Weekend Retreat at Danai Spa, Penang

Last weekend, my sweetie treated me to a luxuriously decadent spa experience at Danai Spa, Penang! (I shall deem this experience as decadent ok, because never in my right mind would I spend that kind of money indulging in a spa for myself... sounds so... only for the datin-datins... gosh!)

Anyway, after getting a bit lost on the road, we finally reached Danai Spa at 4 o'clock. Enclaved in a hilly residential area just opposite the Tanjung Bungah hotel, it at first sight seemed modest - a bit too modest to me compared to its professional-looking branch at g-hotel!

We took the couple-spa package, consisting of a 90-minute Danai Signature Massage, 30-minute full body scrub and Destress Therapy Soak bath. In addition to the package, we could also use the outdoor facilities for 20 minutes. The whole experience would last for 2-3 hours.

Follow me as I embark on my first spa adventure!

He does looks like he really needs a spa, doesn't he? Poor thing!

Through this door... down the steps to the mythical garden of Balinese architecture...

I'm a Princess! Princess goes in to change in the dressing room...

Balinese princess getting her feet washed...

Ohh... si puteraku datang menunggang kuda... kemudian dicuci kakinya...

Lovely rainfall pool!

After bathing our tired/smelly feet at the pipe, we were led to this lovely pool, with little rainlets of water sprinkling from the top and all... so pretty. We were supposed to get ourselves a little wet by walking through the pool to the jacuzzi at the other end. Aahh... the clean and clear water... how nice if it were a swimming pool!

The garden decor was refreshingly sweet and simple with lots of greenery, pottery, Balinese statues and water features. I could almost imagine sweet Balinese music playing in the background and me, being chased by my dayang-dayang around a waterfall in a quiet forest setting!

Pathway...

Jacuzzi... Looked like something out of a magazine

Sipping ginger tea in the jacuzzi...

Us enjoying the jacuzzi together

Can catch a glimpse of the sea from the jacuzzi

Massage bed... how I wish we did our massage here

Cute Balinese decor on the roof

During my trip to Korea, our tourguide mentioned that no one in their right mind would go for a spa in Malaysia, unlike four season country citizens like Koreans, Japanese and Taiwanese, because the weather is too hot here! It did make a lot of sense as I almost had a dizzy spell from the warm jacuzzi in the hot afternoon sun. (Furthermore that day was EXTREMELY hot and dry...)

After the jacuzzi we changed into bathrobes in a small hut and went indoors for the massage. There are 4 themed rooms to choose from - Balinese, Moroccan, Oriental and English. I chose Balinese, but the Moroccan and English themed rooms are the best! The Danai Signature massage combines Thai and Swedish massage techniques - which I felt was still ok, since I don't like my massages hard (in fact, I don't really like to be massaged at all), but was definately not hard enough for Leo. He said he can get a better massage from Queensbay Mall at RM30. You know me, I fell asleep and snored pleasantly all the way through. ^@^~ One tip: the famous massage here is actually the Hawaiian Kahuna Massage, I heard it's very special, but of course, a bit on the pricey side...

Next up was the full body scrub - I had Ginger Salt Glow scrub while Leo had the Apple and Oats scrub for sensitive skin. For first-timers who haven't had a long scrub in ages, it's good to choose Ginger Salt to thoroughly burn and grind those stubborn dead cells off you! I love my scrubs hard, but I'll laugh when the girl scrubs the soles of my feet! I wanna try Milk and Honey next time for skin whitening. We felt and smelled so good after that... like a pair of marinated chicken wings.

Last but not least, we were ushered off into a bathroom with a nice big bathtub for our Destress Therapy Soak. We figured we needed the Destress theme after our heavy workload recently. On the contrary, the bath was so hot that it felt stressful... we kept leaping up every few minutes into the cold shower. Cold, warm, cold, warm... hmm... can be good for taut skin too.

We finished our entire spa experience by 7.30pm, feeling extremely pampered, a bit guilty for the decadence, and a bit sweaty cos of the heat. Our verdict: for the kind of service given, Danai Spa is a bit overpriced. But ambience and facilities were not bad... just felt a bit rushed at the first 20 minutes.

But if you ask me, I wouldn't mind doing it another time...! Anybody knows anymore good spas in Penang? ^_^