Just sit back and relax

In honor of the yearly Girl's Spa Getaway I do with the ladies in my family every year around March, I decided it was time to get another massage. This time I opted for a foot massage, after trekking all over downtown and a long night in heels, the day before. I should preface this by saying while the massages are fabulous and the prices unbeatable, the ambiance isn't everything you'd imagine in a spa. It's a cute little building with the slippers and a real toilet, magazines, soothing music and smells and a lounge to relax in. However, people are smoking, you can hear them spitting, the towels covering the chairs are old and the walls a little grungy, the place just looks a little beat up. Honestly, I haven't been in a place here that doesn't look, smell or sound like that though. It's a developing, not yet developed, country, there's a lot of humidity and everything here is done cheap and the materials used are made cheaply. Truly these are minor details when you are getting a massage you will cherish much longer than the actual activity takes!
This was no ordinary foot massage, this was, start to finish, over an hour of divinity. In my own little warm room, soft chair, reading my book I sat with my feet in a barrel of hot tea water while the masseuse worked wonders on my shoulders, neck and back. Then she took my feet out, put a nice scrub on my feet gently caressing in and out of each toe, up the groove of my arch and dipped them each in the water for a warm rinse again. She put warming pads with hot sand on my knees, behind my back and neck and moved on to lotion my feet and legs and work on pressure points in my feet and soothing rubs. I couldn't wipe the smile from my face even during the painful moments. This was the defining moment that I truly understood what my friend Rachel used to always call, "a good hurt". She really worked the knots out of my feet and softened those suckers up. If any of you know my feet, they are not your average girly, soft, gentle feet, they are my native american feet, they are hard and callassed for walking on any surface. Then she moved onto my calves and all the way up each leg, massaging, stretching and popping them from top to bottom.
70 full minutes of strong massage, that is what I call a foot massage and (with a student discount) all for only 55RMB = $8.5. Beleive it!
Who is coming to visit for a spa retreat??? I've got plenty of room at my apartment for guests!
xoxo Lolo in China