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Last night I went to a Chinese massage place that had a one star review for ‘being so painful I couldn’t sleep’. It was exactly the place I wanted. Susan (from China) expertly and patiently worked on all the knots in my body. The infrared lamp on my back was lush. The place looked like crap (as places in this price range all do) but I felt like a brand new person.
Having lived most of my life in SE Asia, having good relationships with local experts in bodywork in different modalities is something that is important to me. It also often provides a window of connection for me in the diaspora as it almost always means I’m talking to someone in Mandarin, Indonesian or Thai.. for an hour.. while naked. They also always give me restaurant tips for the local area. I appreciate them so much!
I have so many funny massage stories.
The place I went to very religiously in Singapore, that’s maybe the entire reason why I don’t have lower back pain anymore, used to write my name on the booking whiteboard as ‘the lesbian who loves pain 221’ (很耐痛的拉拉女士221)
Apparently my two word Chinese name was too difficult and that was more descriptive. Or funny
People always ask how do you find a place like that. I usually just search google maps in my local area for ‘reflexology’ or ‘deep tissue massage’. I note if it’s a pretty run down place vs a fancy spa (the latter is not usually a place that would have massage strength that is acceptable to me).
With that, I’ve been able to find good spots in really random places. Helsinki. Budapest. Lots of places. Anywhere there are Chinese migrants there’s a good massage spot. So that’s everywhere.
In places with a larger Chinese diaspora I get more specific. I can search by type (acupuncture, tuina, guasha)
I ask other people who know and who can recommend.
There is a lot of bad Chinese ‘massage’ out in the world and even worse acupuncture etc so I generally don’t do those things unless I know it’s run by an expert or shifu (theology recommendations).
In Indonesia, I had access to exceptionally skilled body work therapists as well.
Last time I was in Surabaya I got a person who was well versed in traditional ‘urut’ and modern sports massages and what ended up happening was he showed me I had lots of knots in place I didn’t know it was possible to have them in.
Living in California now it’s much more of a luxury. Instead of an every two week thing it’s more a every 3 months thing.
@skinnylatte when I lived in California I had nearly given up after a couple of years of only getting fu fu massages - after having good massages in Japan for years. Friend introduced me to a guy who did Esalen massage. Damn near passed out as I breathed through the pain. Went back religiously and have even been back to see him when I’ve travelled back to the area and he was available
@skinnylatte Do you get the hot stones? There's a reflexology place near me that I go to every once in a while; but they use hot stones and i find that really annoying. It's like 20% of the massage time, and they don't do anything for me. I don't know whether to ask for no stones though (they don't really speak english).
@Andres4NY no I don’t. Don’t like them. I prefer guasha or cupping but only if it’s done by a very skilled person (usually they advertise this by saying a specific person is a shifu. I wouldn’t do it with a regular therapist)
Just say NO! stone!! Hehe or ‘bu Yao’ and point at them