October 31
This Halloween (not celebrated in China ) morning dawned the clearest day so far. Sid, Jyl and I have declared today to be a day of rest, from the rigors of eating and site seeing. Gerald is working today (poor guy).
The Frazer Suites (where we are staying) offers a beautiful breakfast. We chose the custom prepared omelet, fruit, toast and coffee. There is much to choose from including noodles, rice, soup, salad, yogurt and a few surprise dishes. The fellow seated next to us makes alot of slurping noises while enjoying his breakfast.
Sid and I go for an hour long walk in the neighborhood, taking in the sights and sounds of Nanjing.
Jyl calls and tells me that she has found a place to have a massage, she got the directions from Rachel at the front desk. I think Jyl is very brave - I am waaay too much of a chicken to venture out by myself ....prolly because I am always lost. Jyl said one hour massage costs 15 CAD, and was very good. My sweet husband agrees to walk with me to the massage spa.
We find Rachel and she gives us the required directions along with a slip of paper that has the address on it. The address is 3 symbols. The directions she gives us are quite poor but we show the slip of paper to a few folk along the way and they guide us, eventually, in the right direction. Rachel, from the hotel, has called ahead so the massage people are waiting for us. No English spoken here, none.
I am led into an austere room that has 3 massage beds in it. The fellow leaves the room and leaves the door open. I think that this is a bit odd, but maybe the Chinese people are not so private with their bodies? I close the door, quickly undress and cover myself up with a very small and flimsy piece of a sheet, lying face down. Massage buddy comes back and finds a larger blanket to cover parts of me. I am very glad Sid is waiting for me.
The massage is very good. I can hear that someone else has come in to get a massage in the same room and I hear some chatter. I think I need to get over being such a prude. I think this may be the best massage I've ever had! By some small miracle, massage buddy that speaks no English gets me to roll over onto my back. It is at that exact moment I realize that in China you get a massage with your clothes on! Nice.
My anxiety level elevates drastically and I cannot wait to be done. My massage lasts 1 hour and 10 minutes - I think the extra 10 minutes were a bonus for being an idiot.
When we get back to the hotel I ask Jyl why in the world she did not mention that little tidbit to me. (Don't take your clothes off!) There were massages in progress when she entered the room, so she never gave it a second thought. So embarrassing.
We go out for another Chinese dinner. The Chinese use a clear distilled (from rice) alcoholic beverage for toasting called Baijiu. Gerald says it tastes like diesel fuel. I agree that Gerald's description is accurate, even though I have never actually tasted diesel fuel - I imagine the taste to be similar!
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