Thai...WANESE Massage

I think I just died and went to heaven. I know it's late but I had to share this before I fall into a very deep sleep. I just had THE most AMAZING massage of life.

Felix, Michael and I (the others backed out sadly enough) went to a massage parlour about 20 minutes from campus, closer to downtown. We'd been planning to go for quite sometime and decided last minute that tonight was the night. We found a place that for 700 NTD's (only about $25) provides one hour full body massages - we booked it right away.

The foyer of the place looked a bit scuzzy, but then they brought us four floors up to a lovely area with silk curtains and comfy massage tables. There were three beds in one room all lined up in a row with curtains that could pull across to divide the tables. When we went in we all looked at each other like, "Uhh what do we do next? Naked? Clothed?" I think the masseurs picked up on our uncertainty and handed us towels and funny striped capri pant pyjamas, then they closed the curtains so we could change.

They only gave me less than a minute to change- two people popped their heads in while I was still undressing and said, "ready? ready?"

I lay down on my stomach and the little lady - no taller than 5 feet - came in and started on me right away. They didn't use massage oil but they lay towels over our whole bodies so the skin wouldn't rub. I heard her fling open the curtains so we were all in one big room again - I think it was so the three masseurs could chat.

For the first 20 minutes they were talking and laughing with each other - we think it was about us. At one point when my girl was massaging my calves she was going, "ohhh, ohh," and then another masseur came over and started touching them too. I don't know if they were shocked at how big a Caucasian girls calves could be or if they couldn't believe how tense they were - I did go on a pretty intense hike yesterday.

A few minutes later Michael and I heard Felix laughing - apparently his masseur hoped on his back and was doing an intense move with his feet. At that point my girl took my right leg and literally lifted it up above her own head and twisted my body so far I almost fell off the table. She did this on both sides.

Now, when I get massages back home I pretty much fall into a deep sleep. Here, that would be impossible. I also like really hard massages, but if I asked for any harder here I think my back would turn black and blue.

She must have touched every single muscle in my body and when she moved down my arms it felt like 10 pounds were falling from each finger tip. My hands were left tingling. She also did that thing where they stretch your body as far as it will go, grabbing and pulling on your arms and legs until your joints pop. There was actually one point in the massage where she was digging so hard into my back that I thought she was going to touch a lung. For some reason though it felt OK - not like she was going to do any damage. She finished with an incredible head and face massage, scratching my skull and contorting my face pulling at my eyebrows and pinching my nose...it probably felt much better than it sounds.

When they finished they gave us less than a minute to change before they came in a handed us a water. We all looked at each other, each of us with puffy eyes and a look of complete relaxation - none of us had ever experienced anything like it.

It was a good idea to go to dinner before the massage because none of us could really function after. Now I'm back in bed and am going to enjoy a beautiful sleep for the second night in a row.

Goodnight.