Water Cube Spa in Shenzhen and Special Flight Fares from British Airways
Spa Day in Shenzhen
My dear, dear Mandarin-speaking friend J and I chose to spend last week's public holiday in Shenzhen, enjoying the fruits of a Groupon we had purchased the previous month. It was for Water Cube, which is like Queen Spa's newer, slightly cushier sister. The deal was HK$125 for entrance to the spa, its free amenities—saunas, steam rooms, a pool and women blow-drying your hair in the changing room, movie viewings in the screening rooms, free fruit and drinks at the snacks counter—and one or two massage or beauty treatments, depending on the type of indulgence. (You can also spend the night if you wish.) We each purchased two, meaning that for HK$250 we first luxuriated in a 50-minute foot massage (scraping away dry skin on the sole optional) and an equally long head massage, which we enjoyed in comfortable recliners leaned waaaay back. Oh, and while watching HBO on the individual screens attached to our loungers. We took a break for some apple and pear slices before being escorted to a private room for pounding, painful, apparently therapeutic 90-minute massages in the style of our choice: Chinese, Hong Kong, Thai, etc.
A few tips: learn the Mandarin words for "softer," "harder" and "Ow, that hurts!"
Also, you can ask for a cozy white robe to wear over the standard-issue faux silk pajamas you're given when you enter, since it can get a bit chilly in the big room with the TV-laden loungers. Generally, IMHO, Hong Kong's group buying sites—from English-language Twangoo to bilingual ValuUp and BeeCrazy—may be hard to navigate, and they may inundate you with more emails than necessary… but keep an eye out for great deals like this one, which are bound to crop up again. (We saved 50 percent!) Lastly, the Lok Ma Chau border crossing is a three-minute walk from Water Cube, so if you're going just for a spa day then head straight there; if you opt to do a little shopping in Lo Wu first, then Water Cube offers free shuttles to and from there and Huanggang, another border crossing.
1/F-6/F, Gangchenghuating Building, Yunong Village, Futian District, (+86) 755-8329-6666, www.slfspa.com.
Home for the Holidays
