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Published: July 11th 2009
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One of the things that Lihong kept saying to me when I was still in NZ was that she would take me for a massage. Perhaps it was the look of shock on my face for her to expand a little to say that we would have one together ... the look of shock intensified ...
Four nights in Putian and three massages - how good was that!
My first experience was on the night of my arrival into Putian. Lihong, Quan and Qing took me to a massage franchise that they regularly attend. Watching carefully what the other three people did, I removed my shoes and socks, and rolled up my trousers to just above the knees. I reclined in the chair, placed my feet on the squab at the base of the chair, and waited nervously.
There was a knock on the door and a staff member brought in plates of fruit / sweets and cups of tea. they departed.
A short time later there was another knock on the door. This time, in walk 4 masseuses each carrying a wooden tub (similar to a small half wine barrel), lined with plastic and filled with
hot water with salts in it. My feet are lifted off the squab, the squab is moved to the side, and my feet are lowered gently into the water. The attendant who is going to give me my massage asks Lihong to ask me if the water is too hot. No, water is never too hot for Rich. While my feet are soaking, my attendant gives my shoulders, arms and hands a massage. This includes constricting the blood flow from the hands by squeezing from the fingertips down the hand to the wrist, then over just past the wrist. My fingers lock in position without the blood supply. The attendant blows gently on my fingers and there is an incredible tingling sensation. She releases the pressure on my arm and the blood flow heads back into the hand.
The feet are then lifted gently out of the wooden tub and placed on the squab which is slid back under. One foot is wrapped in a paper-like sling to form a bootie, to keep it warm. Warming gel is applied to the other foot, and the massage on the foot commences. Friction and pressure are the two key components, and
the foot gets warmer and warmer with the gel and the friction. Again the attendant checks with Lihong whether the pressure that is being applied is too great. Ahhhh, no, it is fine, I wince, it is just fine. Once the first part of the massage has been completed to that foot, it too is wrapped up and the other one unwrapped, to have the same proceedure. This is repeated again, so each foot gets two really good goings over. Then both feet are done at the same time. They are pulled and pushed and manipulated. Foot cream gets applied and massaged into the skin. The feet, after more than one hour, are done. The work on the legs start, which seems very tame compared to the pressures that the feet endured. There's a little bit of work on the arms and hands, before turning over to have a small amount of work done on the back.
The masseuses train at a specific school to work with the franchise company. During the massage, each attendant does exactly the same techniques / stroke at pretty much exactly the same time on each person receiving a massage (within 15 seconds anyway).
Hearing four people being cupped or pummelled at the same time is quite awesome - it really is synchronised massage!
The only thing I noticed different between the three massages were the start, while the feet were soaking, and at the end, during the work on the back. Perhaps they work in teams of 2, 3, or 4, and set there own start and finish sequence.
And the cost for this 90 minutes of sheer bliss ... 68RMB (about NZ$18)!
The massage was so good that I now have the business card of the franchise with the name of the foot massage written on in Chinese so that I can use it in Beijing if I can find the franchise there.
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