Zoe Chan experiences the natural benefits of ginger at the spa.

Ginger has long been revered for its medicinal qualities, especially in China where the root originated. Today the country still produces almost a quarter of the world's ginger supply. Even though I occasionally drink ginger tea, eat pickled ginger with my sushi and follow my grandmother's advice that when mixed with Coca Cola, ginger is the cure to any cold, I had never experienced a ginger treatment at the spa. So I headed over to the new Mu Lan Spa branch in Harbour City to try out their ginger body scrub and massage.

After I changed into a cosy robe and slippers, I headed down the dark wood and mirrored hallway to my private massage room where a bowl of freshly sliced ginger, its aroma filling up the entire space, was waiting for me. I lay down on the plastic covered massage bed and before I knew it, my therapist had coated my body from head to toe in a ginger scrub mixed with oil that felt cold at first but warmed as she rubbed it into my dry winter skin.

Thoroughly relaxed and covered in ginger, which contains essential oil, my therapist woke me up to wash off the scrub in the adjoining shower while she prepared the massage bed for the second part of the treatment - a Chinese acupressure massage using ginger oil. Once again, I fell somewhere between wake and sleep as she worked through different pressure points using the fragrant ginger oil.

When the massage ended, I was ushered to the shower and sauna room, feeling peaceful and refreshed, as well as hesitant to wash such soothing oil off my body. As I sat undecided, there was a knock on the door and I was presented with (surprise, surprise) ginger tea and candied ginger to enjoy while I took a few extra minutes to take pleasure in my rejuvenated state. I finally headed to the shower and afterwards my skin was still smooth as silk from the ginger scrub and massage.

Mu Lan Spa, Shop 411-3, Level 4, Ocean Centre, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui. Tel: 3107 2028