Feeling a little dis'orient'ed

The weather here has been pretty bad- constant rain, but fortunately it let up for one day, so I decided to head to downtown Jiaxing (30 minute walk). I spent the entire day exploring the city. People stared at me, people tried to sell me stuff, cars tried to run me over- A GREAT DAY IN CHINA! One girl running along the street, literally stopped in her tracks to look at me. I said hello, which I am sure made her day.

I found plant markets, animal markets, and toy markets along the waterways. Very beautiful!




During my outing, I found this cute clothing boutique. I thought I would stop in and look. Well before I knew it, these Chinese women had me decked out in adorable and I think designer clothing based on the price. So to make this story short, I ended up with some new clothes. How could I have possibly said no after all their 'help'- and I must admit, they did do a great job of making me look cute. Below is the, I cannot believe I am saying this, 'stylish' Rhesa!


Monday, my friend Jamie and I decided to get a massage. Let me preface this by saying, you do not just go to ANY massage parlor. By accident, I think we ended up at one of THOSE other massage places. The woman (who I assume owns the place) took us up a flight of stairs to a COLD dark hall lined with about 6 small rooms and one large room. There were a couple of things (i.e. posters) giving the impression that this place was not for women in need of a pure, pleasant, relaxing day at the spa. Luckily, the girl knew that we just wanted a BASIC massage with absolutely NO perks and that she gave us. The masseuse was extremely kind, and I think she was grateful to have us (girls and her perk, Americans) come in. Though this whole thing was slightly weird, we actually became friends and I got a picture with her. At the end of our session, she asked us to come back again. I will definitely go back, because I think this girl might need a friend and a loyal customer that just wants a simple massage. I might try to take her to lunch sometime too- she only speaks Chinese and that might make the oral conversation quite limiting, but oh well!


Good times.