Thailand

It was wild to finally be in Thailand, one of the main destinations that sparked our decision to visit Asia. We flew into Phuket and spent our first two days in the small beach community of Naithon Beach (can you tell our favorite spots are small beach towns by now?). Since our three nights in Singapore were spent in a 12-person dorm room, we decided to treat ourselves to a private hotel room. For about $25 US dollars per night, we got a private room, with a balcony, breakfast included, and we were just steps from the beach. We were super wiped out from Singapore and may have taken two separate 2-hr naps the first day in Naithon Beach but we still had plenty of time to watch the sunset and have a cold beer!

For dinner, we spent about $7 US dollars and got a bag of fruit, prawn skewers, fried rice, and a banana/Nutella crepe for dessert. We got all of these from the little food carts set up along the road; the fried rice cart was particularly amazing. It was basically a full restaurant staff/kitchen setup in a 4×4 foot space. All the ingredients were prepped and put in tiny containers so the chef could quickly access what they needed. There were also four people behind the counter and the way they moved around, each doing their specific job, was like a beautifully rehearsed dance. And none of them were stressed out, even with a line full of people and orders to fill. It was impressive to say the least.

The next day, we had a quintessential “honey moon day.” We slept in, spent the day on the beach, enjoyed some fresh smoothies, then went to get Thai massages for the first time. Now although we have both had massages before, we were slightly scared because we weren’t sure how intense it would be… in hindsight this was a valid fear. So we walk up to one of the many massage places and are immediately greeted by a few tiny Thai women asking “Massage? Massage? Masaage?” to which we reply “yes” and are then signaled to follow them to the back of the shop.

We decided on the “back and shoulders” massage which we thought would be a nice alternative to a full body massage, you know, just testing the waters. So we lay face down on our massage beds and before we know it, two tiny Thai woman have jumped up in the beds and are sitting on us, kneading into our backs with their hands. The first few moments are relaxing as they start to massage your entire back. Then they crack one of your vertebrae and you think “wow, ok, nice, that was a good crack.” Then they proceed to go down the line and literally crack your entire spine. It would have been quite the site to see our faces through the massage table because we went from relaxation to sudden thoughts of “oh my god what is about to happen to me.”

Most of the massage techniques were normal (compared to ones we have experienced in the states) just with a lot more… pressure. At one point, when Taylor was being instruction to flip from her back to her stomach, she glanced over and saw what was happening to Tristan; both intrigue and confusion set in. He was sitting upright on the bed, with his hands clasped behind his neck, the Thai lady kneeling behind him on one leg, with her other leg wrapped around one of his legs, her arms wrapped about his chest and she was whipping him back and forth to make his back crack. To be honest, if someone walked in, they would have thought an exorcism was underway.

Afterwards, we agreed that the experience was about 40% pain and 60% relaxation (most of that relaxation came from the happiness you felt when they finally stopped putting pressure on one particular spot). But overall, we left feeling a similar natural high to one you have after a good long run. We were tingling, relaxed, and energized. It was definitely different than any massage we have had before but we are so happy we did it and would definitely do it again (plus it was about $12 US dollars for an entire hour). After our massages, we walked across the street to have a sunset swim which was perfectly and unintentionally timed.

Taylor feeling fabulous after her massage: