So today we experienced our first Thai massage. Now Joe and I have been for other massages before - mainly deep tissue, hot stone and Swedish massages. Our favorite would be the deep tissue - though it depends on who gives it - most times I like it though. I've had one before that was really rough that I swear I came out of with bruises in the end but that was the exception. Today though we had the Thai massage. This was somewhat similar yet not. The deep tissue is more rubbing with pressure. Whereas this is ALL pressure and meanwhile they are stretching your limbs. Basically you are laying down while they do Yoga to you. The lady started on my back and immediately I heard some pops and then she moved up and applied more pressure and then I heard some cracks and then up again and more pressure and then I heard crunchiness. It felt weird at first but yet real good. The really nice thing about it is that the massage place is this little hut with a raised floor out on the beach. There is a roof over it so you are under shade but it is open - there are no walls - it is open air flowing through - and you hear the waves crashing down on the beach as you lay there and get your massage - that was just wonderful. The massage cost us 400 Baht which is about $12 per person and that got us one-hour. We gave them each a 100 Baht tip, which was basically $3 so in the end we each paid $15. Unbelievable.
After the Thai massage, we headed to the pool and hung out there all day. The flies were some kind of fierce today and we had to buy some OFF - even that did not deter them away. We got some good sun and are working on nice tans. The pool was a bit more crowded today and there was one group of young British guys chasing after some trashy American gal that were getting quite annoying as they were pretty loud. So it was nice today - but not as enjoyable as yesterday was at the pool.
So yesterday I finished reading Undomestic Goddess - really liked it and cannot wait to buy more of Sophie Kinstella's books. Today I started reading Shantaram which my former neighbor from California recommended. I bought it early last week and just yesterday they had the author on CNN - turns out they are making it into a movie and Johnny Depp will play the main character. It is quite a long book - 900 and some odd pages long. In the first chapter he describes his reaction to the heat when he first set foot in Bombay, India and I actually had to read it out loud to Joe because it was our same reaction to Bangkok. I thought I would share with you what he wrote about it as he really hit the nail on the head:
"The next thing I noticed was the heat. I stood in airport queues, not five minutes from the conditioned air of the plane, and my clothes clung to sudden sweat. My heart jumped under the command of the new climate. Each breath was an angry little victory. I came to know that it never stops, the jungle sweat, because the heat that makes it, night and day, is a wet heat. The choking humidity, makes amphibians of us all, in Bombay, breathing water in air; you learn to live with it, and you learn to like it, or you leave."
So speaking of breathing water in air - we are going to order ourselves a dehumidifier for our apartment to put in our bedroom. We were told that if we wake up in the morning and are wet feeling then we need one. Joe was complaining of it at first but I was fine and then it finally hit me. Every morning I wake up just wet - it's from the humidity in the air. The guys at his work all have dehumidifiers in their apartments - with huge buckets on them and they say they have to empty it 2-3 times a day as it is completely full each day. Here in Phuket you can see water on the outside of the windows from the humidity.
Tonight we had dinner at the Thai restaurant here. We got the Set Menu for 2. We got a sampler platter of appetizers and salads picked out by the chef - chicken satay, vegetable spring rolls, scallops, papaya salad, spicy Thai beef salad, and some fish thing wrapped in seaweed. We were given soup to share - Tom Yum Gai - this was by far my favorite dish. It is coconut broth with chicken, lemon grass, mushrooms, some green leafy thing and I think that is it - oh and ONE loan red chili that snuck in there towards the end and burnt the daylights out of my mouth - I downed an entire bottle of water and then some. You eat the Tom Yum Gai with steamed rice - it is sooooo good. Our entrees included Stir Fry Vegetables in Oyster Sauce, Deep Fried Seabass in a sweet sauce, and Fish Balls in Yellow Curry Sauce. So Joe tried the fish balls and decided they were pretty good. I tried them and nearly threw up - they were the most disgusting thing ever. They had the most pungent fishy taste to them ever. I took quite a swig of water to down it as quickly as I could before I gagged right there! The rest of the food was good but we couldn't finish it all. It was a lot of food and we wanted to save room for dessert. For dessert we were given a Thai sampler of dessert. First they brought out a plate of fruit - watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, rambutan and mangosteen. Our waiter was very chatty with us all night and at this point he decided to quiz me thinking surely I would fail. He pointed to a fruit and asked me if I knew what it was - spoken with confidence, I quickly informed him it is a mangosteen - and he nearly dropped to the floor in shock. He immediately says, “How you know that?” I said, “Because I live in Bangkok and eat them every day.” Again, he nearly passed out on the floor – “You live Bangkok?” I said, “Yes I live Bangkok!” He was shocked. Next he brought us another plate of samplers - this had some sponge cake thing that was okay but nothing to write home about. It had this flaky orange colored thing - no idea what it was but it was really, really good. It was light and fluffy like and bright orange in color. Then we had this dark green jello like looking thing and apparently it is made from rice - it was really good. And finally we had sticky rice with mangos (my favorite). It was a phenomenal meal (except for the fish balls for me) and we have the photo's to show you! Enjoy!
After the Thai massage, we headed to the pool and hung out there all day. The flies were some kind of fierce today and we had to buy some OFF - even that did not deter them away. We got some good sun and are working on nice tans. The pool was a bit more crowded today and there was one group of young British guys chasing after some trashy American gal that were getting quite annoying as they were pretty loud. So it was nice today - but not as enjoyable as yesterday was at the pool.
So yesterday I finished reading Undomestic Goddess - really liked it and cannot wait to buy more of Sophie Kinstella's books. Today I started reading Shantaram which my former neighbor from California recommended. I bought it early last week and just yesterday they had the author on CNN - turns out they are making it into a movie and Johnny Depp will play the main character. It is quite a long book - 900 and some odd pages long. In the first chapter he describes his reaction to the heat when he first set foot in Bombay, India and I actually had to read it out loud to Joe because it was our same reaction to Bangkok. I thought I would share with you what he wrote about it as he really hit the nail on the head:
"The next thing I noticed was the heat. I stood in airport queues, not five minutes from the conditioned air of the plane, and my clothes clung to sudden sweat. My heart jumped under the command of the new climate. Each breath was an angry little victory. I came to know that it never stops, the jungle sweat, because the heat that makes it, night and day, is a wet heat. The choking humidity, makes amphibians of us all, in Bombay, breathing water in air; you learn to live with it, and you learn to like it, or you leave."
So speaking of breathing water in air - we are going to order ourselves a dehumidifier for our apartment to put in our bedroom. We were told that if we wake up in the morning and are wet feeling then we need one. Joe was complaining of it at first but I was fine and then it finally hit me. Every morning I wake up just wet - it's from the humidity in the air. The guys at his work all have dehumidifiers in their apartments - with huge buckets on them and they say they have to empty it 2-3 times a day as it is completely full each day. Here in Phuket you can see water on the outside of the windows from the humidity.
Tonight we had dinner at the Thai restaurant here. We got the Set Menu for 2. We got a sampler platter of appetizers and salads picked out by the chef - chicken satay, vegetable spring rolls, scallops, papaya salad, spicy Thai beef salad, and some fish thing wrapped in seaweed. We were given soup to share - Tom Yum Gai - this was by far my favorite dish. It is coconut broth with chicken, lemon grass, mushrooms, some green leafy thing and I think that is it - oh and ONE loan red chili that snuck in there towards the end and burnt the daylights out of my mouth - I downed an entire bottle of water and then some. You eat the Tom Yum Gai with steamed rice - it is sooooo good. Our entrees included Stir Fry Vegetables in Oyster Sauce, Deep Fried Seabass in a sweet sauce, and Fish Balls in Yellow Curry Sauce. So Joe tried the fish balls and decided they were pretty good. I tried them and nearly threw up - they were the most disgusting thing ever. They had the most pungent fishy taste to them ever. I took quite a swig of water to down it as quickly as I could before I gagged right there! The rest of the food was good but we couldn't finish it all. It was a lot of food and we wanted to save room for dessert. For dessert we were given a Thai sampler of dessert. First they brought out a plate of fruit - watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, rambutan and mangosteen. Our waiter was very chatty with us all night and at this point he decided to quiz me thinking surely I would fail. He pointed to a fruit and asked me if I knew what it was - spoken with confidence, I quickly informed him it is a mangosteen - and he nearly dropped to the floor in shock. He immediately says, “How you know that?” I said, “Because I live in Bangkok and eat them every day.” Again, he nearly passed out on the floor – “You live Bangkok?” I said, “Yes I live Bangkok!” He was shocked. Next he brought us another plate of samplers - this had some sponge cake thing that was okay but nothing to write home about. It had this flaky orange colored thing - no idea what it was but it was really, really good. It was light and fluffy like and bright orange in color. Then we had this dark green jello like looking thing and apparently it is made from rice - it was really good. And finally we had sticky rice with mangos (my favorite). It was a phenomenal meal (except for the fish balls for me) and we have the photo's to show you! Enjoy!
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