Sunday, October 17, 2010

Fish Therapy - what a hoot!

A brief blog here, but one that just must be mentioned, especially for those that are yet to visit Asian countries..............


Fish nibbling on the hands

Now listen carefully - I have 2 words for you "Fish Therapy"

No, not the slapping fish over a body to cure all manner of ills as depicted in some fields of natural therapies, I mean  real live fish nibbling away at you!

Quite common in many parts of Asia now.


I remember the first time I saw this I had a mixed bag of emotions, which did include:

Ewwww
You can't be serious
Oh - the poor fish - call the RSPCA
Hyuk, hyuk, that's the funniest thing I've seen
People really believe this works - what the!
Well, maybe..................


These ones are hungry!

However, this blog just wouldn't be complete without a mention of the fish therapy centres that have now also popped up all over Bali & Singapore.

The idea is that you pop your feet in, the hungry little fish come along (depending on how many customers or lack thereof the shop has had, the starving creatures may well storm all over you!)
The fish swim up and nibble off all the dead skin and you are left glowing.

Yeah, call me cynical, but I'm not totally sold on this therapy yet.

Emma's Fish Therapy


 However, my kids sure delight in popping their hands in every tank they get a chance to do so on.

We firstly encountered this in Sanya (beach resort in China) where they had an entire spa at our hotel dedicated to it. I resisted for several days and then thought "why not".

Hmmm, I had a problem with the humanitarian aspect of it, especially when freaked out tourists jumped up screaming around in the pool, leaving a wake of dead tiny little fish on the bottom of the pool.

Then I had a pain issue with it, when one fish that had obviously been getting more than his fair share of nibbling and had subsequently grown a little large - took a bite not a nibble out of my toe.

Then I had a 'ewww' issue when a local Chinese man covered in lesions and sores popped in to allow the fish to nibble off all his scabs.
I promptly departed at that point, most likely never to return..............

I have studied and preened and thoroughly checked out my skin before and after and personally am yet to see any difference before or after, however, it goes to show, that this world is still a wonderful place, full of surprises and cultural differences around every corner.............. you make up your own mind and enjoy the nibbling!

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