Relaxing Foot Massage – Huangshan, China

Exhausted after climbing Mount Huangshan we went for a traditional Chinese foot massage.

You’re led into a quiet room and given a large reclining chair. The masseur lines a wooden tub with a plastic bag then fills it with recently boiled water. You’re then given a choice of herbal or rose petal infusions, which was like a large tea bag, although I couldn’t really discern any noticeable aroma. (No, I didn’t taste it…). When the water has cooled down just enough to be way too hot to touch your feet are forcibly pushed into it and rapidly turn a bright pink colour as they cook. A few moments of this and you internally swear never to boil another lobster alive. A few more minutes later, just as the pain subsides and becomes bearable the masseur grabs your feet and roughly soaps them up and thoroughly cleans the whole foot, with special emphasis on pulling the toes apart until it hurts.

On seeing my feet close up she offered to tidy up my nail, which didn’t seem that long to me. I don’t think I had much choice, but after I’d accepted she made another examination and with an unhappy look on her face put away the nail file and brought out a chisel, which seemed over the top. Much chiselling later my feet and nails looked exactly the same. Another wash and your feet are propped back up on the stool to dry. I prepared to sit back and relax again, but lulled into a false sense of security I didn’t notice her circling round and grabbing my neck and shoulders in a vague semblance of a soothing back massage. This ended with her pulling my arms back whilst forcing a knee into the small of my back.

Eventually she desisted and I slumped back in the chair. She moved back in front of me and sat on a small stool and made a start on massaging my feet. This started quite pleasant with gentle sweeping motions around the feet and ankles, and then she moved up to my sore calves and knees and kneaded them until they hurt even worse than on the way down the mountain.

Moving back to my feet she twiddled the toes about for a bit then gave me a particularly bitter cup of tea and gave me the bill.

I’m sure there are better foot massages to be had, and I’m open to recommendations in Beijing, but this has pretty much put me off for now.

UPDATE: Much cajoling later I did have another go and it was a far more pleasant experience

Hopefully related posts:

A much better massage – Beiijng, China Avatar Country – Huangshan, China Restaurants – Beijing, China Chilling out, Maxing, Relaxing by the pool – Caye Caulker, Belize