Hello, Massage!

There is a distinct likelihood that by the time a traveler finishes their visit to Thailand, they will be convinced that their name is, in fact, “massage.” Every day, as you walk down the street, past the many vendors, restaurants, tailors, and massage parlors, they almost all call out to you. “Where you from?” “You want suit?” “Hello, massage!”

Since there are more massage parlors than anything else .. the danger of thinking “massage” is your name.

We’ve had 3 massages apiece since being in the country. Two oil massages and one foot massage each. Neither of us was quite willing to be cracked the way they do in Thai massages. I’m mostly afraid that they’ll adjust my back into the wrong place and that just sounds like a bad thing. Also something my chiropractor would be on my case about when I get home. (Hopefully, he won’t read this and then chastise me the other direction. .) For the most part, they’ve been wonderful experiences, complete with foot washes before and green/Thai herb tea afterwards. Thai masseuses don’t use as much pressure as American ones, but they make up for it in coverage. I’m not sure I’ve ever had my belly massaged before, for example. Or so much concentration on my chest. They’re also very thorough on the legs, and not so much when it comes to the back. Go figure. I’ve also never had the masseuse actually climb up on top of the table and straddle me before. But it has happened twice here and I don’t think we went to skanky massage parlors.