Third day in China [October 3]

[aadler]

I got up at 6:30, Susan about twenty minutes later. As we made our way through a leisurely Saturday morning (though I did go on and repeat the resistance band exercises from yesterday), we were a bit startled to see advance typhoon warnings appear on the Chinese TV station Susan was watching.

About 8:45 I sent Kevin a WeChat text to let him know we were up and mobile. He texted back that he was on his way, by himself this time. When he arrived at the apartment, he told us that it had seemed like we could use some plain relaxing time, so it was just him today.

(He also had heard about the typhoon warnings. He said most of the time that just meant Shenzhen got rain, and there would be further news if it came out worse than that.)

With him guiding us, we went to an electronic mart to get chargers for Susan’s iPad keyboard and for her Kindle back home. Wandered around more, and he showed us the Bao’an Stadium, near his and Mei-li’s apartment, where we could go to exercise if we wanted.

Mostly it was just strolling around and talking, but he had also arranged for a co-worker to meet us for lunch. About 11:00 we took the subway to a downtown mall, and Susan got a coffee-and-whipped-cream concoction at a place called Caffé Bene (a take-off on ‘Coffee Bean’?) while we waited. Somewhat after 11:30, the co-worker joined us, an Australian named Ross, and we wandered around checking menus till Kevin found a restaurant that he thought would suit our tastes.

Did it ever. Everything was good — which seems to be the default setting for food in China — but he’d ordered substantially too much; we all ate to surfeit, and then carried three take-out boxes with us on departure. Subway back to the general neighborhood of the apartment, and Kevin went to get me some Diet Cokes from Walmart while Susan and I returned to our current ‘home’.

Once Kevin returned, we rested and did some movie watching, and in the late afternoon he followed out on a thought he’d been having: took us down the street to a place where he arranged for me and Susan to get massages. (It was an unusual set-up: a single room with two massage tables — we’d first been led to a room with three, before Kevin convinced our guide that, no, he wouldn’t need a massage himself — where Susan and I were to receive attention simultaneously.) We were given lightweight shorts-and-top sets to wear instead of our clothes, and given a choice of masseur/masseuse; both of us said we didn’t really care, the guide-hostess said she’d send one of each … and, when they arrived, the woman worked on me while the man took care of Susan.

It wasn’t weird; the fact that we were both in the same room basically removed any self-consciousness, as was that the garments we’d been given were light enough that we could be effectively massaged through them. Remembering the massage I’d got the last time in China — at the water spa — and how Susan loved it but I found it severely uncomfortable, I had some reservations, but they turned out to be unnecessary. Some of the pressure techniques were pretty extreme, but none were too much. I had one section of my back — right side, midway down — that was so sensitive I couldn’t be touched there without jerking like the woman had goosed me; she had to work around the area for close to half an hour before I was relaxed enough that she could address it directly.

It made a difference; the long plane ride had stiffened us up a lot, three days sleeping on a too-firm mattress had signally slowed our recovery, and the long massage worked out almost all the accumulated discomfort. Once it was finished, we walked back to the apartment (taking a sightseeing detour through the Walmart Supercenter just down the block), and watched a movie on Kevin’s television while making supper from the lunch leftovers. Then, after the movie was over, Kevin left to return to the Yins’ apartment.

The warned-of typhoon never appeared, except for a little light rain.

On to bed shortly after10:00 PM.

Next day

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Glad the massages helped you both. Also good that the typhoon never showed.

I was thinking that in Caffee Bene the "Bene" might be from the Italian for fine.


Gabrielle

[aadler]

I was aware of that one, yes. It just seemed to me that this particular short phrase would allow for multiple layers of meaning and potential puns.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a beautiful and relaxing day. :)

[aadler]

It was, indeed, nice. I doubt all of China is like this, but Shenzhen is a beautiful, modern, lively, cheerful place.