Would you believe that I have never availed of any massage treatment at a spa before? The only massages that I’ve had was from your local manghihilot and a beach massage in Puerto Galera back in 2004. So I had placed “get a massage at a spa” on my proverbial things-to-do-before-I-die list and finally crossed that item out last weekend.

A good friend of mine had been inviting me recently to go get ourselves a massage and I finally grabbed that opportunity. We went to the new Wensha Spa at the CCP complex, Pasay City (on the same block as the Boom na Boom carnival) at 10 p.m. last Sunday and stayed there until 4 a.m. (Yes, Wensha Spa is open 24/7, same as their original branch at Timog Ave. in Quezon City.)

For 580 pesos, you can avail of an hour-long full-body massage, free use of the wet areas (shower, pools, sauna, and steam room) and free soups, drinks, and snacks. That’s quite affordable, especially since other spas, like The Spa, charge much more. The place was quite clean and spacious and the attendants were quite alert and accomodating.

The locker rooms were good, with padded benches, lots of toiletries, and a cool keyless locker system (you just bring the pendant of your locker wristband to the lock on the locker door to have it automatically open). The wet areas were quite decent and comparable to the gyms I have been to (Fitness First and Gold’s Gym), though I must protest the sauna and steam room. The sauna seemed to be a broiler at around 100°C! I couldn’t stand being in it for more than a minute and note that I can happily stay for 10 minutes at a 80°-sauna at Gold’s. The steam room, on the other hand, was at a comfortable temperature, but the menthol was too strong that it was as if they were boiling a pot full of Halls candies somewhere.

The massage was ok, I guess. Since I have never had a full-body massage before, I could not tell whether the treatment I had was par for the course, a real delight, or a flop. Well, it was pleasurable enough, though there were a few times when I thought the therapist was going to break my bones. Hehehe. Too bad that my friend and I had to cut our naps short after the massage—I did feel very relaxed after all.

Would I go back to Wensha? I definitely would. I did have fun and I could certainly get used to getting pampered and all. I doubt I’ll get addicted (like other people) since it’s a large expense even if I think it’s affordable. I will also definitely try other spas based on other people’s recommendations.

If you want to hear what other people say about Wensha Spa in Pasay, I’m sure you’re quite capable of using various web and blog search engines. There are also a few photo albums on Multiply. But to get you started on your quest, here are Wensha Spa Pasay accounts from noted bloggers Anton and Ajay.