I always find it maddening that newcomers to Shanghai would right away get suckered into Dragonfly and plunk down like $1000RMB to buy a pre-paid card. Apparently Dragonfly is the best in the business when it comes to advertizing to foreigners. However, I must say that the newbie massage therapists they bring in from their ChongQing school are mostly too green and unable to find the pressure points on your body. If you are one of those people who are just happy that someone is caressing you, then I guess anywhere will do.
Being a certified massage therapist myself, I think I'm qualifed to rate massage places. There several decent places to go for massage, but I love KangJun in particular because they have the massage skills to show for a very reasonable price. AND they're located in the city center, unlike other good places which are most clustered in far-away GuBei and HongQiao areas. They cater to a Japanese clientele so you know it's clean, albeit a bit cramped. They have many branches around Shanghai, and the one on Dagu Rd is the closest one in the city center and also nicest one in decor.
For $75 RMB, you can get a 1-hour Chinese-style full body massage or a foot massage. I also tried their oil massage ($225/90 min) and ear candling ($120/60 min) , where they insert a hollow wax burning candle in your ears and suck crap out of them. For the foot massage, they give you a nice pot of tea and some cherry tomatos. My friend had bought a couch from them cuz they are so comfy.
If you have a big group and want a more social setting, try Taipan Spa just down the street on Dagu Rd.
[...] I also tried their oil massage ($225/90 min) and ear candling ($120/60 min) , where they insert a hollow wax burning candle in your ears and suck crap out of them. For the foot massage, they give you a nice pot of tea and some cherry … …more [...]
回覆刪除Thanks for the information. I plan on travelling there soon and appreciate your
回覆刪除recommendations.
Just moved in less than a week ago to Pudong. Is there a KangJun massage in downtown Pudong? If so, do you know the address? Thanks!
回覆刪除I went and the girl feel a sleep massaging friends neck. She had neck pain for three day. But before i had a thai massage and it was great.
回覆刪除This is such bullshit! Ok hear my story... last August 1st my bf and I went to dinner
回覆刪除and thought maybe we could go for a massage close by out apartment. We live close by
Dagu Lu, and thought ok we should go to Dragonfly coz we do know how Great and Comfortable
thier ambience in the rooms and the place, but we decided to try KangJun Massage! Coz its cheaper.
So they took us upstairs...While we pass by the rooms, guest are very very noisy and there is never a good vibe inside!
We change to out Massage Pajamas and when we finally getting our massage, People passing by the hallways are still fucking noisy!!!
The massage are goin good at first, but then by the time this girl is goin to do my neck she grabs a chair and i noticed
tha she is doing falling asleep but i though she might just be relaxing but then for 10 seconds she just left her hand on my neck while her other hand is on her face and her eyes close!!! How did u know this? Bcoz when i looked up she didnt even get shocked, she acted like nothing happend!!! She didnt apologise either!!! I guess she does it all the time!!
By the time our massage is finish!! My neck is SOAR!!! and i was feeling worst then when i came in!!! I felt that the money i paid was a waste!!!!
SO PLEASE, DONT WASTE UR MONEY AND GO TO DRAGONFLY!!! U MIGHT BE PAYING MORE BUT ITS ALL WORTH IT!!!!!
Thanks for this post! It's great to hear from someone else who thinks dragonfly might be a bit over priced.
回覆刪除They do a really good job marketing, and for some this is "safe" enough to be like those venues at home.
I've always found that the best foot massage is at really local places around Shanghai for about 20 or 30 kuai. They do it harder and seem to know the pressure points just as well as any of the more fancy places.
I want to try ear candling now though :)
Based on Fay's recommendation, I first went to KangJun on Dagu Lu and I've been back several times, had oil massage & regular chinese massage both full body and foot. Uniformly excellent. I'm a 190 cm/90kg laowai, but they have no problem getting in to my sore muscles. My wife & son have been and love it, too. My wife's shoulder had seized (she's in a special clinical trial in the US for a particular shoulder ailment) and the masseur (#31) completely unlocked it--NO ONE had been able to do that before. I'm headed there now :-)
回覆刪除I was surfing on the net more than 3 hours and I found your interesting article.
回覆刪除why oh why didn't I find this website before I wasted money at Dragonfly? I got the 700 RMB two-girl special. They pretty much beat me into submission, and they do NOT know good techniques of pressure points and which areas to avoid direct pressure. In short: money gone: body sore and un-relaxed. AVOID!
回覆刪除I really enjoy the blog.
回覆刪除