Thai Massages

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1/21/19

This morning we went back to Donkaew Community Hospital to get Thai massages. Thai massages are quite different from our Swedish massages that we are used to getting in the US. They push a lot harder and it seems like they massage just about every muscle in your arms and legs. They also used a hot compress ball on my back and stomach. They laid the hot compress ball on my stomach while they massaged my head and I had to move the compress ball quite frequently because it was extremely hot to keep in one spot. My legs were sore from my run two days prior; therefore, the massage was quite painful on my leg muscles. After the massage they stretched me out, which ended up being quite painful for me, and gave us all a cup of tea. Our massage was an hour and a half and it cost us 250 baht which is equal to about 8 US dollars. That seemed crazy to me because massages in the US are usually around 100 dollars.

In the afternoon we toured the Bangkok- Chiang Mai Hospital. This hospital is a private hospital and it blew us away. It was the nicest hospital that I have ever seen. It was a 120-bed hospital with three different choices in rooms. All the rooms were private single rooms. The premium room looks just like the rooms in the US, but the super-premium and VIP rooms reminded me of a hotel room. The deluxe room had a mini kitchen and the VIP room had a separate living room, kitchen, and extra bathroom for visitors. Their patient population is mostly foreigners, because most of the Thai natives cannot afford this type of healthcare due to their lack of health insurance.

After the hospital we came back to the college and we were pleasantly surprised to be going out to dinner. We are used to not knowing the plan for the day or what time the next event is happening, so I guess we were not completely surprised. Mel came into our apartments and told us we were heading to dinner with some of the professors, so we hopped in our van and headed to a restaurant. At the time we did not know where we were heading, but it ended up being an organic, farm-to-table restaurant. It was delicious and one of the most American meals we have eaten thus far. I had grilled salmon and a salad. Also, we were surprised to find out that we were celebrating Mel’s birthday, which was yesterday. We all felt so bad, because we did not know it was her birthday, but it was nice to be able to celebrate it all together. After dinner we went to an amazing dessert place next door and I got an awesome Nutella and banana milkshake.

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