By Chaim Estulin

Posted Monday, June 27, 2005; 20:00 HKT
Forget about luxury spas. For a real detox for the soul, you must head to Tibet. There, a half-day Land Cruiser ride from Lhasa (if the roads haven't been washed away) are the hot springs of the Tidrum Nunnery, where you're more likely to meet pilgrims than aging models or frazzled executives. Located in a herding village that clings precariously to the sides of a gorge some 4,325 m above sea level, the nunnery offers open-air stone bathing pools filled with what is said to be magical healing water.

The small group of kindly nuns who run the place will house you in their modest complex, pour you cups of steaming yak-butter tea, and share an easy laugh. Seaweed wraps, cucumber facials and sea-salt rubs are not available. If you want a massage, you'll have to rub your belly against the smooth, submerged stone (it's what the pilgrims do). But look at it this way: no white-uniformed spa workers are going to shake you down for large tips or subject you to dreadful New Age music.

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