!" Thanks to Randy Huey for suggesting this spot.
http://www.fourseasons.com/bangkok/

Q. We really want to hear about the spas. Where are you going with Sharon, and are there metrics to evaluate the quality of each?
A. We have decided to focus on the Phuket, Thailand and Bali, Indonesia areas because of their status as Spa Capitals of the Universe. We have not developed our metrics yet, but you can be sure we are all over that action item and the results will be the topic of a future post.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1847
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=277&back=-1

Q. Then you go back to Singapore. What are you going to do for almost two weeks?
A. Luckily, Singapore's national pastimes are shopping and eating, which are two of my favorite things to do. I will catch up with friends and generally do what I do here in Austin - be very busy doing almost nothing.

Q. What about this bike trip? Who's running it and where does it go?
A. The trip is run by World Expeditions, an Aussie outfit. Apparently if you are Australian, you can run a bike trip for about a third as much as if you are an American company. Wicked. I've always wanted to see Vietnam and traveling the country by bike gets rave reviews. We meet in Hanoi (I'll be there for a whole day on my own first, ooooh) and end up on Ho Chi Minh City. To see the detail you can go to http://www.worldexpeditions.com/index.php?section=trips&id=68.

Q. Have you been reading anything in preparation for your visit to Vietnam?
A. I reread Up Country by Nelson DeMille. Great read and well worth all 700 pages, it has some good maps too.

Q. Are you flying business class?
A. Are you crazy? I am not getting a paycheck anymore. This trip is all about coach and budget carriers, which lucky for me are plentiful in southeast Asia.

Q. When do you leave and when will you be back?
A. Wheels up is Monday morning, May 14 and wheels down is late late on July 7.

Adios friends! Please visit the blog often!

Raccoons vs. Possums: Which is a Worse Pest?

Many of you who have known me for a while know that I have been dealing with an opossum problem at my house for quite some time. I live in an old house with pier and beam, and the nasty little critters have a habit of finding their way under my house with their fleas. The flea eggs then hatch and create an industrial infestation here in the house. This is must plain ugly and tends to get me in a bad mood.

One of the things I have done since I don't work now (!) is get the crawl space of the house sealed up. There are like 20 bricks now blocking the entryway, but it would not shock me if the little varmints figure out how to move them.

I've had raccoons in the yard, too. We had some visitors last fall - a mama and baby - who had a great meal on some cat food. Unlike the possums, they did not stick around. The other night it was poring torrential rain, and my mom had been over for dinner. When I drove her home and dropped her off, who should go running off her port but a huge raccoon! Maybe the one from last fall just went down the road to the other Miller's house...



Anyway, this got me to thinking about which of these varmints is a worse problem to have. I did a little research, and the answer hands down is raccoons. According the the Wildlife Rescue League, raccoons are carnivores and weigh anywhere from 12 to 35 pounds! They can unlock doors and get into trash cans and other mischief.Worse, raccoons are one of the few mammals that can descend tree trunks head first. Everyone knows that raccoons often get rabies which can be passed on to people. And, the little devils can even swim. You can red more about raccoons at http://fohn.net/raccoon-pictures-facts/raccoon-facts.html.

In contrast, the possum has a few useful traits and is generally a more loved animal. As a case in point, there is a National Opossum Society (http://www.opossum.org/), but no such similar organization for raccoons. Why is this the case? One possible reason is that possums are the only marsupial in North America! Who does not love an animal with a pouch? The gestation period for possums is only 11-13 weeks, and when the babies are born, all 20 of the litter can fit in a teaspoon. Then they get on into the mother's pouch where they develop and grow into big possums. Hmm. Possums also eat just about anything including roaches, rats, beetles, slugs and snails, so some people consider them helpful around the house. Most interestingly, they have thumbs on their feet!

I have not been able to get any photos of the possums in my yard, nor have I bothered to treat them for fleas. I'm still not convinced they are cute, but at least the raccoons are gone for now.