Home›Forums›In Chengdu›What's the First Fun Thing to Do in Chengdu?›Reply To: What's the First Fun Thing to Do in Chengdu?
July 10, 2014 at 5:26 pm
#41370

Keymaster
Fuuuuuuck that.. I went to two, one time each, and think they were deceptive liars.. either ‘new blind’ massage people who sucked at it, and did NOT massage in a way that felt relaxing or that they understood physiology.. or not blind at all and just put “blind” up there to get people to come in for shoddy massage.
I can’t guarantee you’ll have a great experience in each one, but here’s the deal:
- There are easily hundreds of these blind massage places in the city, they are the standard massage place where Chinese people go. Indeed they are not all filled with massage people who are blind. At the one I go to, the owner is blind, and about half of the people working there are blind.
- It’s not supposed to feel relaxing during the massage, that’s not really the point of this style of massage, consider it therapy because that’s what they call it. There isn’t soothing music or atmosphere and they don’t use or take your shirt off. It’s not like a Western massage at all in that sense. But they will almost always ask if you want more or less pressure, so you have to communicate what you want to them. Here’s the wikipedia entry which has more information: Tui na
- The level of expertise at these places can vary. I used to go to one that was run by a legit Chinese doctor with decades of experience. He spoke really good English, too, which is pretty amazing for a low-key inexpensive massage place. At the place I go now one of the massage guys is a calligrapher and his art is framed on the wall. I find massage places to be usually populated with interesting and friendly neighborhood people, and that has become part of the appeal for me.
- The price varies depending on where in the city you are, but these places used to be 25rmb an hour in Yulin and now they’re all in the 35-40+ rmb range. The cost has just gone up along with everything else.