Signs advertising foot massages were all over the streets in Hong Kong, and I remember the Austrian man telling me they were cheaper in China, a hint to hold off at the time. Charlie suggested we get one so we made our way through the rain, across the campus of Sichuan University, to a big building with the look and feel of a hotel. We were lead up a staircase to a waiting room where a couple of plasma TV’s were broadcasting German soccer and Hart’s War.

As we waited for an open room, I brought up the fact that the waiting room was filled with young guys. Jody responded that the clientèle is typically men. I still couldn’t get over it. In the USA, guys just do not go out for foot massages together, and there were far too many for them all to be getting the other type of massage (if that was on the menu).

We were lead to a room with a small TV and four adjustable beds. We took off our socks and shoes, Charlie grabbed the remote, and soon there were two girls and a guy cleaning and massaging our feet in wooden tubs of water. I was the only person in the room unable to speak Chinese, not that it was necessary. After the water part, we got comfortable under blankets (if we weren’t already), and received body massages over our clothes. The whole experience lasted 1.5 hours and cost $6.50. Not a bad way to kill some time.

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