Nightmarish Experience at Slimming Sanctuary
This post is wayyyy overdue… given that my last post was in October and I promised to write about my Groupon experience, I’m more than 2 months behind my self-imposed schedule. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I just haven’t had the time because I’ve been so busy with a lot of things (as usual).
Anyway, I did write a post about a Groupon experience, but I haven’t uploaded it because it was in my netbook which I rarely used, and I kept forgetting to switch it on to post it. So now that I’m sitting in bed at 2am waiting for my hair to dry, now is a good time as any to get this posted up.
This post was written on 12th November 2011 in my netbook on the highway as my friend and I were making our way back from Johor Bahru (we were there for a wedding), so that’s why it wasn’t posted straightaway.
Anyway, here goes!
This isn’t my first Groupon experience, but I’m posting this up first because I feel that this is really important to get the word out about this spa experience.
Slimming Sanctuary. Image from www.groupon.my
I bought a voucher for a Spa package at Slimming Sanctuary for RM68 (worth RM348), which if you look at it, sounds like an incredible deal. Due to my incredibly hectic schedule of work and dance competitions, I was in desperate need for a massage, and I was fortunate enough (or at least, I thought so at that time) to be able to get an appointment on Saturday, 5th November, at the Damansara Utama outlet.
I say fortunate because I had bought a few vouchers for massage and/or spa, but when I tried to make appointments, all of them tended to be fully booked right up to the end of the year – the reason being that because the voucher was so cheap, they were oversold on Groupon. One example was a voucher I bought from Lizkhan Spa – I had so much trouble trying to make an appointment with them although they had extended the expiry date from the initial October 21st to the end of December.
Anyway, so about Slimming Sanctuary. They have 16 outlets in 5 states, so I made my appointment at the Damansara Utama outlet because it was the closest to where I stay. The voucher promised 2 hours of spa and massage, but I got less than that. I arrived at the outlet at 4pm, but I left before 6pm, which means the spa and massage experience is way below 2 hours.
When I arrived, I was asked to fill up a form about my personal details. This is normal for any service outlets as they like to keep customer details in a file which they can pull up later should the customer come again for another treatment.
I was then led upstairs to the locker area where I was assigned a locker to store my personal belongings. They didn’t have changing rooms though – I was told to go into one of the treatment rooms to change out of my clothes and into a towel. And this was the first part I didn’t like: although the room was empty, this room had someone else’s clothes hanging on a clothes hanger on the wall. Evidently the girl who had changed thought this would be her assigned treatment room and left all her belongings there – I saw her handphone left by the sink. I voiced out my concern – I told the staff who was waiting outside that “there’s someone else’s clothes here” and was told that it didn’t matter, it was only for me to change. Personally I thought this was unprofessional and it actually made me feel uncomfortable. Plus, although I was given a clothes hanger to hand my clothes, there were no other hooks for me to hang my clothes on because the only hook in the room was already in use. I had to hang the hook in what was literally a hole in the wall (I don’t know how the hole got there. It looked like someone had accidentally punched a hall in the partition wall). And just as I was about to step out of the room, the girl who originally used the room came barging in, and she looked rather surprised to see me there. I can’t blame her now, can I?
I was given a cup of water to drink before being taken to their steam room to sit for about 15 minutes. The steam was nice and hot – I’ve always enjoyed sitting in steam rooms when I used to be a member of Fitness First. After that, I was taken to a Jacuzzi bath tub where they added milk powder to the water and I sat in it for a further 15 minutes. To me, the steam and Jacuzzi were certainly the best parts of this spa experience. I felt totally relaxed.
One of the staff was already holding the hanger on which my clothes were on as she waited for me, and led me downstairs to the massage room. I was given disposable panties and for the first time, a piece of cloth “bra”. In all my previous experiences, I was usually just covered with a towel , which usually sufficed.
I was supposed to get 45 minutes of body massage, 15 minutes of scalp massage and 5 minutes of foot spa, but the masseuse gave me an option to convert the foot spa into an additional 5 minute body massage because the foot spa – as fantastic as it may sound – was merely “brushing the feet”. So I agreed because I love massages anyway. The scalp massage wasn’t a separate massage; it was part of the overall massage experience.
The masseuse – Rohaini – is a Malay lady from Teluk Intan, Perak, and she did traditional Malay massages. She had very strong hands and my body actually ached during the massage. However to me this was normal because in every massage I’ve been to, my body always suffers because I have various problems that I need fixed through massages. The masseuse said she was glad I understood that my massage was expected to ache after a massage; she said some clients who hadn’t known better had even blamed her for their aching muscles. I have a lot to say about this – I will write that after I finish writing about this experience. Please refer below at *!
Upon completion, I changed back into my clothes, and this time it was the sales staff led me back upstairs to get my things out of the locker. She hovered while I took my things, and hurried me downstairs to her office, without giving me any time to fix my hair.
At the office, she of course tried to push me into signing up for one of the packages – specially for Groupon users, she claimed – which I have to admit sounded very attractive. One package offered “buy 5 free 5″, another “buy 10 free 10″; both of which had 0% instalment payment options. However, considering how my experience so far didn’t particularly leave a good taste in my mouth, I refused repeatedly until she finally stopped trying to make me sign up. There was an immediate change in her attitude toward me; although she still stayed polite, I could see that all she wanted to do was get me out of the office.
*Now, about the massage experience. I was feeling fine all of Saturday and Sunday after the massage, and had even attempted a physical activity for a dance on Sunday. But starting on Tuesday, the muscles on both sides of my neck started to hurt, and I couldn’t turn my head left or right, as if I had a stiff neck. I slathered on heat cream and on Wednesday, the right side of my neck had healed, but my left side was even worse than the day before – in fact, it was swollen! I had to ice it to make the swelling go down. It was slightly better by Thursday, and it was only through diligent application of a Chinese wonder ointment called “Zheng Gu Shui” that I saw a slight daily improvement. But one week later, it still hurt (as of time of writing – so as I was typing this in my netbook, my neck was killing me).
So this brings to mind what she said – how some clients blamed her as their bodies hurt during the massage. In my case this time, I’d say, yes, she is completely to blame. She had also been so full of herself, saying how good she was at massage and how some of her clients always come back to her saying they prefer her massages to other types of massages (Balinese, Thai, etc).
Note added 26 Dec 2011: I mentioned this experience to another masseuse later, who was horrified to hear about my neck. She said that I was very lucky not to have contracted a fever. She explained that the neck was a very sensitive area, and that the neck must never be pressed if the client has high blood pressure.
I am very thankful I hadn’t signed up for the packages. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend anyone going to Slimming Sanctuary given this terrible experience that I’ve suffered.
And yes, in some ways, I regret buying this voucher. Now I’m worried about the other massage vouchers I’ve bought, and am wondering about how good their massage therapists are. My friends say – and now I do agree – that they never try a massage unless they have been recommended by someone they know.
Looks like the sale of these Groupon vouchers may not necessarily be a great thing after all.
Spa experience: 2/5
Massage experience: -5/5
Service: 1/5
Overall: 0/5
Have you signed up for Groupon yet? If not, click on the following link to sign up:
Help me out by signing up from the above link! If you purchase a deal within 72 hours of signing up, I’ll be rewarded with a cashback token. Once you’ve signed up, you can get the same reward by spreading the word to your friends, too!
January 22, 2011
Unseen Academicals!
Eversince I was introduced to the Discworld series by a friend who was a huge fan, I’ve been hooked eversince. I still remember the book that my friend gave me – in fact, I still have it. As I was the editor of the university’s English club newsletter, my friend gave me for my birthday a book entitled The Truth which was about a young man who accidentally became a newspaper editor in Ankh-Morpork, the Discworld’s largest city.
The Discworld is a fantasy world created by Sir Terry Pratchett, and is about a world which is flat and disc-shaped carried on the back of four elephants resting on a turtle swimming through the universe. Of course, when my friend first described the world to me, all I did was stare blankly at him and remembered nothing of the description. It was only after I started reading the Discworld books and have become a huge fan that I remember this description very clearly.
And I must say, having read Terry Pratchett’s Discworld has completely spoilt my expectations in writers. I love his wit, his writing style, his parodies, and the way he tackles our own world’s issues through the eyes of the Discworld – issues such as prejudice, racism, and even the way we view history.
It is on my life’s kick-the-bucket list that I must own the entire Discworld collection. He has now written 38 books and I don’t even own a quarter of that; however I have read almost all the Discworld books, by borrowing from my school library and even my own students.
Anyway, enough about Discworld in general.
Unseen Academicals was published at the end of 2009, and although I saw the book in the stores then, I didn’t buy it because the hard cover copy (which was all the stores had) cost just under RM100 – and as much as I love Terry Pratchett’s books, I didn’t have that much to blow on the book. Then I found the book in Book Xcess in the latter half of 2010 – a brand new hardcover Unseen Academicals for RM19.90!
Of course without a second thought, I bought it.
Unseen Academicals
I normally finish a book quite quickly, especially if it’s a book I really enjoy and am unable to put it down. However, I can’t quite say the same of Unseen Academicals this time, which is quite unusual for me as a Discworld fan.
Unseen Academicals is about … football. The wizards at Unseen University were required to form a team to play football, otherwise they would lose a bequest; and also because this was a “suggestion” by the city’s tyrant. There were also many side-plots involving kitchen maids Glenda and Juliet, a talented football player Trevor Likely and a goblin called Nutt, with love stories thrown between them.
It seemed so promising, but I must say it took me quite a few months just to complete the novel. I have it by my bedside because I normally read at bedtime; but this time, even when it’s conveniently beside my bed, I couldn’t quite make myself read the book. By the time I managed to force myself to complete the book, I kind of forgot what happened at the beginning because I read that section a while back. I know I could choose not to finish the book, but as a rule I always try to compete reading a book that I have started, especially if I am already more than midway through.
So, why can’t I finish the book? For one, I found it – I’m sorry to say – well, boring. I do like reading about Mustrum Ridcully and Ponder Stibbons because the banter between the two of them have always made me laugh out loud. But this time there was a lot of focus on the new characters and their blossoming love, and somehow I didn’t really care much for them. So even when everything turned out well for them in the end, I wasn’t metaphorically jumping up and cheering, like I’d do when things turned out well for Sam Vimes in Night Watch and Thud; or for Tiffany Aching in Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky. I was more of, “Thank god I’ve finished this book.” I’m not sure if I’ll be rereading this book again, but if I do, it won’t be in the near future.
I know this “book review” isn’t well-written, but it’s hard to write without giving too much of the plot away. OKOK, the truth is I don’t remember much of the story enough to write a proper review because I finished reading the last section in one day, and I read the bit before that a few weeks ago. So I can’t remember enough to feel the flow of the story.
Terry Pratchett’s written a new book called I Shall Wear Midnight about Tiffany Aching, and I want to read THAT one! But I haven’t read Wintersmith yet which is the third Tiffany Aching book, and I will need to read that first before reading this latest one.
Time to go Book Xcess again and hope I can find these books…
November 23, 2010
Accidental Discoveries
Some of the best things in life are discovered by accident.
For example, some of the most used inventions in today’s world were discovered quite by accident. Vulcanized rubber (rubber that was resistant to heat and cold, and did not change shape even after the force exerted was lifted) was not invented, but was found when a mixture of rubber, sulphur and lead was spilt – by accident – on a hot stove. Penicillin – most important scientific breakthroughs ever made – was discovered simply because Alexander Fleming did not clean up his workstation before going on a vacation, and upon his return found that bacteria did not thrive near some of his cultures which had a strange fungus growing on them.
Well, I didn’t make any breakthrough discoveries but the other day I found this really nice mamak quite by accident.
I was at e@Curve with Aiman and we were both feeling out of pocket, so we walked around the lower ground floor where the “cheaper” restaurants were.
There was this restaurant called “Ah Cheng Laksa” which proclaimed to be “Best in Subang Jaya & Sunway… some even said in PJ!” That was a pretty bold statement to make considering that PJ was full of fantastic food, so we thought OK, let’s just give that a try.
It must either be a cook who simply could not recreate the same taste, or the people in Subang Jaya & Sunway have very poor taste… because the food was below average and very dissatisfying. After the meal, we were still hungry (who wouldn’t be?) and Aiman was staring at Popeye’s which was just opposite the restaurant. But I was starting to feel sleepy and I wanted teh tarik, and the only mamak we knew was at Tesco’s. We didn’t really want to walk that far, and it with great reluctance we dragged ourselves all the way through Curve to Tesco’s. We were even tempted to stop at Pappa Rich, but my craving for the good ol’ mamak tea made me insist on going on.
When we got to Tesco’s, we didn’t see the mamak we were looking for. I guess that goes to show how long we have not been to Tesco’s… but I don’t know when the mamak changed. We didn’t even remember the name of the mamak that used to be there, and if it was the same (we used to just call it “The mamak at Tesco’s”), and what we saw in its place was an air-conditioned restaurant called “Q Bistro” with modern chairs and tables. We were already there and we didn’t really want to waste that walk, so we peered at the menu and saw mamak-looking food. Oh what the hey. Let’s just give it a try.
And the food was really good! And so were the drinks!
They had a huge variety of food, ranging from roti canai to nasi kandar to western food. It was basically a mamak, but with fancier setup, pretty menus, and comfortable chairs… and similar prices! We even came back to Q Bistro for dinner after we watched a movie.
I like it so much that I’ll probably go back there again soon just for the food. And we wouldn’t have found the place if we didn’t try the monstrosity called Ah Cheng Laksa and have been completely dissatisfied.
December 11, 2009
Marina Court Resort Condominium : A Review
I have decided to write about my trip in the form of reviews in the hopes that people might find them useful, and easy to read.
We stayed in Marina Court Resort Condominium, which is an apartment-style hotel.
Marina Court Resort Condominium
The Apartment
We stayed in a three-bedroomed apartment with two bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a dining room. There was a master bedroom with a king-sized bed and ensuite bathroom, a bedroom with a king-sized bed (but no bathroom), and a bedroom with twin beds. There was a shower and toilet which are accessible from the hallway where the bedrooms were lined up.
I’ve just realised… of all the 1800 photos I took in Kota Kinabalu, I did not take any of the apartment we stayed in!
Of course, I did take shots from the outside, but none of the inside of the apartment, so for now I will have to resort to taking photos off other websites…
The following photos are taken from http://www.sabah-hotels.com/marina-court/rooms.htm. The photos of the rooms are exactly like the ones in the unit we stayed in.
Living Room
Dining Room
King-sized bed in the master bedroom
Twin beds in one of the other bedrooms
Shower/toilet in the bathroom at the hallway
Master bedroom bath and toilet
The kitchen came with six of everything: six plates, six bowls, six forks, six knives, six spoons, six lotsofotherthingsicantremember. But only one chopping board, one kettle, one wok, and one of other things which we didn’t need six of. We were given a checklist that warned that any missing items will have to be paid for. So I did the checking thoroughly and found that the chopping knife was missing. We didn’t actually need any of the utensils provided because we weren’t going to be doing any cooking during our short stay, but I didn’t want us to be charged for something that we didn’t lose so I called up housekeeping and bugged them until they finally gave us the knife… about 1-2 hours after my first call.
Each bedroom had its own dressing table which was useful for us ladies. The lighting was terrible though, so sometimes I had to go to the hallway or the bathroom to ensure my makeup was fine.
The beds and pillows were very comfortable, and I slept well throughout the nights.
“Security Measures”
The apartment was actually quite comfortable, and I think it’s quite ideal for a family. But what we didn’t like was the “security measures”. Although there were only five of us, but the unit was actually meant for six and could hold up to eight people… and yet between us, we were given only ONE key. And this one key came with one security card, which was needed to open the magnetic door to the lift lobby of our apartment block. So if we didn’t have the card, we could not enter the lift lobby.
The problem was, not all of us were going to be together all the time. Bronya had her dance classes to conduct on Friday and Saturday, and while the rest of us were probably going to be together most of the time, there would be occasions where we would split up. For example, I-Vee may want to go to the shops to buy something, and I may want to go to the swimming pool, and some may want to stay in the room. Splitting up like that meant that the card/key would be left with the person(s) inside the room, and she would have to come down all the way to the lift lobby area to open the door for whoever who was coming back later. The receptionists told us that this was for security; and when we complained about the inconvenience, they told us that there would be guards nearby who could help us open the door. Which kind of defeats the security measure, because that means that they could open the doors for anyone, since they would have no way of determining who were really occupants of the apartments, now could they??
Also, the card would be needed to open the side gate in the fence of the apartment compound to get to the shops behind the apartments. Without the card we could not open the gate, so we would not be able to exit/enter via that entrance, which means to get to the shops, we would have to walk through the main entrance and walk all the way around the perimeter of the fence just to get to the shops. Alternatively, we could walk around and look for a security guard to open the gate when needed, I suppose…
Facilities
OK, as for the facilities: we didn’t get to explore much since our stay was very short. However I did get a chance to have a dip in one of their two pools (one adult pool and one kiddie pool) which were side by side in the middle of the apartment blocks. Problem was, our apartment block is not one of them. We were placed in an apartment block which was in a completely separate square. To access the pool, I had to walk from our block across the carpark, through the reception lobby, and into the pool area. In my bikini, mind you. Well, of course I brought a towel along to dry myself after swimming, because towels were not provided at the pool area and there was a warning to “not drip water through the lobby”.
The pool surrounded by apartment blocks
Having said that however, the pool was quite a nice size, and well-taken care of. The water was clean when I swam in it, and I had a good workout. They also had deckchairs for people who wanted to suntan themselves.
One of the two pools
According to some websites (Marina Court doesn’t have its own website), there were gym facilities but I didn’t explore them while I was there.
Housekeeping and Maintenance
I have to give them two thumbs up. Although they took some time in getting the chopping knife to us as earlier mentioned, they did their best to accommodate our requests. We must have made quite a number of calls because the five of us had different requests at different times, until finally the poor guy who was managing the housekeeping on his own on Friday asked us to group our requests at the same time and explained he was on his own. I-Vee asked them for extra pillows and although they said they were fully booked, they somehow managed to accommodate our request.
Our toilets kept getting blocked though, especially the one in the hallway; but the good thing was, they were quite fast in coming over to fix them.
Overall
Overall, I would have given them four out of five stars if it wasn’t for the “security measures”… hence I give them a total of three out of five stars.
Note: I have also submitted my review on Travel Advisor. It’s pretty much the same things I mentioned here, in a condensed version. Check it out!
