Hong Kong’s spas can all start to blur into one after a while – the same treatments, the same techniques, the same products… well, not SPA by MTM. With a range of treatments blending ancient Asian techniques and philosophies with contemporary spa luxury, plus the use of custom-blended formulations from their own product line, you can be guaranteed a unique experience every time!
For my first visit to SPA by MTM, I tried their new Zen Happiness Experience, a special treatment to mark their 6th anniversary. The first step was a diagnosis of my ‘physical and spiritual needs’ – I picked out the Relax series of custom-blended essential oils, designed to target weary and stressed-out souls like myself with ingredients including lavender, catnip, red sage root and echinops (see the Chinese medicine coming into play?!).
Next, I was led down serene light corridors to my treatment room. This contains not only your massage bed, but a bath, a shower cubicle, a sofa and a wardrobe – I just wish my bedroom at home was that big! What I liked about this approach was that the room felt like it was truly mine to escape into; you change here and store your handbag and clothes in the wardrobe, meaning you don’t have to worry about bumping into other semi-nude customers or forgetting the key code for your locker. In fact, the whole of SPA by MTM is a total tranquil heaven, and to find a modern luxe spa this big at ground level in heaving cramped Causeway Bay really is quite a find indeed.
My therapist, May, gave me a brief but lovely foot bath before leaving me to have a shower, a step I found a little unnecessary (I’m very clean I assure you!) but which I got on with nonetheless. Then it was onto the good stuff – a series of different types of massage.
The first was a Hot Stone Deep Tissue Acupoint Massage. This was an utter treat – the stones were warmed just so and felt like delicious little balls of heat rolling and licking their way down my body. May used both light brush-like strokes and also more targeted pressure on key areas around my shoulder and neck to relieve and relax my aches, pains and tensions.
I would have been happy with just this for the next 90 minutes, but there was still more to come! Next, it’s a Japanese & Chinese Integrated Pressure Point Massage, designed to loosen up your muscles from within; then, it’s onto you ‘Inner Happiness Massage’ itself, using liberal application of the oils you selected earlier blended together with MTM’s luxurious Xensation body cream to help wake up your body, increase circulation and ease symptoms of stress – although all the different varieties of oil have slightly different effects, so it really is down to how you’re feeling on the day!
Fans of strong, intense massages look no further! This massage is truly the one for you. It concentrates heavily on your back and involves lots of strong, targeted pressure; I felt several twinges and stirrings in muscles I didn’t even realise I had… sometimes in a good way, and sometimes in an ouch way! In all honestly, it was a little too strong for me, but I’m happy to admit I’m a bit of a weakling.
Finally, after two hours of May’s ultra-professional work and with the feeling that every inch of my body had been well and truly massaged into supple submission, my SPA by MTM experience was nearly at an end. But not before one delightful finishing touch – and a true marker of how every little detail counts here – a platter of refreshments, including a honey chrysanthemum green tea and a soothingly sweet gingko and pearl barley soup dessert, made fresh at MTM every day. You’re invited to enjoy these at your leisure, still in your own private room… and if I were you, I’d do everything to lap up those final few moments before you’re back in bustling Causeway Bay again!
So if you fancy trying to discover your inner Zen – however deeply it’s hidden! – head to SPA by MTM for a unique, customised and soulful treatment you definitely won’t forget!
The Zen Happiness Experience costs $1980 for 2 hours.
SPA by MTM, Shop A, G/F, 3 Yun Ping Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2923 7888; Shop 118, Citygate, Tung Chung, Lantau, Hong Kong, 2923 6060