Where water is the spa attraction

BALI'S Ayana Resort offers a range of unusual hydrotherapy treatment.

Ayana Aquatonic

THE spa industry is super-competitive, with new treatments being released virtually every week. Some of these sound downright flaky - a snake massage in Israel, spankings with prickly pear in Mexico, and red-wine baths in Japan - while others, such as increasingly popular bamboo rod massages, seem like exquisite forms of torture.

But the best options have a sound basis in time-honoured healing practices or medical origins such as dermatology and traditional chinese methods.

If you want an indulgent Asian-inspired spa treatment at a gorgeous resort and at an attractive price, then southern Thailand and Bali are the ideal destinations.

Bali, in particular, could well qualify as Asia's pamper capital, given the proliferation of day spas on the streets of Seminyak and Legian.

For about $8 a pop, you can even get the dry skin on your heels nibbled away by Turkish garra rufa (or doctor fish) at a hole-in-the-wall massage joint.

In Kuta last March, I saw a sign for Beer Massages, which doesn't even bear thinking about.

The new W Retreat & Spa Bali at Seminyak has a big 24-hour spa, AWAY, which could start a trend towards round-the-clock facilities; it isn't as zany as it sounds when you consider Garuda and Jetstar flights from Denpasar to Australian ports depart around midnight and there are many hours to fill between typical hotel check-out time (11am-noon) and airline check-in. Conversely, if you arrive at your accommodation before check-in time (2pm-3pm), then a lie-down in a spa could be a good way to spend the wait.

If you are a fan of hydrotherapy, Ayana Resort and Spa, perched clifftop at Jimbaran Bay, has a multi-award-winning Thermes Marins spa based on water therapies.

Its other unusual treatments include hot seashell massages and lava-stone reflexology.

An Ayana fusion therapy involves the application of steamed bleached cotton pouches, containing a blend of three types of ginger, to knead painful joints and knotted muscles. Chakra-opening Ayurvedic treatments are on the agenda, as is a totally over-the-top Creme de la Mer facial that uses sea quartz and pure diamond dust.

Aside from the main facility, it's 100 steps down the cliffside to Ayana's Spa on the Rocks (be aware it'll be a jelly-legged climb back up), which consists of two oceanside pavilions suitable for couples' treatments, and where, on windy days, the spray hits the windows and the timber walls stir and shake.

But for those who want the water-baby works, the resort's Aquatonic thalasso spa pool should be your destination. Billed as the world's largest seawater therapy pool, it contains 700 million litres directly supplied from the Indian Ocean below.

"Fresh seawater, sea-based minerals and modern technologies of affusion, water wave and pump therapies deliver the full benefit of sea-based vitamins, mineral salts, trace elements, amino acids and living micro-organisms to restore and rebalance the human body," according to the blurb.

In effect, you buy two-hour entry to this vast covered pool, to be pummelled by forceful jets and gentler micro-bubblers at 12 hydro massage stations and geysers. The pool's hydrostatic pressure allows effortless exercise and the water is warmed to a cosy temperature.

Or sign up for a 25-minute aquarobics class or an underwater massage during which you float in a rubber support circle while the therapist works magic on your back and shoulders.

Even the skincare treatments at Ayana are different. One signature facial uses fresh yoghurt, oatmeal, honey and egg whites, which sounds like a buffet breakfast for one's skin. What a fine way to start a Bali day.

Checklist
A Perfectonic package includes two hours in the Aquatonic seawater therapy pool and cocktails to follow at Ayana's ocean's-edge Rock Bar, considered one of Bali's most chic drinking spots; 500,000 rupiah ($55) plus taxes. The resort also offers accommodation packages with spa treatments and other extras. More: ayanaresort.com.