Luxury Hot Springs Park

Calliope's friend, Liz, is here visiting for a week. I have sequestered myself in the living room, but can't seem to keep from constantly going to fetch one thing or another and barging in on them. The humidity here is quite high and our bathroom is now getting a good water workout. We have discovered that our toilet paper has amazing absorptive capacity. Without any spills, all eight rolls of toilet paper are saturated. We have come to realize that wet toilet paper is of limited use. Additionally, dried, wet toilet paper becomes brittle and holds its shape quite well. Perhaps we will have a sculpture contest. Needless to say, I blame none of this on Liz. The timing of the discovery of the wet toilet paper just happened to overlap with her visit.

Liz is an energetic shopper. Calliope has been drawn in to the local shopping scene as well. A couple of days ago, the two of them went for a massage. Today, they went hunting for a movie theatre. In the end, the three of us spent the afternoon and evening at Riyuegu Hot Springs Resort. Alas, they would let us enter the hot springs with only a bathing suit and a towel, so I have no pictures, but here's one of Liz and Calliope back at school.

Many things in Xiamen are as expensive as back home. But, as in many developing countries, certain luxuries that are exorbitantly expensive back home are affordable here. Many foreigners hire someone to clean their house, eat out at fancy restaurants, and enjoy massages. Admittedly, I don't usually take advantage of such things, but my classmate, Lisabeth, told me that the Riyuegu Hot Springs has a special pool full of fish that nibble at your skin. Who could resist that? We decided to go in the late afternoon and evening for three excellent reasons - to avoid sun exposure, to enjoy whatever exuberant night lighting might have been devised, and to enjoy the heat of the water as the day cooled into night.

The resort sits on many, many, handsomely landscaped acres. Each grouping of pools has a theme. From herbs to flowers to tea to alcoholic beverages, we found a greater variety of pools than I could have imagined. There must have been at least thirty or forty different pools - rose, lemongrass, ginger, peppermint, pineapple, lavender, beer, rice wine, green tea, you name it.

Eventually, the three of us waded into the fish spa. Indeed, as you sat there very still, the small fish would approach you one by one, until there were tens of fish nibbling the skin on your feet and legs. That is, unless you were me. I sat there with HUNDREDS of fish nibbling away at me. Large portions of my body were entirely obscured by clusters of fish. As a group, they moved up my body nibbling their way from my feet to my shoulders. I assume they got some nourishment from my dead skin. I have no idea why they preferred me, but they even liked my bathing suit!

Liz and Calliope left the fishes to get massages. They lay across granite slabs that were heated by the hot spring water, as muscular young men kneeded away their stress. They returned very happy.

As it got dark, there were fewer and fewer bathers around, until we were only sharing the place with the employees. Go ahead - call me spoiled.