Welcome to 2005

I'm in the Tokyo-Narita Airport now for my layover en route back to Seattle. There's really not much to do or see in this airport..fortunately, there are some Internet Kiosks and for 100yen/10 minutes, I can go online.



I had a fabulous time for New Year's--it was quite a night! Ben and I headed up to Shenzhen around 5pm for the hour long train ride. When we arrived, it was just chaos trying to get a taxi..nearly impossible. It took probably another hour just to get to the restaurant due to our lack of luck with finding a taxi. Dinner was at a Thai restaurant, followed by dancing at a disco at the top of a mall where the countdown happened. We had a small private room and I learned to play some random Chinese drinking games and attempted my Cantonese in order to communicate with some of his friends. The most useful Mandarin I learned all evening was "woh buh way po tung wah" (I don't speak Mandarin). That was an easy way to get the locals to switch to Cantonese. After dancing, we headed to this street lined with seafood restaurants and ate some good, ridiculously cheap seafood (ex: a whole steamed fish cost about 40RMB or $5). We topped off the evening by indulging ourselves in one of China's famous specialties--big massage parlors. We went to a place called the Queen Spa & Dining and it was amazing. Words cannot describe the enormity of this place--it was gigantic. The boys initially jumped into the large heated swimming pool--this was no ordinary, rectangular sized swimming pool. It was massive and reminiscient of major Water Park pools, equipped with slides and waterfalls. I changed into these pajamas and headed up to one of the massage rooms. Imagine a cafeteria sized room equipped with huge lazy boys from one end to the other. People sit in these chairs, equipped with personal TVs and get a nice fluffy duvet to keep warm. Once we got comfortable, we got some complimentary fruits and a drink (I had Horlicks) and then ordered some services. For about $6, I got an amazing 45-minute head massage. For another $8, I got a 45-minute foot massage along with a pedicure (er, foot scraping). After that, we found the boys and we all headed down to another section of more private massage rooms that are equipped with actual massage tables. All 6 of us were led into one room where we all lay with our duvet covers and were treated to a 1 hr 45 minute full body massage. We were supposed to end the night with sleeping in one of the bed chambers, which is literally a tube in the wall...but every one of us passed out on the massage table and slept there. So how much did all this indulgence cost? Around 400RMB per person, which is $50--that's for an overnight stay, massages, fruits, drinks, free Internet, use of the hot tub, sauna, heated pool and five-star bathroom facilities. What a deal! That would cost hundreds of dollars in the U.S. What a fabulous way to usher in the year 2005. This will be a new year to remember!



My last night in Hong Kong was good too---ate dinner at the Chesa fondue restaurant in the Peninsula (can you tell my grandmother likes the Peninsula?). In addition to getting cheese fondue, I had a very yummy entree---a very simple lasagna with mashed up prawns inside, whole lobster meat & asparagus on top, drenched in a creamy lobster sauce. Absolutely delicious.



Well--that was a lot of blogging over the last week! Back to my boring life in Seattle....ugh, middle seat on my flight over.