Day 3: Beachy Stuff and Thai Massage

Tuesday was an off day for us as far as excursions go. After breakfast we went down to the beach and took a walk down toward some other hotels. Along the way, we found an inlet where the water formed a river that ran into some big pools. It was pretty neat.










Next to the inlet was an abandoned resort that looked like it had been ravaged by storm.






There were a couple bathtubs hanging about. They didn't look like they were part of guest rooms, though, since this area seemed more like an addendum to the hotel, like an outdoor restaurant, and not the hotel itself. Not sure what the deal is there.


All the little huts still had tables and chairs in tact. We crossed over the low barbed wire to look around, then heard music, and I realized there was a squatter sleeping in one of the huts, so we figured we'd better get going.





After walking a bit more, we passed a few hotels and a restaurant and came upon some rocks on the beack. Good Kodak moment there.








This whole trip I carried around my hybrid video camera AND my Minolta 35mm camera. What a nerd. Plus Kent had his own digital camera.



After the beach and swimming in the pool, plus lunch at the hotel, we went to town to get Thai massages. We had seen several in town, and they were a quarter the price that the hotel spa was charging (but even the prices at the hotel were good compared to a massage back home). Thai massage in town was 250 baht, or about eight bucks, for an hour. Such a deal. We chose the one that clearly had more than one person available, so we wouldn't have to wait for each other, and whose staff had uniforms.


We were given Thai pants (aka fisherman's pants, which are huge and use a tie-belt) and big t-shirts to put on. You get manhandled a lot in Thai massage, so you have to wear loose clothes. We lay down on these thick mats upon a platform, and curtains were brought down to enclose our mats together for privacy (not that there's anything private going on).


Thai massage involves stretching the muscles and pushing on them, as opposed to the Swedish technique, which is more like kneading. It's also called Thai yoga massage, because the way you get moved and stretched is yogically based, or at least similar to yoga poses. The masseuse started at my feet, using a routine followed by Kent's masseuse, as well, and bent my ankles and knees in various ways, pushed my leg muscles, cracked my toes, and pressed pressure points in my feet. There is no oil involved in this type of massage, but they do use tiger balm in some areas.


Moving up the body, the masseuse continued all of the above, which involved more than just working from the side of the mat, as we're all used to at a massage. Here, the masseuse actually gets into your space, sitting between your legs and cradling each one while she works; straddles you as she moves your whole torso from side to side, sits on you as she pushes your shoulders away to crack your spine, and so one. She also did this thing this where she had me on my stomach, jammed her feet into the crooks of my knees, bent them in so she could rest her body on my shins, and walked her hands all over my back. I'm not even sure how this works, physically. It boggles the mind.


After getting tossed around for an hour, we got dressed and they gave us some tea. Then we did some more shopping, and bought some of the pants we had worn during the massage. I had wanted to get some. They're wicked cool. Then we ate at an Indian restaurant called Mr. Indian Food. Haha. It was good.