Eric got his first ever massage during our holiday in Bali! What were his ultimate impressions?

I had never gotten a massage before. The closest I had come to getting a massage was our trip to the Turkish hamam in Fethiye, but that was a bit rough. It’s not that I actively dislike them, but it didn’t seem like something that was worth paying for.

During the second half of the week while we were in Ubud, Phill and Izaak decided they wanted to visit Jaens Spa. I certainly wasn’t going to sign up for one of the long treatments, but under some general pressure from the others plus a bit of curiosity, I decided to sign up for a 1-hour traditional Balinese massage. Della loves getting massages, so she agreed to join me.

The experience started off with a nice welcome drink as we filled out some paperwork. We could request a certain level of pressure, and I went with “Light” since I was envisioning the hardcore treatment I had seen in Turkey.

We were then taken into a back room and given a quick foot scrub. My feet were pretty sweaty and gross after having walked an hour and a half to get to the spa, so I was feeling a little self-conscious about how bad they must smell! I think that’s one reason I don’t like massages: I assume it must be weird for the masseuse to have to deal with someone else’s body. But in my head I told myself to get over it. At this point we also chose our oils for the massage. I went with a frangipani-scented oil, which they said was good for relaxing, while Della went with a ginger-scented oil for energy.

We were then lead into a massage room with two different massage tables. On each table was a shrink-wrapped piece of underwear, that was basically just some black mesh with elastic – seriously the skimpiest thing we had seen! We squeezed into these and hopped up onto our respective tables.

Our attendants then came in, draped towels over us, and began the massage. I have to say that the time flew by! The hour was up before I knew it. It was definitely a full body massage – head, shoulders, back, legs, feet and hands. There wasn’t really any improvisation in the massage – I could hear Della’s masseuse and we had the exact same things done to us at the same times.

It wasn’t as awkward as I had thought it could be. The back portion of the massage did go a little lower than I was expecting, but nothing inappropriate.

In the end, we got to take a quick shower and then relax with some fruit while we waited for Phill and Izaak to finish their spa treatment. At the end, I felt very calm and relaxed, so I think the massage did its job! I’m not sure if I am going to make getting a massage part of my normal routine, but if I see a cheap one I may just consider it!

Eric refreshed and relaxed after his massage