Massages

I have been toying with the idea of writing a comparative article on massages in Kuwait. The only problem with this idea is that usually, most newspapers and magazines only pay an average of around 20 KD per article – and the average massage is around 20 KD. If I did a comparison, I would be plenty outa pocket.

An anonymous commenter asked where he/she should go for a good massage. I have a problem now because I don’t know if it is a male or female anonymous person. Massages (in Kuwait) must be done by the same gender (even if the person on the receiving end of the massage is gender-confused). For a member of the opposite gender to touch any part of the person’s body – it is considered prostitution in Kuwait. That includes having a man cut a woman’s hair and vice versa.

Since I’m female (still and to the best of my knowledge), I’ll give it to you from a female perspective.

The commenter said, “by a certified masseuse”. Certified by WHOM? Kuwait doesn’t certify to my knowledge: Housemaid one day, masseuse the next day. Western folk are generally certified in their home countries.

Okey dokey, having disclaimed all that….

The places I have tried:

The Palms: Cold room, cold oil, cold “hot” stones, cold hands, room facing the pool with people walking by and nothing but shuttered blinds covering the window. I walked out.

The Hilton: Great massage, poor atmosphere. The treatment rooms open towards the pool (that day – full of hairy men). If there is loud noise at the pool, you can’t relax.

Oriental Princess, Salmiya: Inexpensive/great massage, expensive surroundings. Believe it or not, Oriental Princess had one of the best massages I’ve had in Kuwait. The masseuses are all Thai. The décor in the room was Thai/Asian and very clean. It was tranquil and they provided lots of small details (like fresh flowers in a bowl of water under the table where your head is through the hole).

La Fem Salon, Salmiya: I am a sucker to advertising. They always run ads for their new treatments. The massage started off bad, but got much better. The environment is very bad, but the massage was good. I also had to copy my spa music CD’s because they played 50’s R&R which is a bad choice for a relaxing massage!

Places I want to go:

I visited the Spa at the Movenpick at Bidaaa. OMG gorgeous and clean! I really want to go there for a massage sometime.

Crowne Plaza, Farwaniya, has a new spa that I haven’t had the time to go to for a walk-through. It looks fantastic, although the sales girl for the new spa had no clue (deer-in-the-headlights look) what a hot stone massage is! (Training, people!) Unfortunately, as of this writing, nothing is even mentioned about it on their website. If you want info, write to them at aquatonic@crowneplaza.com.kw and they will send you info and pricing.

Spatime and Lavender in Mahalabiya Mall, Hawalli: I have heard really really good things about both of these places, but the whole idea of going to a mall for a massage is kind of a turn-off to me. I haven’t been able to get my head around it yet.