The Best 20 Yuan I Ever Spent
In perfect harmony with "Nowism" (ie: When shall we go? Now.), Jackson ended up taking Scoop (a teacher from Illinois) and me to get massages tonight. I'd read about an American couple living in Shengyang, and the woman goes to get weekly massages for 50 yuan. It was one of the things I was most looking forward to in China. Finally, a massage I could afford. Unfortunately it proved to be harder than I thought to find and it's been a few weeks since Scoop and I had brought it up with Jackson. He thought it would cost us about 200-300 yuan, a price both Scoop and I balked at.
After walking interminable blocks of city streets, we finally entered a small suite of rooms, and were led to a backroom with three tables. Scoop and I each took one, and lay on our stomach with our face in the cutout. The wife (this was truly a mom and pop store, as they were the owners/employees, with a teenaged daughter looking on and giggling at us) worked on me, with accupressure.
She found pressure points in my legs, back, shoulders, and neck and dug in with her elbows, forearms, and fingers. Yow. It didn't hurt exactly, but obviously I was way more tense than I'd realized. I had to remind myself more than a few times to relax and enjoy the moment.
After she finished with the back of me I flipped over and she massaged my temples, face, and scalp. Heaven.
Forty minutes = 20 yuan. That's about $3.15.
I don't know what the guy did to Scoop, but he loved it as well, and we both walked out of there with jelly legs and feeling more relaxed than we had in... well, since our last massages (which for me was years ago).
I cannot wait until Monday of next week when we go back. Scoop and I have decided to make this a weekly thing because this was an experience worth way more than 20 yuan.