Okay, so Midland has Sunflower Massage, Teatree Massage, Well Massage, Midland Oriental Massage, and now there's a new place *inside* the Midland Gate called 'Chi'. Chi is offering one hour full body massage for $65 and looks quite upscale and professional, as you'd have to inside the gate. No review on that, but I might buzz by next week and have a look-see.
Last night though I skimmed in to see what was going on in Midland Oriental Massage:
Right in the front door, you immediately think 'Dingy, grimy, cramped, tiny'. And they have a lucky cat.
The front 'office' is roughly the size of a toilet cubicle, and then a narrow hallway lined with beat-up couches follows the right wall. Every couch is littered with pillows and blankets like the girls are living there. Not tidy.
BUT
And this is a big but. Like J-lo but. The place is actually quite clean. I checked. I was met by Jojo at the door, who was a quite pretty late-20s/early-30s woman in a comfy looking flower print dress. Only woman in the shop despite my calling ahead several times to find out if what was on offer was in the store. I looked into the room before I fronted up my dosh, and even sniffed the linens. Scrubbed my bare feet on the floor and came up clean! The place was lightly perfumed, and their beds are nearly twin-sized, with mattress tops and big puffy rice-cushions for the donut hole. Comfiest massage bed I've ever been on.
Ten minutes in we were interrupted by another custom, and she apologized to me and asked if she could start the massage over if she could come back in twenty minutes. I wasn't in a hurry, so said sure, and got to relax on the puffy comfy bed under a warm towel and some warm oil while she took off. I poked around the room a bit, and they're significantly better at dusting than I am at home. >.> When she came back after audibly washing her hands only fifteen minutes later (with her minty fresh breath and a quick clearing of her throat and glass of water...) I was laid out nice and relaxed on the table, waiting for my attention.
I have a puffy disk in my spine around the L5 (lower back bastard) and it causes problems all through my cocyx, and yesterday I went in with a tweaked neck. I told her about my back, and she immediately went to work on my shoulders, and sweeping down to my butt. We exchanged banter and she helped me practice my chinese a bit, while she probed to see if I knew what was up in the AMP scene. Which I do.
*Best massage I've had outside physical therapy.* Seriously. She figured out from the noises I was making and tiny little shifts and the muscle tone of where she was working where the attention needed to be, and she worked her elbows and knuckles into the underbutt joints of my hips, and all around the 'yow' area, as she called it, up over the top of the butt, base of the back. The only direct spinal pressure was the spinal mount below the neck where I now have a small bruise, but I'll be damned if the tweak in my neck wasn't *gone* by the time I left, and I could bend down and touch my toes without pain. She is definitely a full service provider, and after a pleasantly teasing cool-down stroke she worked me up to an energetic rise. End minutes were quite rushed for a $150 tip, but the sun was definitely down if you catch my meaning, and she must be from the north of China because those were Russian fingers.
Massage: 9/10
Location: 8/10
Girl: 7/10
Aftercare: 4/10
Additional: 4/10
Cost: 5/10
TL;DR: Jojo - Great massage, heavy donation, tiny but clean place, very comfy, meh extras.