i am dead set to get on with my spaholic chronicle and my latest spa conquest was akin to finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
feeling adventurous on a friday afternoon, i decided to look for the third massage spa in my directory, the tunhuang spa.
my familiarity of el grande avenue in bf homes, paranaque city gave me confidence that i wouldn’t have trouble finding it. riding the cheapest form of transportation again, i knew i would be successfully delivered on the doorstep of this new haven. you see, i hadn’t tried driving our car every time i would have my spa wandering for fear that my hazy sense of direction would lead me to a labyrinth. besides, my problem on parking had not been remedied yet! 
a security guard immediately greeted and smiled at me when i alighted from the trike. he held the glass door which led to another door before i found myself in the dimly lit (this is common among spas) receiving area.
like a genuine seance practitioner or spirit questor, i strongly sensed the positive energy in the room. it was a good thing. if it were a negative external stimulus, i might have been in trance. hahaha!
well, there was a little “paranormal” in the atmosphere which met me. may be because of the lighting, the color of the wallpaper, the knickknacks potpourri in the shelves, the native rattan seats which i failed to recognize at once as their color blended with the dingy illumination, and even my attire!
but, i liked the brown and khaki combination of hues. so earthy, so natural, so ethnic.
the receptionist, sheryl (i knew her by name now because i placed a call before going there to find out if it’s operational), left her post behind the front desk upon confirming my business there.
saving myself from any suspicions, i asked permission to start taking photos and informed them that i am a blogger and told them that i would write about their spa. sheryl’s smile became wider. she was elated to hear me do a free promotion of the establishment, thus her already very friendly reception of me escalated to the highest degree. it shifted to a treatment fitting for a celebrity. hehehe.
kidding aside, i could tell that these people in tunhuang spa would extend a similar warm welcome to anyone, popular or not, who entered their door. congenial smiles from the therapists on standby were flying on air.
after taking my first set of pictures, a young lady in black pencil-cut skirt and white blouse approached me. i thought she was already the masseuse only to find out that she was the spa’s attendant. she led me to the area where i would undergo again the “washing of the feet”. this is now where i met my second masseuse named christine.
four people were crowding around me while the pre-massage ritual was being administered. hmmm…they might want to have a closer look of this para-celebrity or there was no customer yet to be attended to except me. 
the receptionist continued feeding me bits of information while i asked. afterwards, the attendant told me to follow her upstairs.
the presence of a second floor made TS the very first spa to have it unlike queen’s secret (https://wanderingjouster.com/2013/06/03/spaholic-chronicle-1-queens-secret/) and sesitra spa (https://wanderingjouster.com/2013/06/21/spaholic-chronicle-2-sesitra-spa/).
from my ascent to the second floor, what met me in the second level elicited “ohs” and “ahs” from me. my eyes took in the knockout beauty of my fresh discovery’s interior design.
the receptionist, following behind and acting as my guide, pointed out the different areas in the second floor. this level houses several rooms for lone clients and family and the tv room. space was obviously not a problem in TS.
this tour was enough for me to be very excited and eager to find out whether their massage service would be as delightful and as arresting as the interior of the spa.
a hot pack on my back! this was another first from TS. while christine began kneading the back of my legs, she placed this on my back. the warm temperature neutralized the coolness of the room. i loved its soothing effect.
“do i believe in love at first sight?” NO. 
“do i believe in love at first touch?” YES. 
christine certainly possessed the gift of touch and she was an interesting conversationalist!
and for one and a half hours, i had to ascertain the truth in TS’s tagline “we provide advance therapeutic and relaxation massage in a safe, comfortable, friendly and relaxing environment.”
verdict? i stamped this spa RANK NUMBER 1.
i was not only handled professionally by my therapist! i was pampered like a child. finishing her work, christine wiped the menthol cream from my upper extremities and down using warm towels one after the other. very hygienic indeed! i wonder how many white towels were allotted per client every massage.
then, she asked my preferred drink between tea and pure ginger extract. for a change, i picked the latter.
alone in the room, i took my time in looking around especially in their washroom. among the spas which i had looked into and tried, it was the most roomy! designed and decorated like a hotel, this part of TS would let you luxuriate.
as i went down, sheryl was there to inquire about my experience. i was profuse with my compliments which prompted her to continue showing me the rest of the ground floor including the adjacent japanese diner, little rio, owned by their very enterprising employers.
the rooms were decorated as lavishly as the rest of the tunhuang spa which made me conclude that the korean husband-filipina wife tandem made sure that their business would stand out from the rest.
i sipped my ginger tea and my taste buds enjoyed it.
i approached the front desk which had already sheryl’s reliever when she’s on a day-off. christine was seated a few meters from the receptionist on-duty. the bright light gave me a clearer picture of my commended therapist. we exchanged a quick smile sealing an instantly forged “bond”.
now, brace yourself for another surprise. for 90 minutes, i was charged php 570.00 but because they gave a 20% weekdays discount from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. , i only shelled out php 456! yipeee! cheaper than what i had to pay in the first two spas i explored. TS was the only spa so far where i enjoyed this special offer.
expectedly, i had a beaming smile when i left tunhuang. a very satisfied customer, i don’t have to entertain a second thought to keep on revisiting this place unless a new spa, which is waiting for me out there, dethrones it from its well-earned spot.
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