Phuket microbubble spa – a first in Thailand
Tetsuo Suse is bubbling over with excitement.
Japanese musician and resident of Phuket, Tetsuo Suse, has scored a countrywide first for the island with his new microbubble spa. In fact, he may have scored a world first with the two microbubble steam rooms he’s installed at his MB House spa, which opened in January.
Microbubbles are the next big thing in spa treatments. Unlike ordinary bubbles that quickly float to the surface and burst, microbubbles are very small – typically one-fifth of the diameter of a human hair, and stay in the water, gradually getting smaller until they collapse in a tiny burst of energy.
If it sounds as though it might be a little weird to sit in a tub full of tiny explosions, out guinea pig assures us that you won’t feel a thing. We sent him in to do the treatment: shower (with microbubble water); steam room (with microbubble steam) followed by a cooling soak in a goemon tub (full of – what else – microbubble water).
The 'friends' goemon tub.
A goemon tub (pronounced “go-eh-mon”) is, for those who’ve never come across it, a circular tub just big enough for one person – about the size of a cartoon cannibal cooking pot. Suse has also broken with Japanese tradition and built a larger goemon so that two or three friends – close friends – can soak together.
The guinea pig said the experience was, at least, a great deal more relaxing than his last job, testing the slides at Splash Jungle. And he reports that his nose did indeed feel smoother and his fur was shinier after the treatment.
Wild claims are already being made in various websites for the therapeutic effects of microbubbles – they produce ultrasonic waves, bursting at high speeds that massage deep into your skin and muscles; they can reduce stress and fatigue and even help you to lose weight.
The massage room upstairs, where microbubble therapy continues.
Suse makes no such claims, but he does firmly believe that they can deep clean the skin, removing dead particles and leaving one scrubbed and with a smooth, white, healthy skin. This, as anyone who has seen all the commercials for skin whitener on Thai TV will know, is potentially a big, big winner.
He does note that people from cold countries, with their generally paler skin, get whiter faster. Stands to reason. Thai skin, he says, takes longer before it is noticeably paler.
For those who can’t spend all day everyday getting smoother and whiter at MB House, Suse is the exclusive agent in Thailand for Neola products, the only full-on skincare products made with microbubbles. Nivea does apparently make some microbubble products, but Suse is dismissive of these. “They only use a very little microbubble water, so it’s like milky coffee. Neola’s like espresso,” he says.
The steam room and goemon baths are in the garden behind the main reception area at Suse’s home, sharing the shade with a pool full of doctor fish. Stick your feet in the pool and they’ll nibble off any dead skin. Actually, Suse himself is not keen on the fish – they tickle too much, he says. But they are popular with customers.
Upstairs from the reception area is the massage room, with traditional Thai massage, foot massage and aromatherapy massage. And yes, the oils used also contain microbubbles – although normal water and oil don’t mix, microbubble water and oil do, apparently.
Feed your feet to the fish; let these cute chaps cure your cuticles.
Apart from the Neola products, Suse can sell you an MB shower head or a full-on MB generator. He’s also rather excited about upcoming technology from Japan that will use microbubbles to clean the grey water from your bathroom or kitchen. “I was in Shanghai recently to demonstrate the MB generator, and the water in the taps in that city is pretty smelly. But after I treated it with microbubbles, the smell disappeared,” he says.
Some wild claims about the benefits of microbubbles cam be found on the Internet – that they produce ultrasound when the bubbles pop, which can make a five-minute MB bath as effective as a one-hour massage; or that they can ease the pain of arthritis, or can even reduce excess blubber.
Suse makes no such claims – just that you’ll come out of a session at MB House with a clean, smooth, paler, healthier skin.
And we did have to ask: do microbubbles cure hangovers? Sadly the answer is no, but a good steam and soak, we reckon, could ease the pain.
MB Hose is a bit off the beaten track, on the right of the road about 7km east of the Heroines’ monument, along the road to Pa Khlok, Bang Rong and Ao Po. Call +66 76 352 014 for an appointment (it’s busy on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). The website is here.
