Thai Foot Massage
When I was in high school, I spent a summer busing tables at Zinn’s Diner. I'd be on my feet for eight to twelve hours at a time, scraping plates and wiping tables. Pretty glamorous stuff, I know. After particularly grueling days, my dear mother would rub my aching feet and listen to me complain about the snotty customers and thankless waitresses. I’ve been a big fan of foot rubs ever since then, so when David told me I could get a sixty-minute foot massage for $8 in Bangkok, I said, “Sign me up!” Little did I know that Thai women do things somewhat differently than Mom.
A Thai foot massage starts with you taking off your shoes and socks, and reclining in a big, comfy leather chair. Then a Thai woman of about five feet in height and weighing maybe 90 pounds enters. She bows (the wai), sits on a stool at your feet, rolls up your pant legs just above the knee, and gently washes your feet with warm water and a soft brush. Next, she pats you dry, places your legs on a leather ottoman, pours massage oil onto her hands, and proceeds to massage your feet, shins and calves. Sounds great, right? Well, it is – until the knuckles get involved.
First, they are on your toes, pressing each one into the open palm of her other hand. Then they are on your arches, grinding, grinding, grinding away. Eventually they find their way to your shins where, if you didn’t open your eyes to check, you’d swear that yours flesh was being rubbed clean off the bone.
Thankfully, the knuckles are temporarily retired and the soft flesh of her palms returns. But the palms aren’t massaging this time. They are smacking. Smacking hard. The tops of your feet, then the soles, then the calves. Then she’s rubbing again, then smacking, then knuckling, etc. I can’t be sure, but at one point I think her hands somehow morph into a pair of these.
This continues for an hour. And believe it or not, it actually feels good. I can’t explain it, but it’s true. Basically, it’s an hour of over-stimulation in an area that normally doesn’t get any stimulation, so you are constantly on the verge of involuntarily kicking the masseuse in the face and screaming, “Stop it!” But you don’t. You suffer through and somehow end up feeling great afterwards.
$8 and an hour well spent.
A Thai foot massage starts with you taking off your shoes and socks, and reclining in a big, comfy leather chair. Then a Thai woman of about five feet in height and weighing maybe 90 pounds enters. She bows (the wai), sits on a stool at your feet, rolls up your pant legs just above the knee, and gently washes your feet with warm water and a soft brush. Next, she pats you dry, places your legs on a leather ottoman, pours massage oil onto her hands, and proceeds to massage your feet, shins and calves. Sounds great, right? Well, it is – until the knuckles get involved.
First, they are on your toes, pressing each one into the open palm of her other hand. Then they are on your arches, grinding, grinding, grinding away. Eventually they find their way to your shins where, if you didn’t open your eyes to check, you’d swear that yours flesh was being rubbed clean off the bone.
Thankfully, the knuckles are temporarily retired and the soft flesh of her palms returns. But the palms aren’t massaging this time. They are smacking. Smacking hard. The tops of your feet, then the soles, then the calves. Then she’s rubbing again, then smacking, then knuckling, etc. I can’t be sure, but at one point I think her hands somehow morph into a pair of these.
This continues for an hour. And believe it or not, it actually feels good. I can’t explain it, but it’s true. Basically, it’s an hour of over-stimulation in an area that normally doesn’t get any stimulation, so you are constantly on the verge of involuntarily kicking the masseuse in the face and screaming, “Stop it!” But you don’t. You suffer through and somehow end up feeling great afterwards.
$8 and an hour well spent.
posted by Amanda at 12:01 PM
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