[Story continued]
I led myself through the door to the paying counter, passing four or five intimidating Vietnamese guys sitting there with one eye on a small TV watching British soccer and another on me.
I put on a fake confident smile and inquired, “400,000 is it?”
The girl behind the counter proceeded to pull out the slip of paper, the same one which the masseuse had written 400,000 on, and handed it to me. In this very moment, my masseuse approached from around the corner to confront me in front of the men and woman behind the counter.
Both the girl behind the counter and masseuse excitedly explained to me, ”400,000 for tip. 400,000 for massage is extra!”
Wow, she’s trying to make me pay 800k in total. I’m being backed into a corner here. I’ve got nothing but the 400,000 Dong left. What to do?
I gave the remaining 400,000 from my money pouch to the girl behind the counter, pointed to the sign which read 400,000 Dong for full body massage and replied, “This is for that, I have nothing more!”
The masseuse looked me dead in the eyes and said in a dejected, last ditch attempt, “But you owe me more...”
I looked to the girl behind the counter, opened my pouch to show I had absolutely nothing left, turned to show the masseuse to show the same while also saying, “I tried to tell you, this is all I have.”
I then looked to the girl behind the counter again and with my voice cracking like a prepubescent boy queried, “I’m sorry, is this okay?”
All the while I’m shaking literally expecting one or all of those guys who were watching the football (now no longer) to stand up and approach me. I figured they were the muscle in cases like these.
But they didn’t move. The girl behind the counter said, “Fine, go.”
Okay, good. One last barrier between freedom, hopeful safety and me: the elevator.
So I calmly walked to it and an attendant standing there hit the up button.
Oh shit, what’s he doing?
I say, “Sorry, I’m going down...”
“Are you sure? You not in this hotel?”
I reply, “No.” So he then hits down, almost reluctantly.
The elevator door opens and he puts his arm in front of me stopping me from going in. “Not this one.”
I know wonder, were they going to break into my room and beat me up if I were staying in the hotel?
At this point, my eyes were surveying the room looking for a set of stairs or something to take me down to the ground floor. I wasn’t going to wait around for the elevator to come again. The other elevator I could see was on floor 10, I was on floor 2. I found no such route or staircase for a quick escape. Fuck. I guess I’m going to have to wait this out.
An incredibly tense minute (which felt like an eternity) passes while the whole time I just feel the eyes of the masseuse, girl behind the counter, guys watching the football and elevator attendant burning a hole right through me.
The elevator door opens and there are two older couples standing in it. Safety in numbers. I glide in before the attendant can stop me and hit the door close button a few times. I turn to face the closing doors but make no eye contact with the attendant, the masseuse, girl behind the counter or guys watching football. I just stare lifelessly straight ahead as the elevator door closes, lastly taking me away from that tense and potentially violating situation.
The elevator doors open at the ground hall lobby of the hotel and I don’t even remember my feet touching the ground. I literally sped walked right out of there, took a right and ducked down the alleyway which led to my hotel, looking back every so often in hopes not to find anyone following close behind.
Nobody did follow me in the end. And as I made my way up the steps barefooted to my hotel room, I couldn’t help but think it was her, the masseuse, who was violated back there. I felt so incredibly bad for her. I tried a few times to explain to her how much money I had before things went down- I even used my hands to try to explain! But we were lost in translation. The moment got the best of us both and in the end she was the one left with $2.32 for her ten seconds of sexual services on me.
Shaking off the bizarre experience just faced moments before, I guiltily opened the door to my hotel room, saw my wife deep into nap mode, and slunk into bed next to her. I couldn’t help but feel utterly dirty after the whole experience. Although I had showered (in fear of a beat down, no less) before leaving the spa, I decided to leave the bed and take another shower of my own in the comfort and safety of my hotel room.
It was a haunting experience. I gave in and I know I shouldn’t have. I felt disgusting and quite afraid walking past the hotel with massage parlor just an hour later, with my missus holding my hand and our two friends alongside.
What if I was approached on the street with everyone there? So many what ifs crossed my mind. I still don’t feel fully at ease with the situation and still feel a spontaneous beat down could take place at any moment.
“You thought you could get a handy and only pay 50,000 Dong? Well you have another thing coming!" ::whack ::
In the end, another thing ticked off the old fucked up bucket list- but at what cost?