China is a big country, and even bathing is divided into northern and southern schools of scrubbing. Yangzhou is the leader of the southern school of body scrubbing. I have just had a taste of what Yangzhou calls “non-heritage level bathing” and it is really different.
The process is as follows.
1, Bathing: In a separate room, one person at a time, no fear of embarrassment.
2, Bubble bath: Soak in a bathtub full of flower petals and Chinese herbs, separate bathtub, not afraid of getting dirty, you can smell the fragrance of flowers and herbs after soaking.
3, Scrubbing: Compared to the northern scrubbers, the Yangzhou master’s technique is more delicate and graceful, highlighting a fine technique.
Start at the neck and work your way down the meridians, inch by inch.
In areas where the muscles are strained, such as the thighs, the master rubs with more force and opens and closes.
For delicate and painful areas like the wrists and necks, Shifu is much gentler, patiently rubbing a little bit.
I used to finish the bath in 10 minutes, but here I rubbed one leg for 5 minutes.
Back and forth, from the front side to the left side, from the left side to the right side, and finally to the back – I felt like every inch of my skin had been scrubbed at least five times.
I don’t know if it’s because it takes more time or because it really follows the meridians, but it’s different because it’s clean and painless.
Of course, the process didn’t end there, or even just started.
4, Aftercare: After the bath, the master will give you sea salt, fresh milk and honey on your back, and then a simple massage to relax your skin. The skin will be smooth afterwards.
5, Back Scalding: The master will cover your back with seven towels and then pour hot water over your back in one big bucket after another. As the hot water seeps into your back through the four towels, you can gradually feel the temperature on your back rise a little bit, giving you a slightly burning sensation.
–It’s probably because your body is producing adrenaline at this time.
The master said that the local old people like the temperature very high, but I’m still young and sweating a little bit.
6, Wash your hair: you lie down, master will wash your hair twice like tony teacher, and scratch it if you itch.
7, knocking on the back: master on your back covered with a layer of hot water towel, and then with the palm of your hand on your back rhythmically hit, issued a crisp and loud “pia pia” sound.
The sound will get louder and faster… You will feel as if the master is playing music on a jazz drum, and you are the drum.
You don’t feel any pain at all when the song is over, as if you and the drummer have played together.
It was an amazing experience. I don’t know if all masters are so cool, or if my master is the only one with musical talent….
8, Pre-treatment: Turn over, the master will apply salt milk honey and body wash in front of you. He will also use a towel to help you relax your neck by tugging on your cervical spine, pulling around your shoulders, rubbing your stomach to promote digestion and some simple stretches.
The traction on the cervical spine is very comfortable, probably because my cervical spine is not very good.
9, flushing: just flushing.
10, Dry: while the master dries you off, he also rubs your back and shoulders to relax your obliques.
Here, the whole set of scrubs is over.
After the scrubbing, look at the dead skin rinsed off on the floor, the black skin is heavy, the white skin is light, there is a lot of dead skin and you never see red, you feel like you have just lifted a lot of weight off your shoulders.
Very amazing, in their words, called “eight light eight heavy eight thoughtful”, not only to make people clean after the bath, but also to make people comfortable.
The key is to get a full set of back rubs, including a relaxing bath with flower petals, and a small fruit and tea for less than 200 RMB.
The Yangzhou back rub is worth the experience.
Recent Comments