This little shrine is the focal point of the low-lit 'Quiet Room' at the exclusive Spa otjfmboron, Four Seasons Resort Boli.

lbu Mooryati Soedibyo is a princess-turned-business woman who has adapted much of the royal heritage she learnt in the keraton as a child into one of Indonesia's biggest beauty businesses manufacturing traditional cosmetics under the Mustika Ratu name. Soedibyo remembers her disciplined Javanese upbringing, which taught her how to weave her hair with pandanus leaves as a young girl and how to make a ukel (outsized hairpiece) from her own locks. She made her own shampoo, by burning rice stalks and soaking them in water until they turned into a sticky ash paste, and her own face powder by personally grinding bengkuang and turmeric roots with rice. Now in her seventies, her 60-year relationship with a natural pharmacopoeia has done her visibly proud.

It is the fairytale quality of experiences such as those of lbu Mooryati that have lent the Asian beauty boom its allure and mystique. One of its most important aspects which has long been exported to other cultures, is its concentration on the healing and soothing powers of massage. The tactile sense is an unquestioned part of life in many parts of Asia; people carry compassion in their hands, which they transmrt as a matter of course. "It is like being nurtured by our mothers' says spa consultant Dorinda Rose Berry. "People need that unconditional love in their lives which are so full of gadgets and computers.We no longer need material things, we iust need love."

The tropical spa experience is based on unconditional love as much as, if not more than, anything else.The notion that weary souls can receive compassionate care and attention without payback goes a long way to explaining why they are so popular Spa therapists make their clients feel special which, coming from their fast-paced situations at home, is exactly what they crave. They also want time out, but they want more than the standard two weeks of poolside lounging. Serenity, soul-soothing and stress-busting is what theyre after and the tropical spa knows how to provide it, some argue, better than any other type of spa retreat.

At the tropical spa there is nothing of the continental preference for municipal buildings and matronly Fraus in white coats; none of the fading chintz and timid teenage therapists of the British country house-turned-spa; and no evidence of the seriousness and self- flagellation of the Stateside spa regime. Nor does the tropical spa display any of the glitz and kitsch of those bandwagon spa resorts that are floundering to find their meaning in the world of well being.

These ching (chimes) are used in Thai folk dance and music festivals. At Banyan Tree Spo Phuket, their delicate sound is often heard wafting through the silence.

Outdoor massage, such as here at Chiva-Som, Thailand, is high on the Tropical Spa agenda.

While a deepening commitment to environmental consumerism now grips the West, it has been the mainstay of Asian culture until recent economic development. In the realm of health and beauty, answers to radiant skin, shiny hair and cures for cancer have been found in the region's vast botanical heritage. On the Indonesian island of Java alone, 6,500 species of plant, 4,500 of which are native to Java, have been recorded. Malaysia lays claim to 3,600 species of tree, and othertracts of rain forest in the region still wait to be discovered.

Many of the natural treatments that are now commonly used throughout tropical Asian countries trace their origins to the palaces of Central Java. From the 17th century until today, princesses from the keratons of Solo, Yogyakarta and Surakarta experimented with natural potions and lotions, concocted by themselves. Some secret remedies are still kept underwraps behind palace walls; others, such as the Javanese Lulur have found their way around the region, even around the world.This famous body scrub of rice, spices and splashes of natural yoghurt is a skin softening elixir set to beat the best designer bubbles and moisturizing body creams money can buy.

At the same spa, hang here at the juice and jamu bar before, during or after treatments.

'Spice islands' oils from Esens are rich in aromatic scents and pretty in their coloured glass bottles.They are available at Bali's Nusa Dua Spa.

As resort companies begin to realize the value of the region's traditions, they are opening an increasing number of tropical spas in the destinations of our dreams.These venues uplift our spirits before we even put one foot into the treatment room. An arduous journey from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta immediately becomes worthwhile on arrival atlavana Spa which is set in the foothills of mountainous rain forest, gushing with waterfalls and ringing with the cries of monkeys and birds. The tropical setting with its healing, spring-fed dipping pools, is part of the restorative experience at Begawan Giri Estate, Bali. And at the Novotel Coralia in Lombok, lie in your own pavilion on an isolated patch of white-sand beach while sea breezes and healing hands stroke your body in time with the sound of the waves on the empty, turquoise sea.

It is this ability to commune with abundant nature that puts tropical spas in a league of their own. Treatment rooms in all the better spas effortlesslyfuse indoor and outdoor space so that it feels quite normal to be doused with water or rubbed with yoghurt while standing naked under the stars. It is somehow liberating to sit 0 naked in a hot jacuzzi pool which teeters on the lip of a dramatic river gorge while, at the same time, listening to frogs and being tickled by ferns that catch the breeze. And it is a rare bucolic pleasure to lie in an outdoor bath and splatter your body with handfuls offlower heads that float alongside in the water.

The tropical treatment processes themselves unravel yet more exotic sensations. A trickle of cucumber pulp between the toes beats rubbing cream in your heels.The heat of cloves and ginger smeared over your shoulder or the pungent smell of coffee bean wafting up from your cleavage elicits a giggle of decadent delight. Nature's store cupboard is feeding your body, but he/this is also fun!

While the tropical spa experience falls in line with the current vogue for 'back-to-basics' living, the irony is that these spas, on the whole, are chambers of ethnic chic.They give designers the opportunity to blend the best raw materials - textured teakwood, carved stone, cool ceramic, terrazzo, bamboo and alang-alang in indigenous styles with gratuitous design indulgence.

The holistic approach to life at the tropical spa is where ifs at But most us don't find time to go to the dry cleaners let alone to chant or meditate. We may yearn for a two- hour massage in the increasing number of  Day Spas but reality is more like ten minutes in the bathroom with a tub of alternative cosmetic cream called something like 'Peace of Mind'. The tropical spa is the only place that offers the real thing.The Banyan Tree Spa Phuket speaks for all its cousins in describing itself as a 'sanctuary of the senses' -a buffer from the outside world that people every- where increasingly want and need.