feet in paris

i went for a foot massage in the 75010 tonight after work with my colleagues. i was pretty excited to have discovered a chinese massage parlor via mylittleparis offering reflexology by the hour at almost-hong kong prices and upon enquiring, had been told that the venue could accommodate up to 5 people together at the same time, in the same space.

so off we scurried from the studio after work, 4 reasonably tired bodies looking forward to sinking back into a comfy lounger of sorts each (or at least a chair, i figured) over a good catch up and juicy gossip while getting our feet rubbed with mysterious lotions as is customary in the promised land/hong kong/most of mainland china.  it was not exactly to be so..

we arrived at the entrance of a decorated space decked with antique wooden furniture, silk fabrics and even a four poster wooden lounger of sorts with its very own bird cage, birds complete. i didn't pay a lot of attention to the chinese cheongsams hanging up on display (although come to think of it, why?) as we were soon formally greeted in a promising manner and even sooner escorted through the doorway towards the promised salon..

.. into teeny, weeny, private enclaves with massage beds and temperatures beating the heat that even australia has been experiencing these past weeks.  there was no point in arguing, there was no salon just as there was no understanding when we spoke on the phone.  sigh.

'not as fun' as one colleague aptly put it, to be polite and kind about the joykill aspect, which for me was really rather huge. only to be outdone by the toe clicking and rather painful phalanx (toe digit) rotation to occur within seconds of starting our sessions, confined and supine.

not there to nap, as reflexology is a reasonably erm social activity for me where i come from, i begin to chat away for the next 40 minutes with my masseuse who has lived in paris for 8 years, has a dog and comes from henan near shao lin (as in kung fu) and the songshan mountains.  while i learned quite a lot about her, my poor neighbouring client and colleague learned not to ever take the room next to me again should we ever go for another massage together.

general comments afterwards were 'it was okay', 'my left foot tingled', 'i can still walk' and 'it definitely wasn't a complete disaster'. to be fair, one person's pelvis felt heavier and lower back released, my organs certainly felt loosened up somehow and another's cheeks were bright pink afterwards, although we do allow for heat flush.