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| - The Low Down:
They found knots and kinks around areas I didn't realise I even had muscles. This isn't a new age love and light massage, this was big-russian-woman meets kung fu master and they beat the living daylight out of my stress.
Price:
I paid $34 per person(credit card), and because of the quality of service gave a $10 tip(cash). We had mentioned Yelp and got the 10% off promotional discount. Normally it would have been $38 per person.
Location:
It was located in a strip mall. There was plenty of parking in front and was a decent area that was much less busy than the foot massage places in China Town.
Time and Date:
4:45pm on a Monday. We were the only people there. We had no appointment.
Blow by Blow experience:
There is a black film over the windows so you cannot see through to the inside. No nonsense and no frills, but clean and serene. It was dimly lit in the entrance, and there was no one at the front desk, however a woman named Elaine came from the back quickly and welcomed us with a genuine smile. She looked professional and does a lot of good for the typical stigma that asian massage parlours get. This is serious reflexology and that is it.
The first room is a larger and open, dimly lit room. Not dark and dingy but darkly soothing and peaceful. All of the chairs were substantially roomy. With ottoman. Each chair also could be reclined into a full face down massage table. We were led into a couple's semi-private room. There was a half curtain instead of a door that one had to bow slightly to enter. There were hooks on the wall for hanging your personal belongings and a table between two massage chairs.
As we got comfortable, Elaine asked if we would care for a cup of tea which was served in a styrofoam cup. It was nicely brewed and a welcome start to the massage experience. Rex, her partner, came from the back and turned on the AC, dimmed down the lights even more as she left to run 2 steaming hot foot baths in wooden tubs lined with plastic. It looked very sanitary. Everything felt and looked clean. It was very easy to close my eyes and relax, just with these first steps. In the background musak played, which was fitting in a way, though I normally hate musak.
When the massage started we were asked to sit facing our chairs on the ottoman, resting our feet in a hot foot bath. a pillow and towel were placed on our laps and the experience started with what I call "the warm up massage". This helped me loosen up and relax. I could tell it worked because after a few minutes I began slumping forward over my lap pillow.
This portion of the massage entailed working the neck, shoulders, upper back, and upper arms. Both Rex and Elaine have what I call "hard hands". This is a welcome trait in a masseuse. This allowed them to apply as much pressure to points as one might like, and I was quite happy with the pressure they were using. They asked throughout the massage at key points if I wanted more or less pressure. I never has them change their default amount. If you're a love of deep tissue massage and the no pain, no gain philosophy then you will love this style. I had never had reflexology before. Some purists of this style say it's not really reflexology because lotion is involved. Apparently I don't really care if it is or isn't, lol, because in the end I was jelly and quite happy.
During this "warm-up" massage I was asked how long a massage I wanted. I asked for 60 minutes. I forgot to mention we were also asked if we wanted a man or woman attending us. The staff was incredibly quiet, which was wonderful. We knew there must have been a second team in back because we did hear quiet voices at one point. There were no phone calls during the massage service.
From the warm-up massage we were asked to sit back in the main reclining chair where we had our skull, faces, and base of the head/top of the neck attended to. Until you have had your head and face touched in this manner, you have no idea how many pressure points can be manipulated and how incredible you can feel only having such small areas worked on. It was curiously educational and fun as well as and most importantly relaxing, just to experience the strange patterns they might massage at certain points. I have never has western massages that were this interesting.
From the head and face, we had the full foot and leg massages. After that we were asked to flip over and we had the full body head, neck, shoulders, back, arms, upper and lower legs, even a good pressing on my buttocks(and not in a sleazy way.) It was wonderful. It becomes the sort of trust you give professionals when your health is in their hands. You find yourself handing over your body and mentally saying "just fix me. I trust you." That's a good thing to have happen and it definitely happens here.
I am converted. I am in love. I will definitely go back.
There is boba tea next door. Boba tea. Boba tea. Eat them up. Yummmmm.
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