Alex-Cheryl: Danai Spa: Bridal Shower (Part 1)

Firstly I must start off by saying thanks to the wonderful girls who came and held this shower for me.

Mace - Bringing us together and the many gifts for each of us
Eunice O - For coordinating the spa
Jami – For ironing my gift :)
YeeLong - For celebrating with me

It was great fun and it wouldn’t have been the same without you girls. And because this will probably be a long entry on its own, I will post two entries. Word of warning, many pictures ahead. I will try and put several pics into one to make for easy viewing.

Arriving at 1030am we were given a form to fill out with our details and seriously, detailed it was. Apart from allergies, they wanted to know our preferences, stress levels, health conditions, the amount of water we consumed each day, contact details and etc. Together with the form, we had a nice cup of warm ginger tea. The spa was decorated with Eastern influences-I detected Balinese and Chinese influences. It was tastefully done and the ambience was great for relaxation. We settled for a 30 minute Jacuzzi and a 90 minute massage. They offer two kinds of massages, the Danai Signature Massage and the Aromatherapy Massage. The first is good for those who want heavy handed action (namely me and Mace) while the latter is good for those just want soothing, relaxing strokes (that would be Jami, O and YeeLong)

After that we were ushered into the locker room where we were given a sarong wrap, disposable underwear and slippers. Jami, Mace and I were the blur ‘sotongs’ (a Malaysian expression for blur-ness) who didn’t know how the sarong wrap worked. One, it was too long for a one time wraparound. Two, it was too short for a two time wraparound. Anyhow, we made do and figured it should look like this.

In comes the spa lady, she goes “No, no… neck.” It took us awhile to understand what she meant.
And then we go, “Ohhhh… a halter!”

* EuniceO, Me, Mace and Jami

Hahaha. Smooth ladies, real smooth. We were then ushered into this nice open area, bright and sunny to have our feet washed. This place had indirect sunlight and the soft breeze going through the place made it nice and cool albeit a bit too bright for my liking.

Next to us was a shallow pool with water dripping from all directions, the pots, the figurines and the intentional holes in the pipes above our heads, I believe it was to simulate rainfall. After our feet were washed we were told to walk through this pool and exit from the other side before entering our Jacuzzi. None of us got the purpose of this exercise. Raindrops relaxes people? It’s a scenic route to the Jacuzzi? Anyway we just did what we were told.

We spent 30 minutes in the Jacuzzi, taking in the nice setting and though wet, managed to take a couple of pictures.

* From the left: Mace, O, Me, YeeLong. My wrinkly toes. Keys to locker#3

Time always flies when one is having fun. I thought the 30 minutes went by far too quickly. We were taken to this bamboo kinda hut to change into our robes and a dry set of underwear. EuniceO and I shared a room for our massage. Again, the 90 minutes in there went by quickly as well. The masseuse was good with her hands and I did feel relaxed after it. While going through my back, she pushed down hard and there were 3 loud cracks. That felt good. And while going through my arms, she yanked hard and again there were 3 loud cracks. Both the cracks happened on the right side of my body. I reckon it couldn’t have been a coincidence. She tried on the left but there were no sounds. So in conclusion, I think I have to work on my ergonomics. I must be stressing the right side of my body way more than my left. Midway through she slapped my back so hard it shocked poor EuniceO out of her mid-slumber. Hahaha... Admittedly it was rather loud slaps but it didn’t hurt. In fact it felt extremely good. I do think that I could have done with a harder massage. I did mention it a few times to my masseuse but I think she did the best she could.

After we were done, we got changed. Definitely looking fresh and energized, no?

In the locker room after everyone had changed, suddenly Mace goes, “Cheryu! Take off your baju!!” (Baju is Malay for clothes)
I was shocked. For a moment I was like…?? How scandalous! And she said it in such an authoritative voice too! :) Guess why?

She made it herself with fabric crayon. Pretty cute huh… It’s in my theme colors too! Pink and brown. I get to keep this for my kids to view in the future. And yeah I was made to wear this for the rest of the day. But it’s ok… all in the name of good fun. No complaints from me!