I was never a spa person. Never liked going to salons or spas for any kind of beauty treatments or pampering. (Mainly because I’m very ticklish and because I hate sitting still for hours doing nothing.)

But that’s kinda changed since my few trips to China in the past year. I’ve acquired a new appreciation for being pampered.

The first thing you’ll notice if you go to China is that there is an abundance of spas and massage centres everywhere. Most of the time, they occupy an entire building and look either grand or beautiful or both.

Just walking into one of these places can already make you feel better by half. (But only the building and the reception areas look grand. The rooms where you receive treatment are usually plain in comparison.)

More importantly, the therapists/masseuses are very skilled and make you feel like you’re in good hands. And then there is the fact that everything is incredibly cheap. You can get a good massage for S$8 an hour.

So, the last time I was in China (in January), we went to Tangxia for one night and spent some time at the foot spa. Foot spas, where you get a full body massage as well as a foot soak and massage, are very popular in China.

We got to choose the kind of herbs/flowers for our foot bath. Mine came in this pretty box:

The feet are soaked in a little tub that has a Jaccuzi feature. While your feet are soaking, you get a body massage.

Foot spas are a great way to spend an evening in China!

Following our massage, we went for a hair wash at a salon just across the street from the foot spa. There, I received the best hair wash I’ve ever experienced.

We took a private room for four. It has a row of “beds” with big basins attached. The basins are where the heads go, of course.

I loved the feeling of the therapist’s nails scratching my scalp. Somehow, she knew the exact pressure to apply so it was comfortable and not painful. There was also a scalp massage, followed by some hair treatment thingy which they call “water therapy”.

That was about an hour of pampering, which is a lot more massage than you get from a regular hair wash at a regular salon.

After the treatment, we were each assigned a stylist who dried and styled our hair. Hair cuts can be requested, too, at this point.

Here’s what my stylist did to my hair:

Kinda cool, but impractical because it renders me half-blind by my own hair.

This hair-wash-head-massage-hair-styling set us back about S$10 or so.

The therapists/masseuses/stylists in China are mostly friendly and would chat with you and ask about you. But the one disconcerting thing is that they all use numbers instead of names to identify themselves.

Of course, they would tell you their names if you asked them, but they would prefer you to call them by number. If you like them and want them to service you again the next time you visit, you’re supposed to request for them by number.

(Update: Kell just reminded me that even amongst the staff themselves, they call each other by numbers instead of names.

Which reminds me that when I asked my stylist what his name was, he actually looked taken aback and then mumbled his name after a bit of a pause, followed by quickly telling me his number and stating that I should address him by number, instead.)

A little dehumanising?

You can go to China and live like a king for a few days (or weeks if you can afford the time) without needing a lot of money. Food and lodgings are cheap (and good) and you can always fly budget air.

I’m thinking I want to pay another visit before the year is up!

I just made another impulse commitment.

It’s all Minou’s fault. Yesterday, she suddenly announced that she was going to sign up for manga drawing classes. I thought it sounded fun so I decided to sign up, too.

Class starts this Saturday!

This is what my weeks look like now:

I only have one rest day each week. Even so, it just means I get to stay home but I still have to work, study and practise whatever I’ve learnt.

But it’s all fun and games to me so it’s good.

I’ve always wanted to draw well but realised early in my life that I didn’t have a talent for drawing. Since I had so many other interests, I decided to focus on those that I had more talent in.

Now, though, I’m increasingly thinking that being able to draw would be useful. Maybe I will be able to graduate from drawing stick figures so I can illustrate my blogs better.

Eventually.

Perhaps with five years of pratice to compensate for lack of talent.

Our manga teacher is a Japanese manga artist. How exciting ne! We’re told that he doesn’t speak English that well. I will have to brush up on my Japanese double time because Minou says she will be depending on me to be the class translator.

I told her I can only say very specific sentences like, “Where are you going?” and “I like to eat sushi,” which wouldn’t be very useful in manga class.

But she’s still convinced that I will somehow magically be able to communicate with our teacher.

Oh, well. We’ll have to wait and see.

I realise I’m not being much of a blogger these days.

I mean, apart from the fact that I’m not updating as much as I should be, I’ve actually stopped taking photos of everything.

The thing is, everyone has a camera these days and everyone takes photos of everything. That annoys me because I don’t like doing what everyone else is doing. So I stopped whipping my camera out at every turn.

Sometimes, my innate need to go against the grain manifests itself most inconveniently.

But I will still need pictures because I still want to keep my blog alive. And readers are increasingly dependent on pictures now.

It’s like a regression, is it not? We started learning how to read with picture books before graduating to text-only books.

Now, people want 1:1 picture-text ratios again. Maybe 10:1 picture-text. I know readers who visit blogs and just scroll down looking at pictures, not reading a single word.

Not that that’s a bad thing. A picture paints a thousand words, after all? I’m wondering, if I just post two pictures here every day and don’t write a thing, will you still “read” my blog? That’s two thousand words, after all? Heh.

So, there’s part of my solution to my blog ennui.

I’m tired of crappy photos taken with a crappy compact camera (sometimes phone camera). I’m looking at getting a DSLR and improving my photography skills. That way, I won’t feel like I’m doing what everyone else is doing. There will be more heart and soul in my photos. Also blood and tears, as my bank account goes into the red and cries.

The other problem I’m facing now is lack of time. That can be solved with better time management and less greed. I am still greedily wanting to do too many things at once, which makes time a bitch to manage.

But having to give up stuff is not fun, so I shall stubbornly insist on bulldozing through life like a frantic biscuit trying to pick up as many dots as possible while trying to avoid cute little ghosties.

In a manner of speaking.

I’ll do better next week!

Writing this week’s Star Blog entry made me miss my hamsters so much. It’s been more than two years since they died, and I didn’t even have them for very long in the first place, but seeing their pictures again makes my heart ache. Cos they’re so cute!

So, today’s post is a pictorial memorial for them. Enjoy the cuteness!

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This is what happens when you’re on the final stages of recovery after being sick for weeks. You go on a shopping spree:

I went for my first singing lesson last Friday. Had to postpone a week because of laryngitis. By Friday, I had most of my voice back but it was still a little off.

My teacher said, “You shouldn’t be singing when you have laryngitis! You must take care of your throat because it’s your tool as a singer.”

So, on my first lesson, we merely talked. I told her my singing background and goals while she explained all the basic things that singers should take note of, like posture, breathing and enunciation.

I’ve wanted to sing professionally most of my life. When I was 16, I picked a singing school at random and signed up for classes.

At my first lesson, I arrived to discover that the lessons were conducted with a karaoke machine. We picked a song for me to sing and the teacher supposedly corrected my mistakes.

He said I shouldn’t do falsetto and that I should strain my throat to reach the high notes even if it kills me. Do enough of this and your voice will improve, he said.

So, in my first lesson, I screamed my throat raw and he said “well done”.

I never went back again.

After that, I never signed up for anymore lessons for fear of encountering another crook teacher. Until now, that is.

I mean, I’ve been tempted all these years. I know crook teachers are probably the minority. But it’s always either the lack of funds to pay for lessons or the fear of finding out that I have no talent or skill and therefore can never reach level I want.

But now, since I’m on a roll signing up for classes, I thought I might as well give singing a go, finally.

I decided to go with Lily Anna Nuris at The Music Lab where I was learning drums. (I’ve quit learning drums for now because I found I couldn’t progress without being able to own my own drumset.)

I like The Music Lab, and Lily teaches Olivia Ong (the singer who sang the theme song for The Little Nonya and who enjoyed an illustrious singing career in Japan become returning to Singapore last year).

Lily is a very respected artiste in Singapore with a resume a mile long so hopefully she can fix me. Haha. She will be performing a solo concert this Friday at Esplanade, performing songs by Alanis Morissette.

I think I might go check it out, even if the timing is kinda late, at 9:30pm. She sang several lines for me on Friday to demonstrate her lessons and I think her voice is really sweet.

And my drums teacher Alvin Tan will be part of the band! =D

Besides singing, there are the two dance classes (Hip Hop and Jazz) I’ve already started on. I’m working on my childhood dream of acting in musicals. I think I’ve left it kinda late to start developing skills but that can’t be helped; lessons are expensive.

Anyway, one can still be an actor-performer when one is old and grey right? Surely there are old characters in musicals!

Japanese classes start this Thursday. Erm, this is to indulge in my love of the Japanese language, acquired through reading manga and watching anime.

I totally love my classes! It’s such a good life being a student and spending all your time learning things you like.

Oh, OH. I watched The Karate Kid last night. It’s freaking amazing. Jaden Smith is freaking amazing. He’s a heartthrob even at the age of 12.

(He is Will Smith’s son, in case any of you don’t know. Wang Wang didn’t know until the end of the movie. Duh.)

Of course, it’s making me want to get a jump on signing up for wushu classes now. I’ve been holding back because I thought I had signed up for too many classes already as it is and wanted to see how I deal with the current curriculum first.)

(Also because, a couple of weeks ago, I paid a visit to the school I wanted to learn at, all ready to sign up, and it was closed for the night. -_-)

Oops. It’s almost time to prepare for Jazz dance class.

I’ll just need to go hide all the snacks I laid out to take that photo earlier. I’m not allowing myself to eat any until I’m totally cured.

Yeah, like real.