As many of you know I went to Thailand at the beginning of January, we spent 3 nights in Bangkok and then went on to Phuket for 10 nights and as much as I switched off I also was thinking of things that could be useful to bring back into the salon or to use in our blogs.
Thailand is known for many things some of which we didn’t experience - thankfully! But we certainly took advantage of the Thai massages and WOW. I have been very lucky to have had many massages from aromatherapy to sports massage and while we was in Phuket we had 3 massages a foot and leg, Thai massage and an oil massage.
Having heard so much about massage salons in Thailand and there was certainly a few urm how can I put this nicely - “uninviting“ back alley salons in Bangkok that I’m sure lived up to the well known “extras”. So when you arrived in Phuket we decided to find a nice one, having walked around Kata where we was staying we picked the salon that was 1 the busiest and 2 the women weren’t sat in the window giving Tom the “come here“ finger - which we both found hilarious!
The first massage we had was a foot and leg one, we picked this for 2 reasons, 1 so we could see the salon and 2 because we was staying at the top of a really steep hill that we walked up at least twice a day in 32+ degrees heat so our feet certainly needed some tlc. Every massage they do is an hour long and either cost 300thb or 400thb which is £7.50-£10 and they were the most relaxing hour. They spend 25 minutes massaging each leg and foot then the last 10 minutes they massage your neck and shoulders.
All the salons look very similar in there set ups, this particular salon had 10 chairs all down one side and the other side had thin mattresses now that’s me being generous it was basically a yoga mat on the floor with curtains around so there in 2s. All the staff had tunics and it was very clean, it also had good google reviews - always have to check that.
A few days later we decided to go for a full body, I have never experienced a Thai massage before and let’s just say it isn’t for the faint hearted. Having regurally been “beaten up” during a sports massage I went in thinking it can’t be much different - oh I was shocked! To start with a Thai massage is a dry massage, it involves more of a gripping technique and she didnt just use her hands. At one point she had her foot in my thigh while pulling on my foot and then I was having my legs bent into all sorts of positions. She massaged the front and backs of my legs, my arms and then started on my back - I certainly came out of that massage taller. While massaging my back she wrapped her arms in between my arm and twisted me round while stretching out my neck like I said a Thai massage isn’t for the faint hearted. I came out feeling slightly worse than when I went in and kind of wishing I’d had the same massage as Tom with his relaxing oil massage but the next day I felt amazing and tall🤪.
The 3rd massage I had was on the day before our lovely 27 hour journey to get home so I went for an oil massage now this is more like a Swedish massage. It was lovely less painful but still finding all the knots. During this massage the lady ended up kneeling on me with her knees on my bum and her hands on my shoulders using all her body weight to stretch me. Now I know it said full body, but I have never experienced what happened at the end of this massage - the lady started massaging my belly and she then went on to massage my boobs, I am totally fine with this but it did take me by surprise and I really wanted to laugh but the lady was right there in front of me so I kept the straightest face. After we left me and Tom had a right laugh about it, with him winding me up about my “extras” I had.
I take my hat off to the ladies that work in this salon there open 10-11 everyday and certainly in the evenings they do not stop. They are all very talented and certainly no there trade. Thailand as a whole is so different to the UK in many many aspects but I certainly know that in the UK most massages do not involve massaging the torso and if it did there would certainly be paperwork that needed to be filled out before hand.
Look forward to seeing you in salon very soon.
Zoe & Team Glam
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