6 'Luxury' Spa Treatments for the Extremely Rich and Insane

While the snakes are all nonvenomous, we certainly understand if this freaks you out instead of soothing you -- we can think of dozens of other animals that are more qualified to massage people. The elephant, by the way, isn't one of them.

In Thailand, elephants are trained to do a number of things, from playing soccer to using instruments to stepping on the backs of defenseless tourists, apparently. The Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai features elephants of the latter type: While you lay on your face, the elephant will place its foot on your back to "help ease your stress." Ninety percent of that stress, of course, comes from the fact that you just saw an approaching wild animal that is capable of crushing you like a slug.

Sometimes the tourists are given the impression that a baby elephant will be doing the stepping, only for it to be switched to an adult one when it's too late to turn back. You know, for comic effect. Yeah, Thailand doesn't do "relaxing" very well. And that might just explain ...

Thailand's Chiang Mai Women's Correctional Institution has taken a capitalist approach to prisoner rehabilitation, opening its doors to the general public and inviting people to (willingly) come into a section of the prison for massages from the inmates. In this case, "happy ending" means nobody got murdered.

The women at the correctional institution are trained in giving quality massages, and purportedly do a very good job at it. Even so, going into a prison to alleviate tension is a little like going into a morgue to work up an appetite. And speaking of which, should being groped by a convict make you hungry, this particular correctional institution also has a coffee shop:

And a gift shop, for anyone who wants a souvenir of their visit to prison:

Also, keep in mind that "correctional institution" in many cases is legal jargon for "prison for the people the real jail kicked out so new prisoners could have beds." With Thailand being a popular stop for sex trafficking and a member of the Golden Triangle of opium and heroin production in Southeast Asia, you have no way of knowing whose blood, fluids or drugs are on the hands that just rubbed those knots out of your back.

... and we mean that literally.

As one of the world leaders in per capita stress and weirdness, it was to be expected that Japan would come up with some unusual relaxation treatments. Even then, you probably didn't see this coming:

Yes, that's real wine pouring down from a giant bottle into a pool -- you can literally swim in booze. This is like something Scrooge McDuck would have in his mansion if he were a raging alcoholic. While visitors are allowed to drink the wine, we wouldn't really recommend it.

The Wine Spa is located at the Yunnesun Hot Springs Amusement Park & Resort in Hakone near Mount Fuji, which, among other things, also allows you to bathe in authentic sake ...

... or, if you're driving back home and would rather not do it reeking of booze, you can relax with some green tea:

The Yunnesun website notes that green tea is a powerful antioxidant and has many beneficial features. Yeah, when you drink it. While it's true that Cleopatra was known for bathing in wine, as the website states, she was also known for marrying her brothers and having her sister killed. Cleopatra is not a good person to base your amusement park on, is what we're getting at.

Of course, if you're actually looking for the opposite of relaxation, the resort also features a giant bath of coffee made with hot spring water, which is guaranteed to "perk up your senses." Side effects include persistent twitching and the inability to sleep for the next five months.

The Chinese are well known for their use of traditional medicine; it's just that some of those traditions are better than others. One interesting treatment that has been catching attention recently is Chinese fire cupping, a process that is meant to relieve congestion, improve circulation and even calm menstrual pains.

The downside? It leaves you looking like you were viciously attacked by a baseball-throwing machine.

"Fire cupping" is actually a fairly accurate description of what this "relaxing" treatment entails: While you lie down, the therapist lights a cotton ball on fire, puts it inside a glass bulb and quickly removes it, then sticks the slightly warmed bulb on your back. The vacuum left from the flame creates a suction effect inside the bulb that brings more blood vessels to the surface of your skin than your skin knows what to do with. This supposedly unties knots in your back, in the process bruising the holy hell out of it.

The process is more awkward than painful, but the bruises themselves can take from one week to several months to disappear. This whole thing may look familiar if you've seen that newish Karate Kid movie, in which Jackie Chan performs a fire cupping massage on Will Smith's kid (presumably to cure his menstrual pains). Another famous fan of this technique is Gwyneth Paltrow, who caused a small commotion when she showed up to a film premiere looking like she was covered in crop circles.

The benefits of fire cupping have never been conclusively proven, while the risks range from potential burns, bleeding and, you know, what we just showed you. Even if it works, we're guessing all the relaxation it achieves is undone the next time you look in a mirror.

The placenta is easily one of the grossest things about childbirth. It's like your body is saying, "Oh, you like what I did there? Well, I also made you this. Here. Take it."

The natural human reaction to placenta is "Kill it with fire," not "Put it on my face to look pretty" -- and yet there's a dermatology office in Beverly Hills that claims the secret to anti-aging technology lies in taking the waste of the unborn, throwing it into a juicer and mixing it into a face cream.

As for where they get the placentas, they are actually bought from Russian maternity wards, which doesn't sound sketchy at all. Dr. Harold Lancer struck gold when he began importing these medically pretreated placentas and charging A-list celebrities such as Denise Richards and Megan Fox upwards of $350 per facial treatment session. Supposedly, the stem cells and such from the blood of newborn children greatly stimulate collagen production in your skin and/or act as a sacrifice to appease some kind of youth-granting demon.

But what if you're desperate/gross enough to want to try this but don't really have the time or money to head out to California for some fancy baby-blood treatment? Don't worry: A quick Google search (filter on, for God's sake) reveals that there are more affordable options out there, like this $90 placental face cream. If even that's out of your range, it turns out sheep placentas are considerably cheaper than Russian babies', judging by this $19.95 Sheep Placenta Extract Anti-aging Anti-wrinkle & Whitening Cream.

But even if it works, for $350 a session, you'd think celebrities would find something fancier to rub on their faces. And, unfortunately for the human race, you'd be right ...

Have you ever wished someone would press diamonds against your back? No, nobody has, because 1) that's crazy and 2) we're pretty sure the hardest, sharpest rocks on the planet aren't the ideal vehicle for muscle relaxation. And yet, here we are.

The Hearts on Fire Diamond Indulgence Lounge's Loose Diamond Massage is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a masseuse is rubbing $1,000,000 worth of cut diamonds into your back to relieve the stresses you must feel from being so obscenely wealthy. The benefits of this $25,000 treatment include being able to laugh your ass off at all the misery in the world, and absolutely nothing else.

Other indispensable services offered by the Diamond Indulgence Lounge include massaging your face with 24 karat gold, a $1,000 manicure that incorporates real diamonds into the nail design (warning: don't pick your nose or you'll cut your face open) and a $600 hair treatment that uses powdered diamond hair spray. For $100 less, however, you can get something even more insane: Hari's Salon at Harrod's Urban Retreat in the U.K. offers a blow-dry treatment that takes diamond dust and mixes it with powdered freaking meteorites. Clients even get to take home a sample of the diamond/meteorite shampoo so they can rub it in more private places.

Finally, the Voda Spa in West Hollywood, California, gives you the chance to cover your entire body in a caviar-based exfoliant, as if you were about to be eaten by a very classy giant.

When he isn't busy with school and trying to save lives, Isaac is posting on Twitter. You can contact him here.

For more misery you can pay for, check out The 6 Worst "Vacations" Money Can Buy. Or discover 7 Great Products for Telling the World You're a Rich Dick.