Please Note: Fans of this blog, please see our new site at www.therubdown.hk. Here you can see our reviews, and you'll be able to search for spas and massage parlors too! We welcome collaborators, suggestions, questions and comments. Email us at therubdownhk@gmail.com! Now on with the show...
Mind-blowing! Queen Spa in Shenzhen must be experienced to be believed. America may have invented Wal-Mart, but it took China to super-size the spa!
Wrap your noggin around this: A spa that's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, takes up a city block -- and sprawls over seven (yes, 7!) stories, or 480,000 square feet. You could spend days here, literally, and people do (they have designated sleeping areas, and wake-up calls).
Here's how it works: You take the Hong Kong MTR to Lo Wu, cross the border, and enter the Lo Wu shopping center. Queen Spa has a small shopfront there, where the staff will direct you to a free shuttle bus that will transport you to the spa in about 5 minutes.
Upon entrance, you can check your large parcels with the concierge. Then proceed to the reception, where you check-in and are given a special bracelet that has an electronic chip and an account number printed on it. The entrance fee is 98 renminbi for 24 hours (but this will be waived if you spend 168 renminbi on massage or other services, and believe me, you will). [Note, 98 renminbi = 14.34 U.S. dollars, or 111.2 Hong Kong dollars. This is not a typo.]
Head to the changing room, where you'll be outfitted with a set of pajamas and a robe. Stash your clothes and valuables in a locker, lock it with your bracelet, and you are off to explore 7 floors of entertainment, dining, spa services and more. Everything is charged to your bracelet account, and you settle your bill when you leave. The facilities appeared clean and well-tended.
A quick orientation:
Level B1: Reception, spa pools, changing areas for men and women, sauna room, steam room, ping pong and VIP areas.
Level L1B: Rest area, massage area, Chinese medicine shop.
Level 1A: Thai massage rooms.
Level 2: Aromatherapy massage areas, Thai massage rooms, business rooms.
Level 3: Business and reading center, snooker hall, coffee bar, game zone, fresh fruit bar, restaurants, drink bar, football and movie bar, rest areas, private rooms for couples.
Level 4: Seafood and hotpot restaurant, VIP restaurant, VIP rooms, deluxe rooms, coffee and snack area, "Seafood display."
Level 5: Gym, swimming pool, manicure zone, pedicure area, hair salon, power room, rest area.
After checking in, Julie and I scoped out the co-ed swimming pools, whirlpools and hot tubs on Level B1, then headed up to Level 3. We ate at the Chinese restaurant there (where we ordered sushi as well as Chinese food). Satiated, we waddled over to a rest area, where we plopped down in giant lounge chairs arranged in a giant semi-circle amphitheater facing a huge screen showing a Chinese movie. We also could have chosen to sit in another rest area, where each seat is equipped with its own television with dozens of channels offering everything from cartoons to horse racing. Men and women of all ages were relaxing and enjoying themselves. Kids were there too, many of them playing video games.
Using an electronic push-button system embedded in our lounge chairs, we summoned a waitress, who brought us service menus (in English and Chinese). We each decided on a foot massage (45 minutes for about 58 renminbi, and an ear cleaning for about 30 minutes, about 58 renminbi). We also requested the staff to bring us chocolate soft-serve ice cream from the free fresh fruit and ice cream bar, and it was promptly delivered to our seats. As we enjoyed our cones, two young women from Jiangxi province soothed our tootsies while an older man used a variety of strange instruments to pull every speck of wax and dust out of our ear canals. I'd never had a stranger clean my ears before, but when he was done, the world seemed 20% louder. Guess I had some stuff built up in there!
With our ears cleaned, our bellies full and our lower legs soothed, it we decided it was time for a full body massage. We wandered over to an electronic touch-screen kiosk where we were able to look through pictures of various masseuses and pick which one we wanted to give us a massage, and what kind of treatment to to receive -- Thai-style, Hong Kong-style, Chinese-style, aromatherapy. (There were seemingly hundreds of perky, attractive 18-year-old masseuses to choose from, though I'm not sure that the ones that ended up giving us our rubdowns bore much resemblance to the ones we picked on-screen. No matter.) For 168 renminbi, we each opted for a 90-minute full body Chinese massage and were led down one floor to a giant maze of tastefully decorated and dimly lit treatment rooms. (The entire complex has about 800 massage rooms.) After a quick stop in the restroom, we were led into a large massage room with two beds. For the next 90 minutes we were rubbed into a state of relaxation so deep Julie fell asleep.
After our massages, we went back up to the rest area, where we decided to avail ourselves again of the free fruit bar (and yes, we had more ice cream). We sat and chatted and browsed through magazines and looked at brochures for the spa, considering other treatments and seeing what other services were available. Some of the offerings: hot stone massage, hair treatments, slimming treatments, facials, cupping, pedicures, hand massages and back scrubbing. You can also get your laundry done, charge your mobile phone, play mahjongg, and use the Internet at the business center or via wi-fi. We even found out that next time, we can arrange for a Rolls-Royce to transport us from the Lo Wu to the spa, if we are feeling too fancy to take the shuttle bus.
Before we knew it, we had been at Queen Spa for six hours and it was time to shower and head back to Hong Kong. (Somewhat like a casino, Queen Spa has no windows, and your perception of time can quickly become distorted.) We cleaned up, changed, dried our hair and reapplied our makeup (the helpful attendants will even assist you with a blow-dry, if you like). Then it was time to settle up the bill. Our total charges, including massages, food and tips (10-20 renminbi per masseuse) came to about 500 Hong Kong dollars each. You can pay by cash or credit card, in Hong Kong dollars or renminbi. The free shuttle bus took us directly back to the train station, and in under an hour we were back in the heart of Hong Kong.
In short, Queen Spa is a jaw-dropping place that must be experienced to be believed. While Westerners may find some aspects of it more hyper-stimulating than calming, it's a cross-cultural experience not to be missed. It's hard to imagine finding more pampering under one roof, at such reasonable rates, than at Queen Spa.
Queen Spa, B1/F-4/F, Golden Metropolis Building, Chunfeng Road, Luohu, Shenzhen. +86-0755-8225-3888
www.queenspa.cnemail: queenspa@queenspa.cn
Comments