a ghost spa resort

it was a retreat that we've been looking forward to. our first actually - to get away from the city and into the outskirts and spend days with a group of local friends (act, they were my colleagues and clients). what was most exciting was the duck feast at 全聚德, which is known for its 180-year old establishment since the Ming dynasty. we were urshered into a private room and had so much peking duck we cd puke. we were also given a certificate that had the serial number of the duck we ate. the duck feast was all about ducks: duck soup, fried duck, steamed duck liver and pate, deep fried duck heart, duck tongue in broth, stir fry duck innets, braised duck webbed feet, and of course, peking duck. both of us thought this was the best peking duck we've ever had (approx: SGD 60, and cut into 180 slices: incl. skin and meat)!


after the feast, we packed into my colleague's, indiana's, car, and drove on through the dusty roads for another hour to changping district. here we are, arrived in our suite. it was huge and had a bathroom equipped with a spa tub and two rocking chairs that was as huge as the room itself. joa was so happy. it was a good break from all his troubles. we checked in at 10pm, played jenga and mafia with the rest, had a game of pool and the both of us headed off to bed at 1.30am to check out the jacuzzi in our bathroom.

the jacuzzi was just a huge bathtub with steps where u can sit on. we turned on the tap and while the water was filling up, soaked our feet. half and hour later, the water level was just mid calve. we decided to heck it and just enjoy a shower with the enormous shower head. that was good enough.

we fell asleep only at 3am. the tv had bad reception but joa still managed to get engrossed in whatever program.

had another nightmare and woke up to joa snoring in the other bed. it was 7am and i managed more sleep until i heard joa fooling around in the bathroom. it was 9.22 am. there was no water and all i felt dried out from all the soft drinks from the night before. we lazed in bed a bit for chat, had a kit kat and decided to check out the surrounding areas. bad choice. it was burning hot, and we realised, this was a dead town and we were in a deserted resort that was only four-star in the room. we got to take this cute picture by the pond though. also checked out the run-down spa which didn't come cheap so it was a spa retreat without a spa. at least we got a footbath.

had xinjiang for lunch. disgustingly meaty and spicy. but joa had too much to eat. and everyone kept passing him the lamp legs because he really looked like he was enjoying it.