Dr Fish

While in Jakarta I had a chance to experience fish spa therapy.  Fish spa is a therapy by dipping your feet into a pool of “Dr Fish” and let these little healing creatures clean your feet and nibble away your dead skin, leaving your skin glow in health.  This fish spa treatments are growing in parts of Asia such as Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.  Most of there spas employ Dr Fish species which originate from Turkey, called Garra Rufa.

Garra Rufa is a special fish with natural healing properties.  It started in Kangal, Turkey: where people discovered the fish’s ability to cure skin diseases.  Garra Rufa is a fresh water fish, and their usual habitat is in hot springs, where these fishes can withstand temperatures ranging from 0 degree Celcius up to 43 degree Celcius.  They are also known as Dr Fish, feeds only on dead and problematic areas of the skin.

 The benefits of this are natural exfoliation of dead skin, smoother and healthy blowing skin, promote blood circulation, lightning of minor scars, etc etc.

I did this just for the curiosity, but as I proceeded to the fish pool I was having a second thought.  I really didn’t want to dip my feet into those vigorously moving little fish…  Looked gross. :p  But, we have already paid for 30 mins, so no choice!  I sat down on the bench and dipped my feet slowly into the water.  !!!

Those little creatures were really really tickling for the first few minutes, and I was screaming..  but as I tried to calm down myself and ignore the fact that there are thousands of fish nibbling on my skin, I felt ok.  I dipped my feet in a pool of small fish first, and then moved to the pool of larger size fish.  Lager fish has bigger suction but less aggressive compared with the little ones.

After the therapy, my feet were very smooth, soft and moist!  I couldn’t help but touch my feet in the car on the way home  It was an interesting experience..

Change of Lifestyle

Do you feel great everyday?? If not, you can try some of the things I do .. ↓↓↓

I’m not trying to be cocky, but I always thought I was very strong, healthy, can-do-anything person since I was a child. I started to work when I was 15 to save money for my schools, and also to come to Australia. I liked helping with my family’s rice fields, carrying heavy rice bags and driving a truck. I flew to Okinawa few times by myself when I was a teenager to get home-stay experience at an Amerian family in Okinawa base, (which I organised everything myself) and also to get scuba diving license. I’ve worked under super strict people in hotels and restaurants both in Japan and Perth, doing some heavy jobs. I didn’t usually get sick, and was always running around outside with friends, my dog, and sometimes just by myself even in a typhoon day. I was like a macho girl

Especially the last one is the most important… try not to hold up the stress! Keep smiling and try to enjoy everyday

Mask!

In Japan you get to see lots of people wearing masks everywhere, such as in a train, supermarkets and on the street.  My friend who visited Japan last spring told me that he was kind of scared when he saw many people crossing the road with white masks…  To imagine the scene, yes it’s scary actually :p  

The big reason for that is because many people in Japan have hay fever and try to avoid the pollen as much as they can by wearing masks.  For other, they just have cold or want to avoid inhaling some dust…

Now, swine flu is getting serious around Osaka area, and some of the schools around Kansai are closed.  I’m from Shiga, and I was telling my family “don’t go to Osaka, Kyoto area!” but seems that there’s one person who is suffering from swine flu in Shiga (Otsu) already!  

Now, because of the flu, masks are selling like hot cakes.  Lots of shops are out of stock…  even amazon.jp sold out masks!  Mask has the biggest demand in Japan right now!

I don’t usually wear mask even in Japan (because I don’t have hay fever), but if I go back to Japan right now I’ll be wearing mask everyday everywhere!

Modern Japanese Beauty Salon

I noticed my skin and hair condition got really bad since I came to Australia.  I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who feels that way.  The biggest cause of this, I believe, is the air.  The air here is really really dry!  My eyes need eye drops every half an hour, and my skin looks like it has scales on it.  That’s way I can’t neglect to use body lotion after shower.  I think UV and water are also the causes.  Water here is hard, and water in Japan is soft.  I don’t know what difference it causes to our body but I definitely feel my hair is softer and moist in Japan.  Here, even though I use same shampoo from Japan I feel my hair is very dry.  Well, so I have to put a little more effort to maintain my body in Perth.

Actually I seldom go to a beauty salon to get massage or some kinds of treatment.  It doesn’t mean I don’t like it, it’s just because I don’t wanna spend lots of money on myself.  I’m pretty sure lots of girls like getting massage and beauty treatments.  Don’t you?  I am too.  So when I feel “oh my body really really needs some help…” I go out to get my body rescued.

This beauty salon MC Beauty is located in Northbridge, and the owner Mrs Mako is a professional beauty practitioner.  All the staff there are highly skilled Japanese beauticians and some of their machines are directly brought from Japan.  That’s why I only go to this place in Perth.  I feel safe!

I’ve been there few times for IPL, but today I experienced their special facial treatment.  It was my first time to get facial treatment in my life!

Oh my gosh… it was soooo nice.  I almost fell asleep.  Seriously!  This special facial treatment has 14 steps, and they massage my decollete, shoulders, neck and legs/arms too.  These steps include deep-cleansing, peeling, ion innovation, buble cleansing, mask, spinal electric massage etc…

The skin care they use is 100% organic naturally produced in Australia, (a brand called Janesce) and I loved the scent of rose.  They said to me that rose extract actually helps reviving body tissue too.  They of course have other than rose if you don’t like the rose scent.

Now my skin looks very different.  Smooth and moist.  After the session they said that my body age accorning to the spinal electric thing is 42!  Oh no…  They taught me some strech and massage techniques so that I can do it at home.  It’s nice that I can see the analysis of my skin level and body condition in a graph.  The staff are very friendly yet professional, that’s the reason why I wanna come back here in the future.

Free Vaccination Program!

Did you know that the Australian Government is offering free HPV vaccination to women aged 18-26 years of age through general practitioners till 30 June 2009?  If you are a woman between the ages you won’t wanna miss this out.  

“HPV (human papillomavirus) is a common virus that infects the skin and mucous membranes.  There are about 100 types of HPV.  Approximately 30 of those are spread through genital contact (typically sexual intercourse).  There are around 12 – called “low-risk” types of HPV, and approximately 15 “high-risk” types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer.  Infection with the most common types of “genital” HPV can be prevented with the HPV vaccine.”

<from The HPV Test>

According to the website the vaccine lasts at least five years, and it’s given as a series of three shots over a six-month period; after the first shot, the woman needs to return two and six months later. To get the full benefit of the vaccine, all three shots must be given.

I think this is a good chance for women to get some protection for cervical cancer, and hope the aim of this program – the reduction in incidence of cervical cancer in Australia – succeeds.  

I’m getting one too.  Just ask your GP for more info!