While Cabana John and his buddy Dan, aka Mr Roper, were watching the Vegas Golden Knights hockey game upstairs at Mai Tai’s at the Ala Moana Mall, I thought I would treat myself to a massage at Popoki Massage. I had been to this little hole-in-the-wall massage place before and was always happy enough. I am not super picky when it comes to a massage. I’m even happy with John’s back and forth motion with one hand while he’s reading. I’ll take what I can get!
Popoki Massage is unique in many ways. The first thing you notice is the cats. There are cats everywhere. Not real cats, but stuffed animal cats, porcelain cats, cat posters, and even a display saying “Adopt me” with pretend cats.
The second thing you’ll notice is how dark it is. Most massage places have dim lighting, but this place is as dark as a Vegas nightclub. The fact that there are bed sheets hanging from the ceiling to separate the individual massage rooms might have something to do with that. The cats and the darkness didn’t deter me, so I agreed to their ten-minute wait. I was going to walk around outside, i.e. I was going to get a free sample at See’s Candy next door, but the receptionist told me to sit in this huge massage chair contraption and wait. Ok, I can do that. Then, she told me I needed to pay first, before sitting in the chair. Ok, I usually pay after the massage, but I tried to be relaxed and just go with it. Thirty minutes later, I was still sitting in the chair. I would have just gotten up and asked how much longer, but the chair was tilted back with my legs squished in the calf massagers. There was no escape! At some point, the receptionist walked by, and I asked for an update. Then, she brought the massage therapist out to get me. This lady had me undress and get on the bed and said she would be back. Hmmm… When this lady went into the massage space next door, on the other side of the bed sheet, I heard her continue with someone else. Now I was suckered into waiting even longer, but this time, I was naked. The massage itself was not worth the wait. I paid an extra ten dollars for deep tissue, but the most pressure I got was from some strange pinching technique. All was not lost, though. As I said earlier, I’m happy with even a mediocre massage, and this experience gave me the idea for this blog post. I began a quest to find the perfect massage. Luckily for me, there was a massage place on the other side of Ala Moana Mall, and it was my next stop.
Before I even entered the Massage Palace, I was excited to be there.
There was a sign on the front window advertising milk foot water, free snacks, and hot tea. I had no idea what “milk foot water” was, but I was intrigued. The entrance was very welcoming, with a water feature and bright red lanterns. Since I already had a full body massage today, I was planning on just doing the basic foot massage. I was pleased to see that all the massage stations were large, comfy chairs. My chair stayed upright since I was just getting my feet massaged. The person next to me had his chair laying all the way flat, and he looked just as comfortable. Once seated, the massage therapist stuck a bucket of hot water under my feet. No sooner had I adjusted to the heat that he took the bucket back and plopped my feet up on the stool. My first thought was that this massage was going to be disappointing too. My second thought was, “I have no idea.” I fell asleep as soon as he started the massage because it felt so good. I woke up 30 minutes later as he was patting my legs to get my attention. Oops! Well, based on the limited research data I gained during the foot massage, I can’t say that it was the perfect massage, but I can’t say it wasn’t either. For the sake of research, I’m going to continue to push forward and try to find the perfect massage elsewhere. It’s tough work, but someone must do it!