After an afternoon sightseeing at DuFu’s cottage, prior home of a famous Chinese poet, I decided to check out a Chinese Tibetan spa near Charlie’s apartment building. I only knew it was a spa because I had asked him about the prayer flags over the front entrance a few days earlier.
I took the elevator up to the top floor, and was happy to see a well-decorated, warm and welcoming reception area. The language barrier was a big issue, however having been to a spa previously with Charlie, I had a sense of the routine.
First, they showed me to a locker where I put away all my clothes. I was standing there buck-naked for a moment until the attendant was kind enough to hand me a towel. I spent about 30 minutes soaking in a wooden tub of hot water and Tibetan medicine. The medicine was red, which gave the water a similar tint. Next, I showered and changed into the supplied pajamas. The attendant brought me to a dark room with lounge chairs, each equipped with a remote and small flat screen TV. I flipped around the channels until boredom set in, and then asked for a massage.
I was lead to a room where a Chinese masseuse eventually entered. She pointed at a poster on the wall which was written in Chinese. After a minute or two of being completely confused, I pointed to what I thought was the cheapest option (there were numbers like 30, 60 and 90 listed, but I had no sense of whether it was related to cost or time). The initial massage lasted about an hour. And then….
A cart of round glass jars was wheeled into the room. I’d seen what was about to happen on TV once, so I knew what was coming. First, I received Gua Sha, a treatment whereby a piece of metal is scraped across my back. It didn’t hurt, but it did make me wonder what the hell was being done to me. Then, the woman lit cotton balls on fire under the jars, creating smoke which allowed for a vacuum effect when the jar was pressed against my back. My entire back was filled with the jars, and I was left to bear them alone for 10 minutes. It felt strange, like an octopus was slapped on my back, in no hurry to release itself. I decided to grin and bear it.
Eventually the jars were slowly peeled off of me, and when they were all gone, I sat upright. The woman pointed at my left shoulder, and I was horrified to see a giant purple circle. When I got back to my locker to change, I looked in the mirror and was aghast at the results of what was suppose to be a relaxing massage!
Once I got back to Charlie’s apartment, I found out that the ancient Chinese medical treatment I had just unknowingly requested was called Ba Guan (aka fire-cupping). It is meant to cleanse the body of toxins and treat certain ailments. And it would take up to a week for the bruising to disappear. In actuality, as I write this more than 3 weeks later, I can still see the outlines of circles on my back and shoulders, making me wonder if I’ll never see them completely fade.
You can see a few more photos of the actual process on Ben’s Blog.
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Oh my gosh.
That looks painful! I guess I should bring a translation book when I visit China.
or your sense of adventure!
That looks too painful. My Dad also did that once. I didn’t ask him how long it took for the bruises to completely fade; but I seriously didn’t expect it to take more than 3 weeks… We’re actually Chinese, by the way, so my Dad was fully aware of what’s going to happen to him.
Holy cow! That looks awful and yet amusingly funny. I’m not surprised it’s taken 3 weeks to heal! Imagine if they had done your whole body. As always, good stories Dave.
This was one good story which was completely unintentional!
Erk! Can’t beat a bit of unscientific medical quackery now and then. Seems like this treatment is only good for great blog stories
oh sweet, I didn’t realize that you’d gone to the place right outside of my house. I should check that out someday.
Yeah, it was quite nice. Beware the Ba Guan!
um…OUCH!
did it hurt as much as it looks like it did??
Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt much. Some of the purple spots were sore to the touch for a day or two afterwards, however the actual treatment was just awkward at first (though I sort of got use to it the longer the jars were stuck to me).
Wow! I am definitely going to try that! It looks like an octopus cuddled with you for a whole night…
My wife and I tried that in Laos once. It did eventually heal completely for us both. Though it felt kind of good actually.
I get this treatment all the time. When the circles are dark it means you’re unhealthy for one reason or another. Hurts quite a bit, but feels great afterward.
I must’ve been close to death because the circles were VERY dark on me! But yea, it looked a lot worse than it felt.
Dave,
Those purple circles look awful! But for some reason it looks really funny as well ‘coz it reminds me of pepperoni!
This story proves that taking risks and being adventurous yields very interesting outcomes. Which makes for good material. I hope one day soon you’ll compile all these stories – together with the wackiest and wildest dares you’ve completed so far – and turn them into a book.
Pinaybackpacker
I’m with Crystal, you do like a bit like a pepperoni pizza, apart from the circles did you feel any healthy effects of the treatment?
Ah…massage is so luxurious.
Thanks! I do think there is a book lurking in all my experiences, but for now I’m not sure when I’d take on such a project!
It didn’t feel particularly bad when the glass jars were attached to me, but a little uncomfortable. And nope, I didn’t feel especially better afterwards, not that I was sick when I got the treatment.