Penang -- Week 27 -- A Different Kind of Massage

TUESDAY - THURSDAY, September 16th - 18th
We're up late again Tuesday dealing with various U.S. bills and making calls to U.S. companies.  At one point, I look out the window and I spot a strange creature ambling along the power lines below.  George joins me in looking and then we spot another one making its way across another power line.  What ARE they????  They're sort of possumy-ferrety looking.  Unfortunately, by the time I grab my camera they are gone.  But George thinks they're possums.  There is always interesting wild life around here!  I'd definitely rather see more of these guys than continue to look at the rats running along the rooftop gutters on the restaurants in front of us.

Wednesday is a treat for me.  I'm finally using part two of my Mother's Day package at the spa.  I go in thinking I need to stick with something harmless like a facial (after that first experience), but then they offer me an authentic Thai massage, which I'm told involves a lot of stretching like yoga.  That sounds relaxing and I'm thinking that it's an opportunity for an experience, so I do it. 

They take me to an entirely different room.  It's in a very Asian-looking corridor with decorative stones and leaves along the sides of a stone path.  Each room has thin, shoji-like sliding doors.  They slide the door open to my room, and indicate for me to leave my slippers in the hall.  The room is well lit and has a thin mattress on the floor.  The sheets on the mattress and pillow are minimalist-Asian in two-tone brown.  There are little Asian touches around the room.  There is a short-sleeved, short-legged, brown, cotton pajama set for me to put on.  (No nudity with disposable G-string this time!) 

My massage therapist is a different girl this time, which has me hopeful for a better experience.  The experience is definitely different, but it still involves a lot of pain.  My therapist has discovered that I have an unbelievably rock-hard, tense back; she speaks enough English to keep commenting on it.  Apparently this means she should pressure my muscles into submission by pushing on them with all of her might!  I don't know how her thumbs can take that kind of pressure because I'm not sure if my back can!  But, I try to go with it and let her do her thing.  I'm convinced this could be therapeutic even if it's painful in the (hopefully) short term.  Eventually she gives up and moves on to my limbs.  When working on my legs, she gets on top of me and uses her knee and shin to press into my behind and thigh.  So yeah, there is still some intimacy in the Thai version.  But this targets several tired spots at once, so that's pretty cool.

After that she tells me to turn over.  My neck hurts from being pushed face-down into a pillow.  She massages my shoulders, neck, and head, so that helps.  She then bends my arm back to massage my arms with my triceps stretched.  This feels AWESOME.  A lot of the massage involves squeezing, and pressing, and tapping/slapping, versus the rubbing I'm used to.  There is also joint cracking, and she cracks my fingers and toes (ouch).  Back to my legs again, and now with me face up, she lays one leg down, and bent at the knee.  She holds onto my foot and massages my thigh with her feet.  Once you get past the weirdness of this, it feels pretty good.

At the end she has me sit up, she sits behind me, massages my back a little again before she indicates for me to put my hands together behind my head.  She then quickly twists me to the side and my back cracks.  She's done, my hour and a half is up, but now I have a crick in my back from the back crack.  She stays longer and works on my crick.  It's better, but still there.

Then I am taken to a room with a squishy couch, magazines, and a big TV to have tea and nibbles.  I can't, so I just sit there and wait.  The receptionist (who has only seen me once before for Mother's Day and still notices my major weight loss) comes in and sits with me to tell me that I still have a jacuzzi ("jacuchi") or steam room session left on my package.  And do I want to book that along with another massage that would cost extra.  The scam is beginning.  She tells me that it will be 88 ringgit (about $25) for another Thai massage.  Hmmm... I'm aware that she's using a BS jacuchi session to try and and entice me for another massage, and it's not really working, but I am interested to have another Thai massage again soon to see if I can feel a therapeutic benefit after two sessions.  Besides it's only $25.  So I book it.

There were some very good parts to this, first Thai massage, and my back is looser after all that intense pressing, but I am a little sore for my relaxing, yoga-like experience.