putting the knit in shizknitz

While in Argentina, we had visited the Evian Spa in Buenos Aires. I had an hour Swedish Massage for $100 pesos, incl tip. That calculates down to ~$33 U$D which I thought was a pretty good deal. That was, until I visited the Dragonfly in Shanghai.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, since at Evian Spa the gal who was my masseuse didn’t speak any English and she stripped my robe off of me (I’m no prude but it was a first having a woman undress me like that). The Dragonfly is probably a happy medium between price and offering, since there is no separate changing room/shower. It’s a small place (the one in Pudong anyway, which was a 3 min walk from my hotel), dark, red and lots of candles. It had a nice fragrance, not too much lavender which most massage places tend to overdo. They spoke English and led me into my own small room. They had an outfit that resembled hospital scrubs (very very comfy) and I wore that during the duration of my Chinese Massage. I had this short little girl who was my masseuse but she packed on some serious power. She worked my back better than the best massages I’ve had during my haircuts at Hiroshi’s. She worked my shoulders, back, my legs, my thighs, then my head which at one point I thought was leading into my foot massage… but then she asked me to get dressed and then took me into another room.

This other room had about 4 recliners, dark with sensual music, a wall that was a entirely rocks with running water. A tall man brought a bucket of warm water and my feet massage started. Ooooooohhhh it was amazing. Utterly amazing. He massaged my feet in the water, then wiped it down carefully, then it all started. When I thought it couldn’t get any better, the girl returned, to massage my shoulders, my head and my arms/hands again. In Tandem. It was all really too good to be true.

Two hours of pure heaven. Price? 320 Yuan ($40 USD). I would have paid double for it, it was so damn good. The best part? They don’t expect a tip, so when you give them a good one, they trip out. You better bet I’ll be going back again before I leave Shanghai.