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Published: November 3rd 2011
Nibble, nibble
....like a mouse...who is nibbling at my......legs? LOL And, btw, those are not my legs...they are teacher Jim's legs. Thanks to Rich for this photo. Ahhh...spas. Ya gotta love 'em. I do. Last Tuesday, Vivien, Rich, Diane, Jim and I boarded a bus taking us to the 5 star RiYueGu Hot Springs Resort and Spa (www.riyuegu.com)on the outskirts of Xiamen. We arrived after a 30 minute bus ride on a cloudy and cool day, but we didn't mind. We met the bus going to the spa by the waterfront after meeting at school and taking a city bus. Upon arrival at the destination we disembarked from the bus and bought ourselves some bathing caps--awful things--but apparantly mandatory in certain watery locales onsite. All I can say is WOW. We spent the entire afternoon immersed in water. I was prunella at the end, but I was sooooo relaxed! LOL We bathed in a lemon water pool, a coffee water pool, a cucumber water pool and there were others we just skipped, like the ginger tea pool, the Oolong tea pool, and the jasmine tea pool. We swam in a regular salt water pool and whizzed down the water slides and steamed ourselves in the steam room. We laughed and gasped under the cool waterfall after bathing in the hot springs. Then we sat in special seats with
My Shaved Ice
My shaved ice dessert. The beans are actually ok in this format. LOL strategic water jets for backs and shoulders and necks, and bathed in special cleansing salt baths......and lay on water jet beds. My goodness! Water, water, water, water. A watery world.....I do love water. Ah.....but the best, and I do mean the BEST part of the day was at the very end. The piece de resistance turned out to be the shallow pool filled with thousands of tiny Turkish fish that remove dead skin from the swimmer! Talk about the strangest sensation--the fish surrounded me and when they nibbled at me it felt sort of like tiny electrical shocks! Really! The tiny little bumps of the fish making contact with my skin was strange. How could something so small be sampling me yet feel surprisingly strong? And the first few minutes were almost unbearably ticklish as they nibbled away callouses and rough spots on my feet and then moved to my elbows and hands. Diane was hooting and hollering doing EFT but after about 10 minutes of craziness, she was able to settle into it. Personally, just to have seen/heard her reaction was worth the extra 30 Yuan that we paid! LMAO!
And you're probably wondering what the afternoon for that
Shaved Ice
Either Rich's or Diane's dessert, lol, I don't remember whose, but with mangoes. cost? 135 Yuan, (about $22ish Canadian) including bus ride, slippers and unlimited towel usage, and a luxury shower both before and after the bathing. Very relaxing and well worth it were how I'd describe this spa experience. We did pay extra for the live fish treatments and food. We received free fruit and soft drinks upstairs in the spa during a little break from the water. This was definately one of the highlights of my time in Xiamen.
Another lovely spot we've discovered is over by Rich and Diane's right adjacent to the California mall and we call it Cow Street. You know, Thompson has statues of wolves and I think Winnipeg has statues of Polar bears, well, this street is behooved of bovines--quite a cozy little area complete with exclusive shops and eateries. There is a Greek and Korean place, though we've never eaten at either place yet but we have had shaved ice a few times with Rich and Diane. Mmmmm, it doesn't sound like much, but it's basically a pile of snow (I know, I know, I like it cuz it reminds me of home, HAHAHAHAHAH!) covered in fruit and beans and a sweet syrupy sauce.
Joyce's Dessert
Joyce wanted only watermelon ice. She forgot to ask them to NOT put beans on hers. She doesn't like them. LOL It's very, very yummy! One of the most popular ones is the mango one, but for those of you who know me well know that mangoes are not my friends. They cause me to become intimate with my epi-pen, which is not my most favourite of activities. Nor is a trip to the hospital. So, I was very hesitant at first to try this dessert, which Diane had made sound so good I just had to take the risk! With some trepidation, I approached the counter with Rich's pocket electronic Chinese dictionary to try to explain the concept of anaphylaxis, epi-pens, no mangoes, etc. when a Chinese lady approached and in excellent English asked could she help in any way? I was SOOOO glad for her intervention! I explained my dilemma and she communicated my concerns to the clerks who made sure I knew they understood. And voila, I was handed a mango-free treat which I have enjoyed twice now! Mmmmmmm! Now, at home, beans are more of a savory thing....well, not here. Beans are dessert to the Chinese. I know, that just seems weird to me too, but it actually is not too bad! They make cookies with sweetened
Yummy!
Diane enjoying her dessert. bean filling and then they do use beans for moon cakes (blech!) I remember putting the first of the beans on my shaved ice into my mouth and then being very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it! LOL I hope to enjoy shaved ice at least another time before I go home!
I have made a new friend here in the cow street district. Her name is Li Ping, she is 36 and she owns a jade/precious stone store. I bought a gift for my friend Jeannine and met this lovely lady! She gifted me a jade buddha ring and one for Joyce also. We came back and had tea with her and she gifted me with more tea and another necklace. She is so generous-- I have been very fortunate to have met some very amazing people here.
And finally, I can stop bitching about my hair. I decided I couldn't stand it any longer and took a chance and had it coloured and cut at the salon in the California Mall where Diane had gone and had a good experience. With much trepidation Joyce and I entered the salon and asked for Lee. There was
Foiled
Colour is a time consuming process and I was admittedly nervous. There was a blonde apprentice in the shop and he was delighted with my hair. He came over to me and pointed at our hair and said, "Same!" a general uproar because 2 foreign ladies wanted him! He was a slight young man with good English. After explaining what we wanted, they whisked us right into the salon to start with hair shampoos and massages! YES! You get a complete head and neck massage before you get a cut. I am liking THIS quite a lot. Now, when we entered the shampoo room, we were stunned! There are shampoo beds! Yes, beds. You lay down face up, and get your hair washed like that then enjoy your massage. OMG. That was amazing. I sure hope that catches on in Canada. I loved that! Well, talk about getting stared at. As I was getting my highlights foiled, all the staff and the customers were staring at both of us and our hair. Finally, after about 2 hours, we emerged looking and feeling quite beautiful! Lee, the stylist, had taken a long time feeling my hair and mentioned that I did not have a lot of it then whispered in my ear "like Baby hair!" He meant my hair was so soft and fine! He was surprised when I did not want overall colour, since he couldn't resist pointing out
Foiled AGAIN!
LOL, me getting my colour foiled by Lee and his assistant. The staff was all male. We kind of liked that! LOL that I had a lot of grey! Uh, thanks. Joyce and I have both been pleased with his services and tipped him a little extra, which is really not a big concept here, tipping. Feeling beautiful and wanting to show off our lovely hair we shopped around and decided to see a movie. The manager, whose English was excellent, gave us a discount on our tickets and we watched Limitless in English (Chinese sub-titles). Before our movie we had had a hot pot meal in the food court. I had met one of the young fellows at a restuarant and he looked after me like I was a queen! He sat me down, gave me some samples to try and also some tea to drink. Brought me our food, our change...just treated us so well. In the end, he gave me his picture with his name on the back and posed for Joyce. I must say again how much I love the kindness of the Chinese people. Even the movie manager came around while we were eating to make sure we had everything we needed to eat and were ok! How amazing is THAT????
Enjoy the pictures of Cow Street
On the Table
Me on the massage bed getting my hair washed and my scalp massaged. Boy, I hope this idea makes it to Canada SOON! It rocks. *sigh* in day and at night.
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Doug
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Lovin your photos!
Keep the awesome pictures coming! I'm having a great time lurking!