The Adventures of Bruce and Ian

Now that our stomachs were full and satisfied, it was time to pamper our aching bodies. Sarah mentioned that it would be a cool idea to get massages at a spa – then she mumbled something about fish. I figured it would be a spa with aquariums…and I sure likes fishes. =)

We went up Bukit Bintang looking for a good place to get pampered. What’s funny is that every massage place or spa we encountered had its windows plastered with pictures of flowers, what looked like schematic diagrams for feet, and barebacked women face down on tables. I don’t know where spas in Malaysia get their creative for advertising from, but there must be a printer making MAD monies off printing poster boards with pictures of feet on them

Sarah found us a spa and once we walked in, we were immediately taken aback by the ambiance of the place. It looked really nice!

I also saw the tanks with fishes in them.

“Why so low to the ground? and why such small, uninteresting fish?” I thought to myself. I was expecting clownfish, lion fish and some sort of koi, instead I get these little dark-brown colored fish. I was a bit disappointed, but a good massage was about to commence, and I can’t be mad at that!

First thing on the list was to get our feet washed – felt great after walking around.

The next thing to do was to plunge our feet into the tank and let the fish eat our dead skin.

…

Wait, what?

Folks, meet Garra rufa.

These little fishes will literally bite flakes of dead skin off your feetums for sustanance. How did it go? Take a look yourself:

How did it feel? Very, VERY tickly. Not painful, but very unsettling (My exclaimations of things seeming “not right” were spot on) It also kind of felt like little jolts of electricity after a few minutes, which allowed you to relax just a bit.

Then you realize the reality that hundreds of fish are sucking off dead skin from your feet – a bit hard to relax to that thought.

They finished off with a 10 min shoulder and arm massage, performed by dudes with forearms the size of an oil barrel.

Believe it or not, this was more relaxing than the fish portion. Go figure.

Tags: 1, Travel

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