One of the best perks about being an expat in China is that the spa parlors that the average Chinese person goes to are cheap. You should expect to spend between 35-120RMB ($5-$10).
My husband and I can’t read characters in Mandarin so we didn’t know that this place existed until another expat, JD, informed us. If you are a traveler or a foreigner, ask around the expat community and they can inform you of these treasures.
Arrival
At the Chinese spa that we went to there was a 35 RMB deal for a 30 minute foot massage that got us in the door. Instead, we splurged and got the package deal: 75RMB for a whole body scrub and massage.
Gender Quarters
The locker and shower rooms are divided because the Chinese spas pride themselves on cleaning their birthday suits. At Chinese spas you should expect to see showers, saunas and jacuzzis complimentary to any massage. This spa only had a jacuzzi in the men’s quarters. When I got in the locker room I was given a silk night gown.
I thought I was to wear it. After some charades with the spa employees I learned they wanted me to just wear nothing but the body God gave me. Thankfully I was warned that this might happen by another foreigner so I came prepared with a swim suit.
I entered the showering quarters and saw a wet massage table in the middle of the room. I was the only one that looked ready for the American beaches. A spa employee sprayed the massage table down with hot water and motioned for me to lay down. She did all this with a face looking like she has invisible bubbles coming from her mouth. I got the impression from her that I looked like I was wearing a big English queen’s tea hat.
The spa woman grabbed a washcloth and soaked it in warm water. She got to work by scrubbing my skin till it gots a deep pink. My Mandarin is still very limited so this scene played out like a silent film . After the woman scrubbed each section of my body she would show me grey residue on the previously white wash cloth with a smile on her face that read, “I did a good job. See your body is filthy.” All the while when she smiled and showed me her work I thought, “Of course I appear dirty because your scrubbing hard enough.” The scrubbing session reminded me of when I was a girl and when children would perform a simple magic trick. We would pretend to pull a strand of someone’s hair out of their head. We would precede by rubbing our hands together and it would appear we made the hair turn into small pieces, when in actuality it was dead grey skin in the palm of our hands. After the 20 minute scrub session I rinsed off all the dead skin particles and slipped on the night gown they gave me earlier.
Body Massage In a Closet
After the surprising body scrub I didn’t know I signed up for, I didn’t know what I was in for at the spa center. With some hand gestures I wound upstairs in the massage section of the center. The massage area was a dimly lit hallway with matchbox dark closets with a massage table to compliment each room. I was given a male masseuse.
The Red Lounge Area
After my body massage I was brought to this mega dark conference room that had a red ambiance. It had rows of lazy boys faced towards some flat screens that had a funny KungFu television show playing. It was on this chair that I people watched the employees. Most of the masseuses were female that dressed similar to the dress code for the women in America at Hooters. In this room I relaxed on the lazy boy, received a head massage and finished with a foot massage.
This whole Chinese spa experience cost a quarter of the price that it would in America. It’s quite the experience.
NOTE: If your the shy or uncomfortable prancing around in your birthday suit, don’t forget to bring a swimsuit.
If you have been to a Chinese spa, what was your experience? If not, from the description I reported does it sound like something you would like to experience? Why or why not?
10,000 Smiles
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