During more than a decade of practicing and teaching Thai massage, I have learned a lot about the magic of touch. I know it is there, I have seen it, felt it and experienced it, and I don’t need proof other than my experience.
I am writing this from my perspective of living in Thailand where people are less intellectually inclined and much less obsessed with scientific proof for everything. I am not claiming to be right – I am only offering a perspective from an angle that diverges from western thinking.
There are lots of articles and studies that all try prove the validity and the benefits of massage and touch. It is a bizarre western phenomenon to demand that everything needs to be proven to the satisfaction of the scientific community. Read the rest of this entry
In the western world you don’t dare asking a woman how old she is. It is considered rude and intrusive, and many western women will flat out refuse to tell you their age. The idea is that aging is a bad thing for a woman and should be hidden as much as possible. Being secretive about age and even lying about it is considered acceptable.
So here comes our first time Thailand visitor, a woman for our story, and she is taken aback since people regularly ask her how old she is. Why are they so nosy in Thailand? Why do they pry into such intimate subjects?
Little does our traveler know that age has a very different meaning in Thailand than in the west. Rather than being something to be avoided, it is actually necessary to know people’s age in order to have proper social interactions. Read the rest of this entry
How do you find a girlfriend or wife in Thailand?
Let’s be honest, millions of westerners have come to Thailand for that very reason. There are lots of websites promoting such relationships, and there are many dating sites where Thai women are actively searching for western men.
There are stories about Thai parents literally selling their daughter into prostitution or arranged marriage. Although such cases do exist, and not only in Thailand, they are a tiny percentage compared to the voluntary relationships which are the norm and which are the subject of this article. It is not my intention to focus on some cases of abuse in Thailand or to launch a moral campain against prostitution or judge age differences between men and women in relationships. Read the rest of this entry
The tourist brochures will tell you that “amazing” Thailand is a tropical lush heaven, the land of smiles, filled with friendly people, inexpensive, and fun. It is actually all true. But, there is a darker side also. Nothing could be that perfect.
The north of Thailand is a beautiful region- nine months out of the year. But three months out of the year, specifically during the hot and dry season in February, March and April, the entire area is often covered by a nasty layer of pollution. It is mostly caused by agricultural burning which is a cheap and efficient method of clearing the land, but it also makes your eyes burn, prevents airplanes from landing, and sends thousands of people to the hospitals for respiratory issues.
Scenic road on Doi Suthep Mountain
Read the rest of this entry
Many expats or longer term residents in Thailand have to leave the country every two or three months in order to obtain a new visa. Within Asia you can generally only get short term tourist visas. There are exceptions: Retirement visas let you stay in Thailand permanently, but you have to put a big chunk of money in the bank (about US $25,000.-), and you have to be older than 50. Work visas also allow you to stay in the country, but they are only good as long as you are employed by a company.
My visa is good for one year, but I have to leave the country every three months in order to get a new entry stamp in my passport. And once a year I have to travel to the US or Australia to get a new one year visa. Just recently it was again time to get a new visa, and I went to the US to get it. Read the rest of this entry
Would you be interested in better health, more relaxation, better circulation, greater flexibility, higher levels of peace of mind, an improved feeling of well-being, better ability to deal with stress, and a feeling of being totally revitalized? Yes? Then you are a candidate for a Thai massage. You might get some of the benefits or all of them, but you will certainly benefit greatly. Read the rest of this entry
I am not sure who originally came up with this, but those ten commandments for the New Age have helped me a lot in my life, and I am very happy to share them. I hope you get some inspiration from them. What is interesting to me is that we might label these ideas as “new age”, but in Thailand they fit perfectly within the Buddhist principles. Great ideas are not confined to specific countries or religions. Read the rest of this entry
We have heard the stories: Westerners go to Thailand and find that suddenly their world is turned upside down. People react to them in ways they cannot understand, the language is not even remotely similar to European languages, the food is strange, the traffic seems chaotic, people are smiling but you have no idea what they are really thinking, relationships don’t work at all like in the west, and the religion can be contrary to western beliefs. It can be confusing indeed, and it is called culture shock. Read the rest of this entry
After living in Thailand for many years and having received many Thai massages I have come up with a listing of different styles of Thai massage therapists you will encounter in Thailand.
1. The social type: This is the chatty type. She will immediately ask where you come from, if you speak Thai, if you are in a relationship etc. She will chat with you during the massage and she will have lively conversations with her fellow Thai massage therapists who are working in the same room. She keeps her mobile phone next to her and she will take any call. Either she will stop the massage until she is done talking or she will hold the phone with one hand and massage you with her free hand. She is not really focused on what she is doing and sees the massage scene as a perpetual social gathering. It might really annoy someone, but there are clients who actually enjoy this party atmosphere. Read the rest of this entry
There are people out there who suggest “no pain, no gain”. Interestingly enough a lot of the Thai people actually subscribe to that. Many massage therapists in Thailand have told me that their fellow countrymen often prefer really strong massage even if it is painful, but in contrast the foreigners prefer a gentler and non-painful approach. I have also met a good number of Thais who will not get Thai massage because they have heard or experienced that it can be painful, and so they stay away from it.
My personal experience has been that when I ask a Thai massage therapist to work on a tight spot, they often will just press harder and use their elbows to dig deeper. But this has nothing to do with Thai massage as a therapeutic system, but only with the way how it is applied. I have practiced and taught Thai massage for over 10 years and I don’t hurt anyone. Read the rest of this entry
