Bring on the Night

Leaving the reception I went to my room. Pretty neat room for a 3 star hotel I thought.

The fee was 300 or 456RMB a night. I really never found out what the real price was until I saw the print from the credit card on my computer back home. When I reserved the room I spotted 2 prices: One for members and one for non-members. Since there was quite an amount to save for a 13-day stay, I decided to inquire about this. Maybe I could become a member without much trouble, so I decided to send the hotel a mail regarding this. I never got far. All emails was returned with a remark that there was no such email existing. Trying this a bunch of times with the same result, I decided to find out when I arrived. When I finally got to the hotel, this was the last thing on my mind, and I expected to pay the full price. So it was a great surprise to come home to Denmark and find that the hotel only charged me for the member price. Neat.

The hotel room was everything you could expect for a westerner. There was a normal toilet and 2 nice beds. A little TV was put on the desk, with all the information expected to be there. Before going I dreaded the Chinese “pedal” toilets. I once used one of these in the former Yugoslavia, and it was not a pleasure. In my mind I always pictured myself “aiming” badly or being caught doing it wrong. Everyone’s nightmare I suppose. Somehow I had a feeling that I would feel like a responsible crewmember in the Dam buster’s squadron. I would be a rookie, and only had one chance for “success”. If the raid failed I would be in deep s

Since I had been on different planes, airports or in cars the last 24 hours or so, all I really wanted was a good bath. I unpacked most of my stuff and jumped into a soothing shower. Afterwards I began looking at the hotel material. There was a western restaurant at the 29th floor. Hmm Sounds great, though I really was looking forward to Chinese food. Still a nice thing to keep in mind if I suddenly had a craving or found that Chinese food did not agree with me.

On the 28th floor there was a sauna and massage place looking very inviting on the brochure. Even though there was a picture of a girl standing on the back of a client, I was not intimidated. This was exactly what I needed after all the back wrecking time “on the road”: Someone standing on my back calling it massage and muscle loosening. Since it was now 21.00 o’clock local time, I was not sure about the opening hours. I found the local number and phoned. The phone was picked up and something was said in Chinese. I put on my best English and asked if they were open. SLAM!!! And the phone was disconnected. Weird, but it could be a mistake. Errors can happen and I checked the number again. It was correct. I called again. Same result: SLAM!!! Rude. After all I was a customer. I decided to call the reception, since they at least spoke a little English. I found out how little. After a long explanation all I got was some “Sorry sir, but I do not understand”. Just until I mentioned the word massage for the 4th time. “Ahhh Massage?! You go to 28th floor. You go!”. Guess I should have figured this out myself.

I went there and was greeted by 3 people just standing there: 2 men and a lady behind the counter. One of the guys picked up the word Chinese massage in my English mumblings, and made signs to follow. Great, soon I could relax from the long journey. I was dragged into a big bathroom with lockers. Besides the curious Chinese guests already there, one guy were responsible for the lockers and clothing. I understood that I had to undress and take a shower. I declined the shower and somehow they understood that I just had one at my room (maybe they just thought I was crazy and a filthy foreigner, who knows). I undressed and saw my belongings including my wallet disappear into the locker and was given a key.

I don’t know about you, but somehow I don’t like to be watched by two guys when I strip down. Where I come from it is polite to look away when someone undresses, but not these guys. They wanted to see it all. I am not sure what they were most curious about: The fact that I was “the hungry type” (compared to most Chinese), or because I had a hairy chest. I guess I will never find out, and I am not sure if I want to. I tried to lose the uncomfortable feeling, but really I couldn’t. Anyway I undressed and was presented with a pair of really ugly shorts and matching kimono-like thingy. The colors were dirt yellow, puke green, and unmentionable brown. Probably cool in the employees eyes, but not where I was brought up. The material was thick furry woolen like you would find most bathrobes. Well, “when in Rome” I put it on. What do you know? It actually felt good.

My “helper guy” told me to follow and I was put in a room nothing like what was shown on the brochure. I didn’t mind, since the brochure showed a big room with a lot of beds and people getting massages at the same time. The room I was set up in was a 6-7 square m. room with only one massage bed. Sweet, some privacy I thought to myself. Sat down and a lady came in with a nice cup of hot red tea. She disappeared again, and my “helper guy” wanted to be sure I understood it was 168RMB for the massage. Yeah, no problems there, though I knew it must have been overpriced compared to other local prices.

Now the weirdest part began. Suddenly the guy made a non-mistakable motion with his fingers. Something like: pointing through the “good job” finger sign, or “Look I can make my pointing finger touch my thumb while I put my other finger through the hole” sign. Really nothing to misunderstand. I said no thanks and had the massage only. I was there to meet a sweet girl, and not to experience the dirty side of Shenzhen.

Had a good nights sleep, though the bed was pretty hard compared to my own back home. Next morning I slept a long time since I was still jetlagged. I have never had any experience with jet lag before, and the feeling was quite strange. I am not sure if it was the time difference or all the flying, but I did not feel tired. Instead I felt just like when you have been on a boat and go back on land. I was dizzy, and kept this feeling for 2 days before getting rid of it.

I had arranged with C. (the girl I was going to meet) that she would meet me at my hotel room and bring an interpreter. All I had to do was to mail C. about the suitable time. We settled on 1.30pm. I used the hours in between to take a good long bath, watch some television (though mostly Chinese channels) and relax. It was about time to meet, and the phone rang. It was the interpreter calling to tell that they had arrived at the hotel lobby. I was told to go there and meet them.

More to come