So Qui, Jackie’s brother-in-law, said he’d take me to a place where they’d wash my hair and give me a scalp massage and a facial. Jackie and I were already planning on getting a manicure and pedicure. Yes, they do that here! Cheap! Surprised? So we went to this little place not very far away. One girl started doing my feet while another girl started on my hands. I had to pick a design for my nails. Not just a color, but one of probably hundreds of designs all painted delicately on fake nails in little plastic cases. I chose goldfish on a pale green background for my toes. I decided to have just a solid color on my fingers: a light peach.
Jackie got a manicure and Qui got a straight shave. There was another girl there who was quite interesting. She was wearing this super tight denim outfit. The pants were beyond skinny jeans. They might have been attractive if it wasn’t for the VPL. The top was a sort of a bustier overflowing with what I suspected and Jackie confirmed were probably fake tits.
Turned out she was getting hair extensions. The extensions were already in and they were combing them out. They looked remarkably real. I made up a story in my head about her being a stripper, but Jackie thought she just had a lot of money and could afford to spend it on pampering herself. Who knows, maybe both stories are true.
It took 3 different girls to complete my nails. One girl did all the prep work on my feet. The girl who did my fingers did the base for my toes and another girl who had been painting some fake nails on a card, possibly new designs, came and finished the detail work on my goldfish toes. I felt quite pampered. We decided to stay there for my shampoo and facial. I was taken upstairs to a room with facial lounge chairs and laid down and the nice girl who had done my finger nails started washing my hair and massaging my scalp. What a massage! And what a shampoo! I think she spent 45 minutes on my head! In between she gave me a facial massage topped with a collagen mask. The best part was when she'd massage my face with her forearms. I have never had anybody do that to me before. Wow! It is wonderful! So soft and gentle. Meanwhile Qui got his hair washed and Jackie watched and drank several beers.
After my very relaxing facial and massage, we went back downstairs where the proceeded to style my hair. Two girls with two blow dryers drying and then with two flat irons straightening. I’ve got quite a bit of hair so even with double duty, it took forever. Then Jackie’s father showed up for a manicure and pedicure.
Once they finished, my hair looked amazing and I felt like a new woman. I was starting to look a little rough around the edges after a very long trip and a pretty full day, no showers and very high temperatures and high humidity. So it was really a wonderful, luxurious thing to do and great timing. Talk about feeling spoiled!
So once they finished, Qui went to the desk with me to pay. He translated for me that for everything I had plus Jackie’s manicure it was 130,000 dong. So Jackie owed me 10,000 and I should give them 50,000 for a tip. The exchange is 18,000 dong for a dollar. Which equals a manicure, manicure/pedicure, shampoo, facial and blow dry/style and a tip for $10!!! Hallelujah! I told Jackie her manicure was on me. And asked Qui, “What time tomorrow?”
