Massage in Vietnam

(Plus Tips on how to get your spine cracked + my most favorite Massage place ever)

One thing I miss the most in Vietnam, and as soon as I set my foot on my homeland I'm gonna head for one, is MASSAGE. It's very cheap to have a massage anywhere in the big cities like Ha Noi, Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh. I have to say it is a must to do some Massage in Vietnam, because we have beautiful spa places, professional masseuses, awesome multi-styled massages at super reasonable price.

In Vietnam you can find: Foot massage, face massage, neck-shoulder massage, full body massage, hand massage, hair root massage, fat-burning massage, oil therapy, aroma therapy, Thai massage, Swedish massage, Acupunture Viet / Chinese style, Thai massage, Shiatsu, hot stones, herbal treatment, etc. So many. We Vietnamese have our own Massage style too. It is based on our traditional alternative medicine, tracking along acupunture points and using the hands to manipulate the 'wind' of energy inside the body.

We have tips culture specifically in Massage business, so you can expect to receive a reasonable price, often discounted massage, and some extra tips.

The Massage that satisfied me the most and I kept coming back all the time, was by TRE Massage. I have been to other massage places too, I enjoy mostly all of them, but TRE feels like home to me. Things started when my workplace shared the same villa as TRE and therefore we had a lot of discount for massage, and also my job requires a lot of physical (I'm a Yoga teacher), I and my co-worker Linh would have a massage once every other week to maintain our body.

TRE has the highest points of everything, according to my own standard. The location is in a villa in 44 Tay Ho street, in West Lake district, a peaceful neighborhood by the West Lake. It is a lovely villa surrounding by the greenery. The massage rooms have wooden floor and bamboo decorations that feels very Vietnamese.

I like TRE because this is like the only massage place that I don't have to be naked. I get to wear a comfy pyjamas that smell good. I enjoy massages generally, but it just feels awkward sometimes when I am naked and I have to pretend I was sleeping by closing my eyes to avoid awkward eye-contact. If you want to, you can be naked. I get naked too in some point of the massage, like back massage for example, but I don't have to be naked the whole time.

One more plus point is that the masseuses are all certified, wear basic simple clothes, very polite and good mannered, professional and serious in their job. I have to say many massage places in Hanoi have masseuses that look like hookers, and I wonder if they do that business also.

One kind of massage in Vietnam that i enjoy the least, that is 'tourist oil massage' - as I call it. Many Western tourists can't take as hardcore massage as we Asians do, because they are not used to it, and so massage places offer a very gentle massage that to me feels just like someone rubbing a slippery oil on my naked body. What I want is a strong, determined, pounding and grounding massage given dry or with the perfect minimal amount of oil, so that when it is done, I don't feel like an eel. And that I can find in TRE.

The massage bed in TRE is quite unusual too. It is actually not a bed, but like a long armchair with extended parts for you to put your legs on. To me it gives much flexibility, for example before the massage I can lay down lazily on the armchair and sink my feet into the hot herbal pre-treatment water. That is kind of impossible if you lay on a bed. And while my feet are blooming like a flower in the hot bath, my head, face and neck will receive a nice, grounding, strong and clear massage. Double phê (which is Vietnamese for satisfied). Then the masseur will gently take my legs, which have become so soft and relaxed, out of the water and onto the extended armchair, wrapping my legs into nice thick towels to dry them before she moves on to massage my legs.

You have no idea how much I miss that now that I'm recalling about it. In Sweden, I'm just too broke to have a massage. Or more accurately, massage is just too expensive for me to have.

And because I am wearing some clothes while doing the massage, I can talk to my friends with no awkward feeling. TRE also offer free tea and the tea itself is selected too, often tastes very well.

I love the cracking sound when my body receives a massage. I know that many people, especially Western people, are super suspicious and scared of cracking bones and joints. What makes me really miss TRE is the neck cracking. You know what, you can't just crack a neck out of nowhere. To crack a neck, aka cervical spine, the masseur will first soften the muscles around the neck - shoulder area, using her strong, warm and grounding hands, with precise, clear movements. Then she will hold my head and help me relax my neck, and then CCCCCCCRRRRRRRKKKKKKKK, a nice, precise, determined neck crack that feels like it reorganizes my cervical vertebrae and teeth, and I guess it did. Seriously it feels like my teeth jump up from my gums and then land back again.

Many people are doubtful about the idea of cracking neck, but to us in Vietnam (and I guess in East Asia), neck cracking is as normal as a bowl of rice. Anyone can learn neck cracking. No one has ever died for neck cracking. The masseurs asked if I want to learn neck cracking but I was too coward for that. Still I want to receive neck cracking.

Once I had a privilege that anyone would like to have, that was to give my body as a sample massage receiver for TRE special training with a master in Vietnamese traditional alternative therapy. They cracked me so nice my whole body. God, I miss that.

So, what is the key of having a crack? The utter most thing you have to do is RELAX. If you fear, the tension arise, muscles stiff up, and your body will try to contract and hold in a 'fearful' position. If you relax, your body will become very soft, plus the muscles have been warmed up and stretched out a lot by the hands of the masseuses, now great impacts can be given to deep layers of your body. In a lower spinal twist cracking, which doesn't happen as a sudden as neck, you should apply going with the flow of breath too. Take a long inhale, and when the masseuse is going to twist you, or press you, exhale with the force.

This actually applies to everything in life. When a pressure come and you try to resist it, you will end up very tired. Just take a deep inhale, and take it when you exhale and try to relax.

(Present: myself am a cheap philosopher too)

The masseuse will use many part of their body to give massage: hands, elbows, knees, feet. I often take the signature TRE massage body that was put together by TRE themselves, it was a very good mix between Vietnamese traditional therapy, Thai massage, Shiatsu, Ashiatsu, hot stones and acupunture therapy. The massage can be customized based on what you want. Some people ask for an easier, gentle massage, some, like me, ask for a more hardcore and a lot of force to soften my body. TRE also asks you what part of your body will you want to focus on, and makes sure that part will receive a lot of attention.

Next time I go to TRE, I may well try out their FOUR HANDS massage, that is when 2 masseuses give equal amount of massage on both side of your body at the same time. I think it will be double phê pha.

You can find TRE in Ha Noi and Da Nang. You can book a massage with them via their pro website that always works: https://tadispa.com/

TRE receptionists can speak English well, just give them a call to book:

Ha Noi

Villa# 44 44 Tay Ho street West Lake 088-860-6811 Monday – Sunday: 10:00 – 23:30 Last appointment at 22:00

Da Nang #1

5F, Di Lusso Boutique Hotel, 14 Bach Dang street Danang CBD 088-860-6818 Monday – Sunday: 10:00 – 22:30 Last appointment at 21:30 pm

Da Nang #2

“Quynh-Vy Ao-Dai Villa” 21 Nguyen Cao Luyen street My Khe Beach 088-860-6884 Monday – Sunday: 10:00 – 22:30 Last appointment at 21:30 pm