My First Time in China

Hi everyone! It is about 10 pm here in Hong Kong, and I just got back from my first trip outside the country. We went to Shenzhen, China, and it was incredible.

To summarize, before I go into detail - the weekend was basically the best sleepover party a girl could ever dream of.

Now, let me explain.

I went with five other girls. Lisa and Chelsie are from my school back home. We also went with Shannon, my roommate (she moved to L.A. from China when she was 16 and can speak both English and Mandarin fluently and she is a GREAT roommate and friend), and two girls we met here AND LOVE, Kayla and Barbara.

We met at 8 am at the Bluebird, and headed to the subway station (after breakfast and grumbling about how early it was). After a 1 hour subway ride...we were at the Hong Kong/China border!

For those who want a little bit of history, let me share. I will keep it brief. Shenzhen is immediately North of Hong Kong (the Southern tip of China), and until the late 1970s, it was a small fishing village. Around this time, China determined that Shenzhen would be the first “Special Economic Zone”. It was meant to be an experimental ground of capitalism in "socialism with Chinese characteristics." After this, foreign investment flowed to the area, and the place became the developed area that it is today. It has something like 9 or 10 million people now.

Back to the weekend. Crossing the border took two seconds. We were surprised that we were directed to the line up for “Hong Kong Residents”...that was kind of cool.

Once we got out of the train station...we were in for a surprise. Unfortunately, Chelsie, Kayla, Barbara and myself are all blonde, so we stand out. And the people who own shops in the mall just above the station really wanted to sell things to us. Bags, watches, wallets, shoes...anything. They would come right up to you and try to hand you brochures and business cards with their store information on it. It was actually quite overwhelming...so we had a snack and McDonald’s, which always makes us feel at home.

Next, we decided to find our main destination – the Queen Spa. If you go to Shenzhen, the Queen Spa is a must-see. I read the reviews, so I knew it would be good...but I had no idea HOW GOOD.

From the street, the place didn’t look that impressive. There is a big, beautiful sign, and a few Rolls Royces parked outside...but that is about it. But the second we walked through the door, everything changed. The hostesses wear snow white wool dress coats that reach the floor. Oh, and crowns. They whisked us to the lobby and went to find an English-speaking manager (there is always one on duty). While we were waiting, we took a look around. The walls were waterfalls, the floors were shiny marble, and there were lounge chairs to relax in. Plus, the check-in desk was actually a fish tank, with giant goldfish swimming around inside.

After a few minutes, the manager came over to tell us about the service they offer. Get a load of this.

Basically, it costs 98 RMB to enter the spa. That gives you 24 hour access, and a variety of complimentary services. These are:

· Access to the 3000 square metre Spa pool
· Seasonal fresh fruits (bananas, oranges, dragon fruit, cherry tomatoes, and a few others), ice cream (chocolate, strawberry, and a bunch of other, more exotic flavours) and jelly (I didn’t try that), without limit
· One free drink from the bar
· Free drinks from the self-service station (they had tons of different types of coffees and lattes and six types of juices)
· Access to swimming pants and swimming suits (luckily...I brought my own)
· Access to paper or cotton underpants (uh...I skipped this, too)
· Laundry service for underpants, socks and swimming suits (one-time and...skipped)
· Public cinema (you watch a giant screen from lazy boy-type lounge chairs)
· Shuttle bus
· Ping-pong bottle
· Sleeping capsules (wait until I tell you about this)
· Wireless internet

Seems like a lot of stuff, right? I thought so, too. And when you consider that $1 CAD is 5.5 RMB...all of that stuff costs...$17.81 CAD.

Anyways, we obviously want to check the place out, so they give us plastic, water-proof bracelets with a number on the outside and an RFID chip on the inside. Next, they lead us to the Ladies’ Locker Room. Like the rest of the spa, it is beautifully decorated. An attendant leads us to the locker that corresponds with our number, and we are instructed to leave all of our belongings inside, and put on a towel. The lockers are beautiful, too, by the way. They are mirrored, and padded with really soft purple fabric. When your belongings are inside, the attendant comes back and swipes your bracelet over the lock. She then swipes her own bracelet over the lock, and you can hear the lock close. It is clear that both bracelets are needed to open the locker, so we all feel good about leaving our things there.

We are led to the shower area, and...surprise, surprise...it is beautiful. There is a lounge area to the left, a Jacuzzi on a platform in the middle, and showers in an area to the right. The shower area is separated from the rest of the room by six gorgeous sinks and vanities in a row. Shelves beside them are stocked with important items – one-time use toothbrushes and toothpaste, washcloths, shower caps, Q-tips, hair ties and bobby pins.

We all take showers (they are significantly better than the ones we have access to in our dorms) and head to the changing area. We each get a set of matching pink pyjamas that kind of reminded me of scrubs, expect that the pants were capris. They also give us fluffy pink robes.

Are you starting to see why I am calling this the dream sleepover party?

Next, we are ready to see the facilities. Just off of the ladies’ locker room is the co-ed 3000 square metre pool. We went in later in the night, and thought it was pretty cool. There were two water slides, but the best parts were the “spa functions.” With one, you spread out (on your stomach) on what looks like a stone massage table, and with the press of a button, strong jets spray down onto your back from 5 feet above you. The other was called a Vicki shower. You lay on your back on what looks like a very shallow bathtub, and jets massage your muscles. There were also a bunch of hot tubs and whirlpools. Very cool.

Anyways, we went back into the locker room to continue our tour. By going to the 3rd floor, you enter the “Rest Zone.” In this “zone”, there are lazy-boy style recliners set up in three different areas. Each recliner is equipped with a pillow, blanket, a personal television and a button to press if you need something from an attendant. There were people watching television, sleeping and...this seemed to be the favourite...getting massages, manicures and pedicures! For 58 RMB ($10.54 CAD), you can get any of these services while sitting in these chairs.

Down the middle of the floor is the fruit and juice bar. There was also a restaurant on this floor (we ate there for dinner), where you wear your pyjamas. Finally, there were internet stations (both standing and in a comfortable, private booth), couches and tables for playing cards or having a drink, pool tables and the “cinema”. They had moves in Chinese and English, and the schedule was posted.

Next on our tour, we checked out the fifth floor. It is a place where facials, manicures and pedicures are offered. They also showed us a room that is used to give full body massages, as an example.

Now, we had some decisions to make. Sure, all of the complimentary services were nice...but at the Queen Spa, if you spend over 168 RMB ($30.54 CAD), the Entry Fee of 98 RMB is waived. And, how many times are you in China in your life?

We decide to just completely go for it. A few of the girls booked facials and headed off, and a few of us tell an attendant that we want massages. After getting over the language barrier, the attendant led us to a computer screen. On the screen, there were photos (glamour shots, really) of the available masseuses...they wanted us to pick our own masseuse! We thought this was just hilarious, but to everyone else there, it was normal. We chose our masseuses and were led by an attendant to the massage area.

I got a Thai massage. It was...extreme. I don’t think there are too many boundaries in Chinese culture, or at this spa at least. First, the masseuse (and she doesn’t speak English at all) tells me to lay down, so I do...but as I am about to lay on my stomach, she grabs me and flips me onto my back. She throws a towel over me (I still have my pyjamas on) and sits directly between my legs, and just goes for it. Over the next 90 minutes, she massaged very nearly every square inch of my body, and also put me into some really interesting pretzel-like positions. At the end of the 90 minutes, she got a phone call to tell her the time was up. Then, she wrote down my number, had me sign a receipt (and indicate a tip) and it was over.
I definitely felt relaxed and stretched out afterwards.

Next we all met up again and headed to the pool, and then to dinner. I had a seafood pizza. It was absolutely delicious.

Oh, and how much did I spend, so far, with the massage (including tip) and the pizza? $54 CAD. And don’t forget...this includes a place to stay for the night.

Speaking of a place to stay, by the time we had dinner and relaxed in the lounge chairs for a bit, it was time for bed. Time to check out the sleeping capsules.

We headed down the stairs to the second floor, where the ladies’ sleep area is (men and women sleep separately). At reception, we indicated the time we would like to wake up at, and then we headed inside. It was like walking into a Sci-Fi movie. There were at least 100 “capsules” – single beds with white sheets, pillows and duvets, side by side. Each bed had a hood that covered the head of the bed, to create some privacy. The room was very quiet and very dark. We chose capsules, climbed in to our beds and...pretty much passed out right away.
At 8 am sharp, I was woken up by an attendant. How they knew where I was is still a mystery to me, because the capsules weren’t assigned at all – I just chose one, and didn’t tell anyone. Amazing.

Anyways, we went upstairs for breakfast. I had about two cups of coffee and three lattes (never offer me all-you-can-drink coffee...I love it too much) and ate some fruit for breakfast. Once everyone was awake, we decided to split up for some more treatments. I decided to go for an “Exfoliating Scrub,” at a cost of 58 RMB ($10.54 CAD). I had a shower, and then an attendant showed me into a sauna. But it wasn’t just any sauna...it was a 10 x 10 foot glass-walled room, and it was so steamy that from a seat on one wall, I couldn’t see the other side! It was 44 degrees Celsius. I saw it on a sign.

I could barely stay inside for 5 minutes at a time – I took tons of breaks to drink water. After 25 minutes, a woman came and led me to a private room with a massage table. The woman inside whipped off my towel and took a crazy scrub brush and started scrubbing my skin like CRAZY! Every inch. It felt good, but weird.

Please note: what I am about to say is pretty disgusting.

After half an hour of intense scrubbing, I was exfoliated. I wrapped myself in a towel and looked back at the massage table I had been lying on. There were flakes of skin everywhere! It was a shocker. And so gross.

I had another shower afterwards, and felt cleaner than I have, probably since the day I was born.

After this, we lounged for a little while longer, ate some more fruit, and then, sadly, we got ready to leave. After changing, we turned our bracelets into the reception desk and waited for our bills.

This part was a little nerve-racking, because even though we knew the price of the services we had purchased, you never know if they are going to add on service charges, or if there were fees that we missed because we don’t speak Mandarin.

Anyways, here was the breakdown:

Massage: $39.60 for 90 minutes
Body Exfoliation: $14.18 for 45 minutes
Dinner: $14.00 for a really big and delicious pizza (did I mention it had squid on it and stuff?)Service Charge: 10%

Total: $75.24

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it cost me $5 CAD to get to Shenzhen. So, in total, I spent $80 this weekend...and had an incredible time!

After leaving the spa, we grabbed some lunch at “Bread Talk” next door (a carb-lover’s heaven, and it is open 24 hours!) and headed to an outdoor market called Dongmen Pedestrian Street. Here, we bought stuff. Tons of stuff. Lisa bought a perfectly functioning hair straightener for $4 CAD, and Chelsie got two pairs of nice high-heeled shoes for about $12 CAD each. I bought some stuff too – a shirt and a pair of shorts. I fell in love with MANY pairs of shoes, but here in Asia, there aren’t many people that wear a size 8. Size 7 is as large as they get around here, pretty much.

It is probably for the best. I am trying not to buy too much, because I am going directly to Europe right after the semester ends!

After shopping, we headed back to Queen Spa and had them give us a ride to the bus station in their shuttle. After an hour, we were back on campus, ready to start another week.
Talk about a weekend adventure!

Oh, and for anyone who thinks that I skipped out on culture by spending my first 24 hours in China in a spa...you should know that the six of us were the only non-locals in the place. Queen Spa is seriously the place to go if you live in Shenzhen, a nearby city, or Hong Kong. This is actually what they do here! And it wasn’t just women, either. I would say it was split pretty evenly between men and women. There were even babies and children there!

Let me know if you have any questions about the weekend, or about my life in Hong Kong in general, and I will post the answer! And if you ever go to China...make sure you stop by Queen Spa!