Snakes alive! Is this a spa

Snakes alive! Is this a spa

Forget about relaxing music and aromatherapy at these spas.

People all over the world have been pushing the envelope in the quest for the fountain of youth and a bit of relaxation.

In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, snakes are used for treatments to alleviate muscle pain and relieve stress.

Pythons, some 1.8m-long, are allowed to slither over the bodies of those who are daring enough to try the "snake massage".

Mr Feri Tilukay, 31, did not let his fear of snakes stop him from undergoing the treatment at the Bali Heritage Reflexology and Spa centre.

Dressed only in a pair of shorts, Mr Tilukay lay on the massage table while three large snakes were draped over his exposed torso, their forked tongues sticking out as they arched their necks.

Two professionally trained masseuses were on hand to ensure safety and to encourage the snakes - whose mouths are kept shut with sticky tape - to move around, making sure they did not remain coiled up in one spot.

The 90-minute treatment is priced at 48,000 rupiah ($43).

Said: Mr Tilukay, who works as an accountant, told AFP about the snake massage: "It is a very unique sensation."

Other off-the-wall treatments include the elephant massage available at the Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where fully-grown elephants weighing about three tonnes put their feet on humans' backs, working out all the knots and pains.

Snails have also been used for facial treatments in Japan.

The treatments were first introduced in Tokyo's Clinical Salon, where the clients get to feel three of their specially-farmed snails on their faces for $268 per session.

Dr Sunil Chopra, a dermatologist who is currently running clinical tests on the efficacy of snail mucus, told The Daily Mail: "Snail mucus contains natural antibiotics and hyaluronic acid which hydrates the skin."

FREAK ACCIDENT

But there are drawbacks to these treatments.

Jut ask Mr Zhang Nan, 56.

He was bathing in a pool of eels when the unexpected happened.

Mr Nan was in the bath of a spa in China when he felt a sharp pain in his groin.

One of the eels, which was supposed to be ingesting layers of dead skin to reveal a more youthful-looking skin, had worked its way up Mr Nan's genitals into his bladder.

"I climbed into the bath and I could feel the eels nibbling my body. But then suddenly I felt a severe pain and realised a small eel had gone into the end of my penis," Mr Nan who lives in Honghu, in the Hubei province told Metro UK.

Although he had attempted to remove the eel, it was too late for Mr Nan.

This resulted in Mr Nan having to endure a three-hour-long surgery to remove the eel from his bladder in 2011.

The 15cm-long eel was dead by the time doctors managed to extract it.

As weird as they are, these spa treatments continue to be popular among those who believe in their benefits and strengths.

But the question is: Would you dare to try them?


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