Day 9 Sunday Sunday So Good To Me : -)
by Donna Charles on Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 4:19am
Marlon has asked me if I want to go to a Public Bath House ? Now I will admit I am a little hesitant about doing this. He went on Y Tube and looked up public bath and we watched what is expected when you go. So at least I now have an idea!! We decided together that we will do this at least once just for the experience. Marlon went down to the lobby and talked with them and they called for us and set up the appointment for 10am. There will be a van come and pick us up and bring us back to hotel.
The van arrived to pick us up at 9:30am the place was only 5 minutes from our hotel. When we got there we were told to take our shoes off and the van driver took Marlon to front desk to get us a locker key. Once we got the keys we locked our shoes in these boxes along a wall. We were then told to set down till 10am with the rest of the people that were waiting to go in. I am nervous but we both sit down and wait. The van driver leaves and will be back in a couple hours to get us. From what we understand the key will give you access to buy food drinks massages etc. it will charge your account once the key is used and at the end you pay.
Well its 10am and Marlon and I get in line to get the instructions and get the key set up under our names so it is basically activated to use. We are each given a bag with a large towel, small towel and a set of PJ's mine are pink : -) When we separate and go on own ways we will be on our own, scared to death yikes fear frightened have no idea what i'm doing and no one speaks a lick of English. I go into the woman's locker room and a lady helps me find my locker. Take all my clothes off and put the long small towel in front of me. Head out to get washed off before I get into public bath, thanks U tube i would not have known what to do. When I get out there I am directed to sit on a bucket and SCRUB my body and wash my hair!! About 3 minutes into this 2 Japanese women that work there came up to me and made an x with their hands and pointed to my small tatoo on my arm. I guess if you have a tatoo in Japan u are considered part of a mafia, OMG now what are they going to do to me. I am really scared now and they still aren't speaking English. I don't know what it is they want me to do? I hand gesture do I leave and they took the brown towel and wrapped it around my arm where my tatoo is. I should have gotten dressed and left but NO I'm want to do this. I think from that point on everyone was watching me from the corner of their eye. I got no more direction on what to do.
I did get into the waters but did not know till I talked with Marlon that you are to start in the tub that is the lowest temp then work your way up. I only got into the first 2 tubs and did not know to keep moving around. I did go into the sauna which was pretty neat they even had a tv in there. All the women were talking and I had no one to talk too. I left there and dipped one more time into the springs and went back and rinsed off. Went to the locker room and got my PJ's on and then to a section that had mirrors and stools and hair dryers for you to fix your hairs. It's one hour and I am to meet Marlon out front.
We both met each other and went to front desk to find out where to get a massage. He took us up a floor and we set me up an appointment. 40 min for $36 which is the going rate. I am so looking forward to this after that experience I am really tense and need a good massage. We waited for my turn which would be at 12. So we have about 45min to kill. Marlon sat in a massaging chair and wow did it look great. $3 for 15 minutes, it massages your arms, legs, feet, back and neck I have never seen a chair like this but would love to have one to take home with me.
This spa is a place where you could spend an entire day, there was a bunch of lounge chairs in one room where people were just watching TV and some were just in there sleeping. : -) What an awesome place to come on a rainy day well any day would be wonderful. : =0 There was a bar inside, several places to eat, sweet shops, etc.
Its finally my turn to get the massage, and I head back with a old Japanese woman. We walk into this huge room and there are many massage tables set up. We walk to the back of the room behind a divider and there are even more massage tables back there. I end up being in the room with a man who is getting a massage also. The entire time i am getting a massage my face is covered so I didn't know he was even there until I got up to leave. We walked out and she gestured for me to sign my name on this small piece of paper then she handed me a small cup of cold tea.
When I walk out from getting the massage my hair is tousled around and I look like I have been beaten up LOL This old woman can sure give a great massage is all I can say I'm so relaxed I could go lay down in one of those recliners and take a nap. Had to hurry and go get dressed as the van would be there soon to pick us up. Went to locker room and got dressed and found my way back to the lobby to catch the van. Marlon took my key and paid for what we did there today all in all it was a great experience. : -) Its still raining and cold outside so glad that we did this, what a great way to spend a Sunday.
We are back at the hotel and Marlon says he wants to take me to FKD Mall. We take off to catch the bus which is located behind lalasquare Mall. We went to a vending machine located by the bus stop and got us a hot coffee in a can. The bus stop has no cover to keep you from the rain thank goodness we have nice umbrellas. We spot a guy huddled under some awning and stand over by him. The bus is here and we are boarded it will take us to the FKD mall for free. On the bus and headed for the mall. Upon arriving the first place we go to is the food court. I saw pizza so thats where we ate a place called Shakey's Pizza which was pretty good. From there we headed to find a Starbucks. I want another of those sukura frozen drinks DELISH. Wanted to get it to go but Marlon said that the Japanese don't like it when you walk around with a drink. They do not put out trash cans along the street as they recycle everything here and they are not going to pay someone to dig through the trash to recycle. We sat down and talked about our experience at the bath house and sipped our drinks.
Walked around the FKD mall where we were told that Kanae Nozawa was going to be there and playing her Erhu. I have never seen an instrument like this before in my life. It looks sorta like a large violin but the bow is placed between 2 strings and that's how its played. People here are so talented in many ways. WE sat and listened to her play and sing and enjoyed her hour long show. WE were going to buy her CD but it was $30 the concert was free and she is out on tour right now.
Headed back to hotel and tried to find a Italian restaurant but after walking around in the cold freezing rain and could not find it we headed back towards hotel. We decided we would eat at the hotel right beside ours and went in and some Americans were sitting there. We ordered 2 beers and some garlic shrimp. When we received the garlic shrimp which was 5 SMALL shrimp that were over cooked I was not happy. WE are in Japan SMALL shrimp is not acceptable here. I told Marlon I didn't want to eat dinner here the service was so so so slow and the shrimp was awful. We got our bill and about fell off our chairs. The total was $22 dollars and we did not even eat dinner yet. Left there STILL RAINING AND COLD Mcdonalds is next door so thats where we ended up getting our food. 2 quarter pounders and fries to go. We walked down and picked up some beer at the market then headed back to hotel. Sitting in our nice warm room watching CNN which is in English and munching on burgers and fries. Stick a fork in me I'm done for the night. Link posted below with pictures.
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