Slept in and missed breakfast in the hotel. No great loss as it turned out. The girls wanted to go swimming so we got out the hotel directory and found what we thought was a pool. Turns out it was a public bath! Our hotel apparently specialized in its spa. According to the directory, there was a Sports Center Foot Massage room. So, since I've unsuccessfully been trying to get a pedicure and foot massage since arriving in China, I decided to take a leap and attempt it in XiNing!!! Great plan. Poor execution. I started out by taking the elevator down to the 5th floor, where, according to the elevator directory, the Foot Center was located. Well, the elevator would not stop on the 5th floor. So I got off on the 6th floor. A very nicely dressed young lady met me and made it very clear, in Chinese, that I was in the wrong place! Yeah, I could tell, but I could not figure out how to communicate with her. Finally, I got her to follow me to the elevator and pointed out the 5th floor Foot Massage Center - she then took me down to the lobby, across the lobby to the "womens' sauna area." I had to swap my sandals for a pair of their flip flops and another woman took me through the sauna to another elevator that did stop on the 5th floor. Once there, I was taken to a room with several recliner type chairs and a tv. They handed me the remote control and pointed to the tv. Then they seated me in one of the chairs. There was an ottoman in front of the chair. After about 5 minutes, a young woman came in carrying a big wooden bucket full of HOT water. It was way too hot! She went back out and brought in a pitcher of cool water to add and it was tolerable. Then I got a GREAT foot massage! It lasted about 45 minutes and was wonderful. However, once she was done, I could not get her to understand pedicure! So, after refusing to accept a tip, she led me back downstairs to the place where I left my shoes. I was given a ticket and directed to the lobby desk to pay for the massage. It was about $11.00 US. Once I had paid, they brought my sandals back to me. So, I told the girls when I got back into the room, I did not see Sports Center and as far as I know, I was not on Sports Center, while I was getting the massage. Surprisingly, there were no English speaking tv channels in the Sports Center Foot Massage room. (We were able to watch tv in Beijing - CNN or BBC only; nothing after that).
We decided to have noodles for lunch from the convenience store. Then, Tim came and picked us up and we took a cab to a shopping center in the downtown area. The ground level was filled with markets. Sarah and I had yak yogurt at one; Samantha had an ice cream cone at another. We found several great souvenirs there - including a prayer wheel for Samantha. Sarah was shopping for bracelets and found many different kinds. There were lots of Indian things in the market and some ethnic clothing. We walked from one end to the other and then Tim showed us that there was a mall underneath the street. We walked from one end to the other of it, tried on shoes in one store, looked at handbags in another, and realized that we would have a hard time finding any clothes for the girls. They appear to be between sizes in China. The kids things were too small and the adult clothing was too large. So we headed back up to the street and looked for a cab to get us back to the hotel. Before we found a cab, we found a KFC! Decided dinner would be KFC and went inside to get a to go order. A little different than I expected, but the girls enjoyed the french fries! They actually had ice in the drinks, but no Coke products, only Pepsi. I ended up with some nasty tea. But at least it was ice cold!
No comments:
Post a Comment