Batakliev's Bloc

I opened my eyes to the wonders of blind massage in Hanoi. Visually impaired people provide services in many Vietnamese spas. This expands their employment opportunities, and their worlds, helping them become more independent and gain visibility in society.  A dear friend recommended the Omamori spa in West Lake area. One November Monday, I pedalled towards it, sedated by the balmy twilight and semi-sightless under the thick cloak of motorbike smoke. The spa was housed in a 3-storey colonial villa accessible through a narrow downhill alley. A sense of awe descended upon me once I stepped over the threshold and set my bare foot onto the glossy dark wood.  The ground floor consisted of a reception area that led to a vast museum-like chamber. Abstract life-size oil paintings claimed their places on the wooden walls like bespoke entrances to Wonderlands. They offered hectic visual gibberish to the naked eye and could, perhaps, be fully decoded only by those equipped with inner vis...

My recent visit to the traditional Russian “banya” in the London's Docklands is an event I shan’t forget anytime soon and one I’d strongly recommend to anyone with a taste for the authentic. A dear friend of mine had dared me to go and witness “the most raw & real bathing ritual”. It was a challenge I could not resist. The outside was intimidating enough. The dingy alley along the railway track in Canning Town where the establishment was situated reminded me of a back street in Bangkok minus the heat and the radiant mango-selling grannies. Barricades of rubbish led me to the entrance of what resembled an unemployment centre in Northern England, left to its own devices since the 70s. The reception area featured a plain eatery / vodka room with a constellation of sturdy square tables covered in green vinyl tablecloth - undoubtedly high-camp material in Shoreditch…but not here. Two big-belied comrades in baggy swimwear had positioned their giant pyramid torsos in front of a tv sc...