Lifestyle, Spas and Salons

Escape the Suburbs at Kartini Spa

The going rate for a home service massage is around 250 bucks. So why on earth am I now shelling out almost thrice that amount for a massage? The answer, a take on the classic “location, location, location,” is “ambiance, ambiance, ambiance.” After all, being a massage virgin (I have steadfastly refused to try a full body massage on the grounds that I may become addicted to another expensive habit), I figure the best way to pop my massage cherry is to go all out on a massage in a nice, exotic, relaxing, spa ambiance. A massage is a sensual experience, and my senses recoil at the thought of trying to relax in my cluttered bedroom, so I am prepared to pay extra to be immersed in a good environment.

The environment I have chosen, in keeping with this month�s Bali-vacation theme, is the lush garden landscaping of Kartini Spa in BF. I’ve always wanted to check this place out, since it seemed like such a treasure: an incongruous piece of paradise right in the middle of BF (on the way to Southland, no less). So this weekend, after a brief visit to the Alabang location of Kartini (where they’ll soon also have a spa; more on this next!), I head over to get my first real massage.

I arrive at a weird hour; the massage therapists are having their lunch, so I wander around the compound taking photos of the garden. The efficient staff soon has my massage table laid out, and they’re gracious enough not to mention that I disrupted their meal (there must have been something lost in translation when I made the appointment; I thought it was at 12, in which case I would’ve been late, but they were expecting me at 1).

I freshen up in their outdoor shower, gazing up at the coconut trees, wondering if anyone is perched among the fronds (hey, this is BF, after all). Fortunately the bamboo fences and the luxurious landscape lull me into a sense of seclusion and security, so I soon drift away and start to zone out the drone of passing tricycles and the clanking of the water pump (again, still in BF).

My massage is in one of the charming little cottages curtained off from the rest of the garden, with walls of robin’s egg blue, slatted blinds, bamboo wind chimes hanging from the ceiling, and the requisite soothing piped in music. I get the Kartini “Pijat” or Signature Massage, a mixture of different techniques, incorporating some Balinese, Filipino Hilot, Thai, and Swedish elements. The massage is very calming: steady, gentle but with just the right amount of pressure, nothing like those massages where you have to endure some amount of pain before getting to the relaxing part. I imagine this is the sort of thing you’d like your significant other to do for you at the end of a long, stressful day.

The massage costs P695, so it’s not exactly a cheap substitute to a free backrub, but it is much more involved: the therapist systematically goes through your whole body over an hour-and-a-quarter period, working with sublimely scented oils to relax your tense muscles and to help you attain an harmony and that elusive inner glow (I paraphrase their service menu). When my seventy five minutes are up, the therapist steals away quietly, leaving me at that delicious boundary between sleep and waking (I probably would’ve fallen asleep had they not turned off the music; I suppose it’s the sudden silence that wakes me up). They give me a pot of tart tea afterwards to ease me back into the world.

So now, after my massage, I realize that, yes, I am about to become addicted. Already I’m thinking of trying The Spa and going through the various massage parlors in the area (to say nothing of the slew of home service massages advertised everywhere) in search of the best, most sublime, most relaxing experience. I can’t say that Kartini is the best yet, since I have no prior experience to compare it to. But the place is definitely worth a look see, and boy, did that massage feel good.

(Oh, and by the way, sorry about the fuzzy pictures. My camera, in keeping with the mood, fell asleep.)

Kartini Spa

12 Palace corner Seoul Streets,

BF Homes International, Las Pinas City

788-0242

« Previous Post: Breakfast at Rumah Makan

Next Post: Kartini Asia - An oasis in Town »