Thai Massage - Day One

The question of the day: Where does this energy line start?

Yes, I learned about energy lines - sen - today. Apparently we all have six sen running from our feet to our hips. And it feels damn good when these lines are massaged!

Class is fun. The head teacher is named Chongkol Setthakorn ("John") and learned massage in the mid-eighties at Thailand's premier massage school in Bangkok. We begin each day with a chant and about 1/2 hour of yoga exercises (we even go upside-down for shoulder stand). Afterwards the lessons start - instruction and then practice with a partner. Thank goodness the girl I am practicing on is patient. We laugh a lot.

The class is about 80% female -- all very interesting people who decide to enroll in massage school in Thailand, from places as diverse as Holland, India, Taiwan, and Canada. A few plan to stay for the whole month, as I do.

In other news I now have a both place to stay and clothes to wear!

First the place to stay: The "Happy House" guesthouse in the old city for less than $4 per night. Wow. What a steal. Not a luxury hotel, but I have a fan, hot water, and the hardest bed I've ever slept on. I might as well be on a board with sheets. I suppose this is good for my back? The people running the place are very sweet - two sisters who must talk about every decision, including whether to let a clueless white girl from Montana stay at their place for a month. Luckily they concurred, and I can stay.

Next the clothes: Last night was the once a week night market where everything you can imagine, as long as it is beautiful and costs almost nothing, is sold. So I bought two pairs of comfy pants (and yes they are comfy - and stylish - definitely the majority of farag (foreigners) here have a pair on at any given time), a cool long red shirt that I will probably not wear 'till I get back to the US, and a tank. At about 8 pm everyone at the night market stopped what they were doing and stood to listen to the national anthem. It was amazing to see an entire commercial market go quiet with love for a king/country!