Street Massage - Real, Thai, Earthy, Socially Responsible a Proven Self-Care Strategy

Massage in Thailand is mostly a public affair - on street corners, at markets and at temple fairs.

One of our favourite things to do on a Sunday afternoon is to combine a great hour of Thai-reflexology-foot-massage with a spot of people watching.

Catch up on watching the tourist customers (who are largely our customers, too) wander by, observe new international fashion trends (northern Thailand being a bit of a hippie fashion backwater) and basically feel grateful to have deselected from that manic, see-as-much-as-you-can-in-3-days tourist world. We have been going to the same two massage "shops" (think pieces of footpath paid for and claimed by the same people, week in, year out) for at least a decade. Why do we choose these two sites?

Firstly, they are well run by a local policeman who has known us for eons and makes sure we always get really good therapists. Secondly, he uses GREAT people who otherwise wouldn't get work. To put it bluntly, he chooses the skilled therapists with 20, 30 and sometimes 50 years of practice-experience but who are not "beautiful" to look at (by conventional standards) or young enough or able to get work in the myriad of massage shops and spas in Chiang Mai.

The strength in those hands though!! He-she (former ladyboy, we speculate, based on the tattooed eyebrows and remnant of cleavage which looks like it may have been removed) has been massaging 7 days a week for 10 years plus.

Why? Surely skill is enough? Often they are stateless people without an official ID or nationality, and nearly always they have not been well-off enough to afford massage certificate & credentials. They are the widows, the former prisoners, the labourers with injured backs who have retrained, the recovering alcoholics and the old grandmas finding a way to make a few extra baht each week to support their grandchildren. Tipping them at the end of the massage is always part of the pleasure.

How much does it cost? One hour of foot massage is standard at around 150 baht (USD $4.80ish)

Usually the therapists use what we call the Wat Po style. They use rounded sticks to stimulate the soles of the feet - often bordering on painful but leaves your feet literally glowing & buzzing with renewed energy and blood flow. It feels nice, too, to not have to worry about if your toenail polish is chipped or if your legs have been shaved recently enough. They carefully clean your feet first, and always dust them with powder at the end so you don't slip with oily feet.

The chit chat is always fun, as they are curious about our world too. Where does my daughter go to school? Why did she choose Korean for her 3rd language and not Chinese? What are we having for dinner? And why don't I have a husband? Haha... the latter ALWAYS pops up. :) The thought of a woman living and raising a child alone without family support here in Thailand is culturally in the "does not compute" box. I have had more than one serious offer of domestic caretaker-new husband from the massage 'shop'!

The act of simply surrendering an hour towards my better health and doing nothing more than dozing, people watching and chatting is quite lovely.

Some people lay down on the mattresses and have a full body Thai massage (with clothes on) but personally I feel FAR too vulnerable laying on the pavement with people watching me as they stroll by. But many Thai people enjoy it, chill out and spend a lazy hour.

So where EXACTLY is our fav massage spot? It's on the corner Ratchadamnoen and Ratpakinai in the Old City, outside Wat Samphao. Sundays from about 1-2pm onwards. Google Map

So next time you find yourself in Asia and wondering about a street massage, DO IT. Relax. Watch the stream of life flow by. Let yourself be renewed and stimulated, despite it being a bit 'ouchy' sometimes. Encourage and support some of our INCREDIBLE talented massage therapists and taste a little of the real Thailand.

BlissednBlessed

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