Lunch and a Massage?

Now that it has taken me several days to get back to you, I'm having trouble figuring out what to write. There are so many good stories so I will have to settle.

Lunch and a Massage?

So we get back from our tour of Hutong area or the old city with cool narrow streets, which included a pedi-cab (rickshaw) ride from the bus drop-off to a place deeper inside where the buses can not reach. We visit a home with traditional courtyard and 3 generations living there. This picture has Pang and Joleen posting in the middle of a busy Hutong intersection. Notice the Budweiser beer sign on the bar in the background? American is everywhere over here. After Hutong area we visited a silk factory. It was amazing to see the process which is still very manual.

Then it was late afternoon and we needed to find some lunch. A few of us were really suffering from back and foot issues, so we needed a massage and figured we would have time for both and homework (right)!

I am with one of my professors, Jyothi Gupta and my roommate, Joleen. It's mid-afternoon (3ish) and many food places are closed. We want to get a massage and we've gotten directions to a place near our hotel, so we figure we'll just start walking towards the 'SPA' (as Jyothi would say) and then hope to find a restaurant on the way.

We find a place with people eating in it and walk in. I have a phrase book, so first we determine we are eating in a Western (Sichuan) restaurant. In the middle of each table is a deep hole with a burner. Jyothi says it's a hot pot. So they ask us what we want. The menu is in Chinese with no pictures.

I show the person waiting on us my book which says “What do you recommend?” He points to an item with a range of prices. He's asking us how much we want to order. It's a group meal so you order enough to feed everyone. He suggests a very large portion and I remind each of us that we are not that hungry and he's probably thinking we are like typical Americans (and want to eat a lot) so we order the next lower price (which was still too much).

He asks us what we want to 'go with it' so we order tofu (from the book) and then again point to the “What do you recommend?” sentence in the phrase book. We also get two beers to split. (I can't believe how good beer tastes with the food here! Jeff you can get back up off the floor!)

So we all think we've ordered a soup with tofu when he brings out this huge pot of soup with lots of vertebrae bones with attached arteries in it and no tofu. (Joleen was reminded of her anatomy class and identified many things in the bowl. Everything is eaten here - nothing goes to waste).

Then begins the process I like to call “identify the meat.” So each time he comes back to the table I'm pointing to a different character/word for a type of meat. First beef - no, then chicken - no (didn't think so bones too big), then pork - no. Now, I'm getting worried I'm eating dog because some crazy American told me that they eat dog here (they don't'). So I can't find the characters for mutton or lamb or goat but I find the character for sheep and we are all very relieved when he says yes. He then brings out homemade noodles to put in the pot along with a pile of long lettuce leaves and a plate of tofu!

After awhile it's boiling away and we begin to eat by dropping in some things to cook and taking chunks of sheep back out and picking off the meat (all with chopsticks which I'm getting somewhat good at). At each point we ask him to show us what to do.

We were so lucky they were willing to take the time to help us learn how to cook and eat the food. I think we provided some entertainment for them as well. It took a long time to eat this meal because it's cooking as you eat and you drop things in. When we finish and get the bill for this huge amount of food and 2 beers, it's about $6 each.

Off to the SPA - and our long anticipated massage. We walk up and down the street looking for the place. I am convinced it is further up the street closer to the farmers market... when we get to the turnoff for the market, there is a salon but not the SPA that we've seen before.

We go in and ask if they do massage. And they say yes! We sit down in the waiting area and they come and clarify that all three of us want massage (three fingers, yes, 3). They take us to a locker, by the hair washing station, where we put our packs and things. Then we turn around and they want to wash our hair! First they want to put on the hair cutting apron. Jyothi points to my back and mimes massage, again. I get out the book to show them the character for massage. They offer to have Jyothi sit in the hair cutting chair so they can rub her back there.

I'm beginning to worry that they will cut our hair or something. This is not the place for us... Joleen and I go and get our things out of the locker. Everyone is watching us and I feel really bad. We leave and all I can say is sorry in English. I was amazed that they were willing to give us a massage - to somehow meet our request/needs.

So we begin the walk back to the hotel and carefully look for the sign with SPA. We finally find it a lot closer to the hotel (like Joleen said) and we had walked by it at least 2 times.

Relieved, we go in and ask for massages. AND they say "no."

Apparently, they are booked solid so we try to make an appointment for the next day and they say "no" again. By now there are 5 women in 50's style hair dresser uniforms (close fitting pastel purple tops with black pants). You have to remember that none of us speak Chinese so we are getting along with gestures and my very limited phrase book.

Finally they all breathe a sigh of relief when this woman who knows some English walks in. She has very limited English for speaking but understands us very well. Just as we are about to get an appointment, one of the massage therapists very passionately begins to speak to the women with the English. I can see she is worried about something.

The woman tells us they are worried they will hurt us because of the language barrier. Jyothi laughs and Joleen says, “Can't we just say, 'ouch' if it hurts?” We are determined to get a massage! I'm worried we are being pushy Americans. Just as we're about to give up... we find a time that fits our schedule and theirs.

It turns out we can make an appointment for June 9 at 1 in the afternoon. June 9 is our day of rest after the trip to the Great Wall, so we're thinking that will be a good time to get a massage. This must be a pretty high class place to be booked up so far in the future.

After making our appointment we go to the bakery and get a round of milk shakes for desert. Jyothi calls this picture “the fat satiated cats” after a good meal (adventure) and desert!