The Untold Story about Aura Spa
Like many bros here, I was overjoyed when I received a whatsapp message about the opening of “New Aura” one week ago. I love Aura. I have been on the massage scene for many years and I can say Aura, under the management of the beautiful Joy, has reinvented this genre. The news that she has finally found a new place to relaunch this brand was simply wonderful.
Like many of you, however, my joy was short-lived. I messaged to congratulate Joy and found that she was as surprised as we were about this “New Aura”. Then she said calmly that since the name Aura is not trademarked, anyone could open a spa called Aura. No big deal. “Now I would like to go back to sleep,” she texted.
I posted a short note on this forum afterwards. Since then I have received many PMs questioning this “new Aura”. At first I thought it was another bizarre and mildly comical story about Chinese fakes, like the faked Apple Stores and KFC. But many bros wanted to know: why this new Aura could have access to all our phone numbers, and why they sent messages from the phone number of the original Aura? I had no idea. Joy seldom returned my messages and when she did, she absolutely refused to answer any question related to the closure of her spa. I did hear some stories from the ex-Aura girls, several of them I know “intimately”, but their stories are fragmented and incomplete.
The bros’ questions have prompted me to get to the bottom of this story. I think I have the answer to their questions now. As an amateurish investigative journalist, I tried to be as thorough as possible. Over the past few days, I took an ex-Aura girl out for dinner, and phoned another who is now based in Shenzhen. I even had a long chat with the doorman of the original Aura, whom I befriended during my frequent visit to that spa this summer. Those of you have been to Aura will remember his friendly face. Below is the story I got from them. Please remember, however, that this story is not complete and is, understandably, only as good as its sources (which are probably very biased). If you have other pieces of the puzzle, please feel free to add to the story.
In May and June, one Aura girl was found stealing. Exactly what she stole I cannot find a consensus about. One source said she stole the tip money from other girls when collecting the fee from their clients on their behalf. One said she stole other girls’ clients by lying to the clients that the girls they intended to book were not working on that day. No matter what, stealing is the word used by everyone. When Joy realized that this shit had happened too many times, she fired this girl.
About one month after this incidence, when everyone was starting to forget about this girl, she led the landlord (or their representative) to the spa and announced that the premise was closed down by the landlord because of the indecent nature of their work. They entered the premise without the presence of any police or warrant. They basically broke down the door and destroyed all the CCTV cameras, kicked out everybody and sealed the shop. To the surprise of the doormen (they have their theories), the landlord appeared to be completely on the side of this girl. For example, they decided to hand the entire content of the premise to this girl, instead of returning them to the owners, i.e., Joy and the girls. Among the things inside the shop was Aura’s phone. It was from that phone she got the entire client database of Aura – hence our phone numbers.
This girl then went to work for another Westerner-friendly spa in the neighbourhood. Meanwhile she prepared to open her own shop. Interestingly, her new shop is in the same building where another spa was raided by the police less than a month ago. In fact, that other spa was raided even before their renovation was complete. With the future competitor out of the way, she announced the opening of the new spa – and called it Aura. One day she stole a little money, the next day she stole the entire shop, and then the next day she stole the name and the customers – everything. A masterpiece! In fact, she also stole the clients from the other spa she works for after leaving Aura.
This is more or less the story I have pasted together. I was wrong before, therefore, when I said the new spa is unrelated to Aura. Imagine one monk destroyed the Shaolin Temple, and then open a new temple and call it Shaolin Temple. Imagine a version of Hamlet set in the erotic massage industry (actually a good idea to sell to my film producer friend!).
Joy refused to answer any questions about her Aura. This woman’s conduct has really impressed me. Never once did she say a single bad word about anyone, not the girl in question, not her competitors, not the landlord. She told me to go and try the new place and enjoy. For two months all she did was to run around trying to make sure her former girls are alright. She puts on a big smile every day, and urges everyone to move on. Aura was a place she put her whole heart and soul into. Seeing it go like this must be like a mother losing her baby. I cannot imagine the pain she is enduring behind her brave face.
Unlike what some bros suggested in their PMs to me, I am not in a relationship with Joy (thank you for suggesting though – a great boost to my ego!); I am just a very, very loyal customer of Aura and I am determined to find out what happened. Joy doesn’t know I conducted this investigation behind her back. If she knows (which is likely because she does read this forum), I don’t think she will forgive me.
For most of us, this story has nothing to do with our hobby. We just want clean, relaxed and cost-effective massages. I am sure the new Aura will deliver. Why did I do all these investigations? It’s out of my love of Aura and my respect for the woman behind it. I love everything this brand represents (anti-dodgy, anti-flashy LED, anti-bad taste, anti-tip extracting). For the people who have visited Aura, and there are many on this forum, the shock of its sudden closure felt all too personal. And for the people who know Joy personally, the grace she shows throughout this saga has been a triumph of human nature. Her story deserves to be told.
And for those of you who couldn’t care less about what Aura is, I hope this story, a small footnote in the history of punting of this tiny city, can illustrate how this industry operates. As Twiceaweek once put it, this sort of things – the cutthroat competition and the backstabbing – happens every day in this business. This story is like a Hong Kong version of “Memoirs of a Geisha”. Next time when you visit a massage joint, please remember the stress your girl is enduring every day. Be nice to her. Remember to give her some tips – and respect.
PS. Moderators: as it is not a report, I hope it’s alright to put it in this section. If you think it is inappropriate, please put some RA protection or simply delete it. | |
