Jenny arrived! First stop, Wat Pho. Wat Pho is the wat to end all wats in Bangkok. This is where the reclining Buddha lives - a giant gold buddha about 10 stories long, smooth gold and impressive.
Wat Pho is also the home to the Thai massage school, where they train students in the art of Thai massage. Needless to say, we skipped right past big Buddha's house and went in for the Thai massage.
We asked for the works - a 45-minute reflexology foot rub and then a one hour full body thai massage with herbs. And all this cost 650 Baht ($15). They handed us fisherman pants and peasant blouses to change into and scooted us behind a curtain to change. As the woman prayed (a ritual before the massage begins) I surveyed the pussing blisters and archipelago of bug bites all over my ankles and wondered if this was such a good idea. But once she started working on my feet, I quickly got over the embarrassment and enjoyed. After the foot rub, it was onto the thai massage.
A Thai massage is far from a relaxing experience. For the next hour, my body was pushed, pulled stretched and pressed by the powerful hands, knees and elbows of a tiny thai woman. At times I wanted to cry out in pain, feeling like the tendons had been separated from my muscles. And then she took out the herbs. The herbs are wrapped in a small yellow sack and heated to a near-scalding temperature. When the masseuse finishes abusing one area of your body, she scrubs that area with the fragrant sack of herbs which strangely feels good and coats you with a thin yellow residue, which is better than a days worth of diesel fumes and sweat.
When all was done, I was surprised that I was able to get up from the table and walk without pain or a limp. We went home to wash off the yellow slime and saw big buddha on the way out.
