there was once a girl who loved her pedicures

i love my pedicures. 

i love how the massager and the hot water feel. how the pedicurist lathers up your feet, cleans every toenail, removes even the tiniest speck of dead skin which might make your feet even remotely ugly. n then the massage! your feet become the centre of universe for the pedicurist for a whole hour while he ensures your feet look and feel loved.

but more often than not. rather always, as far as i remember, every time i have gone to get myself a pedicure i have been in a tremendous rush due to work commitments, being a designated driver commitments, sisterly, daughterly commitments. they tend to never end. i usually allow the pedicurist 20-25 min in which he tries to rush up the entire procedure. i usually miss out on the massage or the nail polish (the finishing touches for any pedicure). 

also, my pedicures aren't very frequent. its usually 2-3 months before i manage to squeeze in one. every time i visit the salon for a pedicure they go on and on about how i don't maintain my feet.(its nice once in a while to have people fuss about your feet!)

the bottom line is that at any given point of time i am craving for a pedicure. just to make my feet feel loved.

now it was my last day at beijing. this time i didn't manage to get my passport stolen so i was fairly relaxed. i remembered reading about a professional pedicure being offered at the spa at the hotel and decided to indulge myself. at 10 pm at night i was pretty certain nothing would make me rush up the procedure and i would finally get a pedicure at peace.

i went downstairs to the spa and after a lot of gesticulations and miserable attempts at chinese, (who am i kidding, i was talking in english the entire time) i finally managed to tell them i needed a pedicure. ok now i could finally lay back and relax.

4 people surrounded me and got a torch and a lamp( yes a torch!) and began inspecting my feet. they were obviously not in the best condition but what the hell, i was never going to see these people again. so after 5 minutes of inspection and lot of conversation amongst themselves they got a pedicure kit out and a tub of lukewarm water. i was made to dip my feet in while the pedicurist sharpened the several knives of different shapes and sizes(?!?)

i controlled the urge to say anything. let them surprise me. i was already congratulating myself on coming up with the brilliant idea of coming for a pedicure.

i had a little bit of nail polish stuck on my toenails which needed to be removed. after 5 minutes of explaining they finally figured that there was nail polish on my nails.(i usually stick to cold coffee shades). and! they proceeded to scrape it off with one of the knives! now who does that? 

no matter. i told them to hang on. i ran to my room and got the nail polish remover and a wad of cotton. i explained how to remove it. it took them 10 minutes to finally get it all off. they would not let me do it else i would have done it in 45 seconds. 

i took a deep breath and reminded myself to enjoy it. its just because of the language. else it would've been all fine. they then proceeded to cut my nails with one of the knives. again. i urged myself to let them surprise me.

it took them 15 minuted to just cut. not even cut and file. just cut! my nails.

ok ruchhh! the massage will come now. it will be fine. did i mention they did not clean my feet. just dipped them in water. maybe thats how they do it out here. 

n then... nothing! 

THAT WAS IT!

that was the goddamn professional pedicure!

and they charged me RMB 40 for it! i cursed and screamed and abused. all to deaf ears obviously.

sometimes i think they just do not understand on purpose! just to aggravate us!

40 RMB FOR CUTTING MY NAILS! and they took 30 minutes for it!

i could've killed!

did i mention i had taken a book along to read?