Before I Die - Crossing off the first

No. 4. - Spend a day at a spa..

Not just any spa. An aquatonic spa. One of the rare few in the world, the first in the Middle East and the best spa in Kuwait.

And I spend the day there for free. 

CHA CHING!!

Whiled away the afternoon hours with mom's bff whose friend invited her who invited me to accompany her to the Spa Aquatonic at Crowne Plaza (did you follow that?)

So we entered and the attendant who met us asked me my age (23). He gave me a discerning look and then said, 'are you sure you're not under 18?' Sheesh!

Moving on..

Caution: Major overuse of the word 'awesome' suspected.

What a place.. WOW WOW WOW!!

Here's a peek of the entrance from their website (click for a better look):

The place is magnificent - the decor made me swoon. There were windows of carved wood everywhere, in the changing area and were all around the aquatonic pool. The plush interiors are made of marble and look very swanky without ever coming close to ostentatious.

A locker with an electronic locking system was assigned to each of us and contained a towel and a huge kingly peach coloured bathrobe. They had my heart right from there :) Changed into my swimsuit and followed my spa mates into the pool.

This is what I saw (again, from the website - photography wasn't allowed and anyway I was too busy breathing it all in to take furtive pictures with my cell):

We went during ladies hours and there weren't that many people anyway. After a long time I smiled at strangers (not 'coz I'm a snob, I just don't remember to use my cheek muscles that way but today I was beaming) and got smiled back at. Some of the women were wearing INSANE swimming caps! Check them here. They beat the ugly, old, monochromatic Speedo ones anyday! 

The pool was aweeeesomeeeee (I warned you)!! It was GINORMOUS and was divided in 15 sections (but I can just recall 13). So the concept behind the aquatonic pool is that it offers a 'therapeutic experience' to de-stress. There are a number of jets underwater in the walls in numerous parts of the pool, with an intent of addressing and lessening problematic pains in the body through water massages.

A particular area (that you can see in the lower left hand of the picture) has these little U shaped cocoons where you sit (with great difficulty, it takes some getting used to - not getting thrust off the seat). There are jet propulsions in the wall that are aimed at different parts of your back. I felt I was being pummeled. Right next to that section, is a track that one is supposed to walk through against the powerful flow of the current. That was awesome! Behind this, on a higher level lies a still pool (extreme left of above picture). What's so special about it? Well, it has treadmills and cycling machines IN it. SUPER AWESOME FUNNNN!!

I also did around five minutes of aqua aerobics with a long cylindrical piece of foam (Google says it's called a pool noodle). Oh MAN. It just refused to stay under my foot underwater, kept throwing me off. I didn't spend too much time on it after I got the hang of it, was too busy hyperactively exploring, afraid we'd leave before I entirely checked out every single section satisfactorily.

There were deckchairs too, underwater (duh). Aqua massage chairs, they're called. The neck and feet are where you get you massaged - if you can settle your rear into it without floating out of it. After a time, propped in front of any jet, it felt itchy; it was doing great things for my blood circulation. Stone statues of swans tower at the corner and back of the pool, furiously spitting out a continual flow of water that lashes your back when you sit under it.

There was a jacuzzi/hot tub too of course, and I sat out the majority of the last hour there in utter bliss, occasionally dipping my chin into the foam, it had a sweet sensation. I probably would have fallen asleep if it weren't for nagging fear that my head would nod off into the frothing water. A small but long waterfall ran the whole length of the pool in the middle, and I walked under it sideways with my hands outstretched grinning like crazy, remembering how we'd drench ourselves back in India.

(There was nothing falling from the ceiling, if that's what this pic made you think)

On another, higher level right at the back, there are jets in the ground. Rocked my world! I leaned against the wall and stuck my feet firmly right over the jet (needs practice, else the water thrusting out just makes you float :S). It felt ticklish, but in a pleasant way. I could see the whole pool from up there. The dark carved wooden windows looked exquisite, highlighted in the sunlight that filtered in through the blinds behind. The interiors have an Arabian look about them giving off a very harem-like feel. The whole extravagant experience seduces you like nobody's business. As I looked on at the dozens of jets propelling water at varying forces and pressures, the lighting, the temperature controlled water, it struck me how much energy and electricity it must need to maintain a place like this. Staggering amount. The annual membership is not inexpensive and the daily walk-in alone is 50 KD. 

I love exorbitant freebies ;)

We spent over two and a half hours in there (only 60 minutes is recommended for health reasons.. I don't know what they are but I could add to avoid your skin looking like a prune's exterior. But the website says 90 minutes in there and you could lose 500 calories! :D) and then wadded back to the changing rooms in our humongous bathrobes. There was a sauna and steam room too. Obviously, I popped into both :P The steam nearly burned me to death. After about 3 minutes, I was hopping towards the door like a bunny, screaming 'ow ow OW!' Went into the sauna then, apparently it was turned on specially for this dear blogger ;) Ah I loved that. It was peaceful, since I was the only one there. I can't imagine why though; it was so calming. Then I got bored and went to shower. I'd forgotten shampoo but naturally it was available in each shower cubicle in liquid dispensers. After drying my hair with one of the blowdryers plugged into the wall, I finally dropped my bathrobe into a basket, bidding it a forlorn farewell.

Sigh. What a great day.