Monday, July 23, 2007

2 Traditional Massages and a Facial for US15.70

I may have had a weekend of muddy water but I made good use of that excuse to get some pampering in over the weekend.

On Saturday, Richard and I went for a 30 min head/neck/shoulder massage. It cost just IDR25,000 (USD 2.50) each. This is the best thing about living over here in Indonesia. Its so affordable to go out and get a good massage, manicure, hair spa, all sorts of things to pamper you for when things like muddy water come to ruin your day.

On Sunday, I had mentioned that we needed to go to Novotel for our showers. Well, I took a slight detour to the Spa in the hotel. This was a little bit more expensive because I didn't want to go outside where they might use questionable products on my face so I ended up paying IDR120,000 (USD 13.20) for my facial. This came with a full massage beforehand. The facial was an all natural one with things like fruit and oatmeal. Very soothing and refreshing but I'm not sure if it exfoliated enough of the muck off my skin.

So, there is definitely a good side to living here. Its so easy for me to complain about the living conditions and either wish I was back in Malaysia or Australia BUT....there are many positives to life in Palembang. I must remind myself of this more often. Besides, I feel awful complaining all the time when there are millions of people who live here and never get the chance to even leave this city let alone the country.

2 comments:

NomadicExpat said...

I think I'm coming over to visit you just for the massages and spa! I can't even get a manicure for that price! But, is there a way to protect me from the mosquitoes if I come visit? :-P

I guess that's the only way to deal with the situation and look at life from a bigger picture -- how blessed we all are as compared to many others.

Unknown said...

You have to beware as not all massage parlours are REAL....some are different kind of massage (you know what I mean).

But if the employees say "all the people providing the massage services are older females", you know that they are for REAL....;)