Asian backpacker

The main reason why we stopped by Shenzhen for our last day was to get a spa treatment at one of the many places around the city. A lot of Hong Kong people come over the border and get pampered here. We looked up some on the internet and eventually picked Water Cube, which was about 5 minute walk from one of the border crossings.

The place was FREAKING HUGE! About 4 floors all with massage rooms, big and small and private, there were lounge chairs in a big area for you to chill at and get other services. Services that didn’t require any privacy let’s say, like full body massage or…. other stuff…. So as you enter you’re given a small bracelet with RFID chip in it that is linked to your expenses. Each time you get a massage or order some other treatment it’s scanned through your badge. First you get guided to your locker and one of the people will be there to take your clothes and put them in the locker, you will then continue to get naked in front of him. I think for a lot of western people this is a bit odd, but if you’re in a spa here in Asia, you’re bound to be stuck in a room naked with other naked guys walking around with their ding dongs hanging out. Get used to it. 🙂 Once you get a shower you can soak up in one of the baths or get a wet/dry sauna before you head up to the main lounge area. I personally love this part of the spa, I think you can get a scrub down here as well, but I haven’t tried that one myself. After you’re all clean you get a shirt and shorts and pair of fresh slippers to wear and you’ll make your way up to the lounge area. Once there you can order all kinds of services from the menu. There were different type of services you could choose from like facials, pedicures, ear cleaning, blackhead removal, scrubbing, foot massages and the likes. But I’m pretty sure there’s some other dodgy services available as I was approached by a skimpy masseuse asking me something in Mandarin. I kindly declined whatever she was offering as I was waiting for my girlfriend to meet me.

After you get a massage or pedicure or anything else they will note down your badge number and give you a “bill” on which you can indicate how much tip you plan to give them. There are a few standard choices but you can also write your own number if you want. I do have to say that they’re often pushy with their services, but I guess that’s part of business here… You can pretty much spend all day and night here since they have complimentary fruit and tea available. They have a few entertainment rooms with karaoke or ping pong and of course their own restaurant. There are no windows in the place so it’s easy to lose track of time. I think between the both of us we got: 2 pedicures, 2 body massages, foot massage, a few drinks and tons of free fruit. And all we paid was 780 RMB. So cheap compared to other countries. The only main problem for us was that there were barely any English speaking people. Luckily I managed with my Cantonese and limited Mandarin, but I think it’s best to come here with a local or when you speak the local language. If not you can always give it a try and see how it goes.

Oh and since I’m not really used to getting massaged I think, I wasn’t used to the pain and I just endured it thinking that pain was part of the massage… When I came home my back looked like I got beaten up or something…