I have a more casual section on this website focused on weekend activities and ways to recover from your stressful weeks and reconnect both with yourself and your loved ones. Now that winter is (quickly) here, I wanted to share with people a little-known local hot springs that my wife and I heartily recommend. It’s called Longxi Hot Springs Resort, less than an hour south of Beijing in Daxing. It’s a hotel with a huge, glass-enclosed tropical section filled with hot springs and pools. Not only is it clean, but the service was outstanding. Plus it isn’t very crowded! Mostly because, at 298RMB full price, it’s a bit too steep for many Beijingers compared to other spas. My wife talked the boss down to 190RMB, but no matter what, this is a really nice place to refresh your body on a cold winter day.
One of the highlights is their pool full of garra rufa fish. Known at the spa as Turkey fish, they are also called “doctor fish” and are very trendy all over the spa industry. These little guys don’t actually have teeth and eat your flesh, but they use their mouth to suck off your dead skin. That’s why they love feet. So, yes, I was curious and waded in, and in a couple minutes had a few dozen fish sucking on my toes and legs. I must admit, this was a very, verrrrrrrrrry strange feeling, not automatically pleasant but really cool to try. And I did go back a week later and did it again, and it’s quite a unique experience.
Directions To Longxi
Telephone:010-89282222
No.8 Shunjing Avenue, Panggezhuang Area, Daxing District,Beijing 102601, China
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How do you get there and back if you don't have your own car?
Hm, I'm not sure! It's right off the highway so there must be Daxing buses going there. Perhaps calling the front desk would help to find out; they may even have shuttles…
Actually, the fish are not eating the dead skin, they are just sloughing it off on their search for food because they’re not being fed enough … if you read the whole Wikipedia article, this is mentioned clearly.
So you are supporting the mistreatment, nah the blatant exploitation of these poor little famished fishies !
Think again if you can live with that – don’t you have a guilty conscience ? You’ll probably be reborn as a Garra Rufa … =))
Apart from that, thanks for all the good tips !
Oh well, I’ll add that to my list of guilty pleasures…I went back there a couple weeks ago and had another wonderful time!