First Thailand Massage!

What else do you want to do after pay day? Exactly!!!

This place was recommended to us by the fabulous Teacher Tom and Khun May. It was very nice... upon entering the lobby area, you are invited to sit down and enjoy pink water (we are guessing rose water?) and look over the menu.

I was torn between a 1hr. foot massage or getting a 2 hr.Thai massage(450 Baht or $15 - However, I never think in dollars anymore because if I did, I would be depressed. I simply mention the dollar figure in order to persuade visits from family and friends). I'm not big on massages... but anything having to do with pampering of the feet, SOLD!

Spa in Northern Pattaya

The first actual massage I ever had was in China... and it was by mistake. Brian and I stumbled into a beautiful Spa in Beijing. We got a package that said foot massage and Chinese hand massage. I take the blame for this. I figured the Chinese hand massage would be like reflexology techniques on your hands. Nope. Its a full body massage (as naked as you want to be) on a massage table with the therapists Chinese hands :) It wasn't that it was a bad experience, just jarring. Talk about the confused looks when they tried to tell Brian and I to get on the massage tables!

I enjoyed watching a solitary fish swim around a beautiful flower in a bowl that was strategically placed where your face goes in the massage table. Definitely a nice touch. However, if you were the fish looking up at me, you would see me either A. holding back laughter from being tickled or B. holding my breath in pain. Yeah... no happy medium.

Anyway after much debate, I decided to go with the Thai massage - you only get to have a first experience once. There's always next week for the foot massages :)

Tom and Emily also decided on the Thai massage. After going through a labyrinth of rooms, the three of us were put into a room together. We changed into our beautiful sheets of clothing and laid on the ground. You are not on a massage table for Thai massages. I soon realized why...

Gotta love the baggy over-sized clothes!!!

It would have been nice to have some soothing music playing... instead they had a blaring TV. We quickly shut that off. Silence was nice. I would estimate that they spent 30 minutes on each leg/foot. I was pretty excited about that! I think we all fell asleep at least once. I know I did. The rest of the time I was in a weird trance like a lucid dream.  Probably because I didn't want to fall all the way asleep. We also just got done with our 5 day teaching week which means I was worn out!

Anyway, I really like the stretching they incorporate in the Thai massage. I felt like I was getting ready to go on stage as a Ballerina :) 

The therapists all left the room suddenly. If Tom wasn't there with his expertise, I would have thought we were done. His exact words, "No, they just went to wash their hands. Their going to do some weird stuff to your head." Hmmm....

Indeed, you lie back on a pillow against your therapist. She massages your head (and face) and contorts your body into stretches. Pleasant though. I think the only part of my body that wasn't touched was my stomach.

All in all a Thai massage is a thumbs up! I'm sure they all differ... and some can be rougher than others, but when in Thailand....

Note: I would not recommend wearing contacts during a 2 hr massage. It took at least 10 minutes of rubbing to get my vision back.