The Thai Hammam room.
Adding a touch of Thai service and hospitality can make many things in life better — in this case, it’s the newly launched Thai Hammam at Amatara Resort & Wellness in Phuket.
Blending Thai gentleness with traditional Turkish and Moroccan bathing practices means you won’t be thrown onto the heated stone bed like a slab of ham and scrubbed on like some floor stain. The one hour and 45 minute flagship treatment just flies by and if you aren’t a passive spa slouch, the many different stages within the treatment can be a fun course to ease through, starting at the traditional sauna and ending at the Himalayan salt room. It brings to mind the feel of a gymnastic circuit in physical education class — 10 minutes here, before moving onto another 15 minutes there, each thing more fun (and rejuvenating) than the previous.
According to Amatara’s wellness director, Phoebe Boonkerd, hammam was historically a ritual part of the traditional culture of bathing before praying, and took place at public baths. Although they exist predominantly in Turkey, Morocco and the Middle East, similar baths and practices can be found in Korea and even Roman baths.
With a Thai hammam, however, the service, delivery and touch is particularly Thai and much more private. “Usually, the experience is not so luxurious and not so gentle, without much respect for your body,” Phoebe says in explaining how her hotel’s hammam differs from the original. “It’s quite rough and the strong scrubbing comes with a strong massage. There is also a lot of people in the room at the same time so it doesn’t really have this delicate or pampering feeling. It’s just not in the nature of our therapists to treat guests roughly and that’s quite important.”
The intensive hair treatment.
This is apparent not only with a therapist that will wait on you head-to-toe throughout the whole treatment, but also in the lush decoration designed by Bulgarian spa specialists. The mosaic-tiled hammam room itself is an occasion, decked out in Turkish and Moroccan influences but with gold-coloured chandeliers and decor that bring in a Thai feel. But before you get to enter this internally-heated wonder located underground at the hotel’s spa building, you’ll have to change into their disposable underwear first. There’s no need to be self-conscious though, as other people are usually too busy unwinding to care. The good news is a maximum of only five other guests will be in the session with you, so the group is still quite cosy. You may feel more comfortable to have a friend in on the session with you, but be prepared to make small talk with other guests while starting out in the sauna, because a social element has always been at the heart of these public baths.
After a designated amount of time, your therapist will lead you to a jet-blast shower, before you get popped into the Thai herbal steam room to open pores. The real pampering begins when you get escorted into the warm hammam room, where you indulge in a Thai-influenced body massage and exfoliation atop an internally warmed stone bed.
When it’s all over, the dominant emotion is nothing but squeaky clean, with all the dead skin cells scrubbed away. An intensive hair treatment follows and if you allow yourself, you’ll rediscover the joys of having someone clean yourself for you. Everyone could use a bit of spoiling once in a while, and to be able to play with buckets and buckets of ice after being in a room with heated floors, chairs and beds for a long time is a blissful relief.
The next step sees the body completely covered in a silky, healing and detoxifying thermal mud. With your dead cells gone and pores open to absorb the mud’s minerals, you can choose between a ghassoul, a seven herb clay from Morocco that brightens the skin; or a Hungarian Moor mud that reduces muscle pains. After several minutes, steam gently infuses the mud room, in order to soften the mud for rinsing.
After rinsing, therapists will hand you a robe for you to slip on before enjoying the last stage of the treatment: the Himalayan salt cave relaxation zone. Guests will end on a soothing note, by having a silent moment in a room that emits salt elements into the air, which are good for the respiratory system. Let’s face it — Thais are usually too shy to brave onsens, let alone Turkish baths, but with this Thai hammam option now available, you get the best of both worlds: the ultimate relaxing experience of a public Turkish bath with a delicate Thai touch.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.