The sharper edge to traveling in Asia

Archive for the 'Spas & Therapeutic Massage' Category

WoWasis toilet product review: The Swash bidet toilet seat that keeps ‘em coming back for more

Here at WoWasis, we’re pretty well known for our bathroom plumbing product reviews, from Thai toilet hoses to heated, pulsating toilet seats from Asia. Geez, we’ve even shown you how to wash your butt on a 747 jet airplane! But we gotta tell ya: after installing the Brondell Swash 300 toilet seat at the WoWasis […]

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Why we just LOVE the Spa-Hotel Alpina in Takayama, Japan

We don’t write about hotels very often. We here at WoWasis don’t get complimentary rooms, we pay for our own. So when we take the time to write about a hotel, it’s gotta be good. If you’re ever in the beautiful historical city of Takayama, Japan, a bit northeast of Kyoto, then you’ve got to […]

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The best bath in Japan? Maybe it’s Kyoto’s Funaoka Onsen

Here at WoWasis, we’re clean freaks, or can’t you tell? We’ve reported on Thai toilet hoses, soapy massages, Bangkok Korean scrubs, you name it, we just wanna be clean. It turns out that the Japanese, like the Thais and Koreans, are water people, and they revere their public baths, which they call onsen. And there’s […]

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The ‘Italy Towel’ is that funny piece of cloth handing from your Korean hotel’s towel rack

It’s funny how sometimes the most common items are never discussed in travel guides. The Korean “Italy towel” is one of them. Every hotel in Korea, it seems, has one of these rough-toothed cloths handing from the towel rack or sitting rolled up in a basket. What’s it for? It’s there to help defoliate dead […]

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WoWasis visits Sri Lanka’s Spice Garden hawkers

On the road from Colombo to Kandy, especially near the area close to the Elephant Orphanage (which we feel is overpriced and unworth the visit, unless you’ve never seen an elephant before), you’ll find a number of signs saying ‘Spice Garden,’ or ‘Spice Grove,’ fronting local spice operations. We visited one of them, The Island 25 […]

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WoWasis visits an ayurvedic spa in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Polannaruwa is one of the three ancient cities that we here at WoWasis feel everyone visiting Sri Lanka should see. The star attraction is the multicolored, stratified, monumental reclining Buddha, but there’s enough everywhere else to make it a one-day stop. And it can be one hot, sweaty day, too. So we here at WoWasis […]

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WoWasis visits My Spa: a therapeutic, non-sexual massage in the heart of Bangkok

Though you might not believe it, judging by Bangkok’s reputation as the soapy massage capital of the world, therapeutic, non-sexual massages do exist, and we found a great one in the heart of Bangkok, one minute from the Asok BTS Skytrain station. My Spa, located on the 3rd floor of the Times Square shopping complex, […]

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Get a great Bangkok Wat Pho massage without going to Wat Pho

Massages at Bangkok’s Wat Pho are famous, but many Thais and westerners elect instead to go to the One Pho Original Thai Massage around the corner, where the prices are a bit better, all masseuses are Wat Pho trained, and the lines are shorter. In addition, it’s closer to the Thai Tien pier. And it’s […]

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WoWasis visits hot springs and the Sietian Temple at Jaosi (Jaoxi), Northeastern Taiwan

If you’re driving south on the eastern Highway 2 from the Northeast Coast National Scenic Area, a refreshing stop is at the city of Jaosi (Jaoxi), just north of the city of Ilan (Yilan).  Jaosi is famous for its hot springs and temple. We’d recommend seeing the Sietian (Xietian) temple first, then staying, kike your […]

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How long will it take me to learn Thai massage?

The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang Today’s question: How long will it take me to learn Thai massage? Dear Pa Farang, I am planning to visit Bangkok and i would like to have massage lessons but i haven’t have before any. How long you think it takes for a starter to […]

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