Swedish is for meatballs

No offense to the Swedes, but if you want a good massage, you need to go Thai.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I entered the nondescript building a few blocks from our house, holding my Christmas gift from Toby - a $40 gift certificate for an hour massage at the Bangkok Thai Massage Studio. When I walked in, I nearly tripped over a pile of shoes in the small, brightly lit waiting room. I added my shoes to the pile and then handed my gift certificate to the woman at the front desk who smiled and asked me to take a seat. A guy in his mid-twenties was sitting across from me and asked me if I'd ever been there before. When I told him I hadn't, he responded, "I guarantee you will love it." He explained that he first came when his girlfriend had given him a gift certificate last year. "I was thrown off because it's in this non-descript building and you know, it's a little funky at first. Once you get used to that, you'll just have an amazing massage."

I've always loved massages. I haven't had as many as I'd like - probably six or seven professional massages in my lifetime. Usually they're expensive and not something I feel I can justify in my normal life and are therefor reserved for vacations or special treats. Despite my love for massages, I'd say that of those half dozen massages, half of them have been just plain awful. When you go in expecting a release from muscle tension and an hour of relaxation, there's nothing worse than finding that you will be spending the hour listening to the masseuse talk while she lightly rubs your skin with oil, leaving you feeling like a greasy chicken with your head spinning and your muscles non the better for it. But the good ones - one near Alison's beach house at the Jersey shore and one in Weaverville at the spa - make it worth paying for the bad ones in hopes of having such an experience. Up to now, a good massage for me has meant that I lie on a table while a masseuse kneads my muscles. A Thai massage is something quite different.

After a few minutes in the waiting room, the woman at the front desk called me up and we walked through a door in the back. I was then lead through a hallway with curtains on either side. In this one small hallway, there were probably twenty curtains leading to small "rooms" (divided by curtains) where people were getting massaged, which explained the pile of shoes at the front door. I was told to undress and then dress again in the light cotton shirt and gigantic pair of shorts lying on the mat on the floor. Then I was left alone in the room not much bigger than the mat on the floor. After changing, I lay down on the mat and listened to the sound of both Thai music and flesh being pounded all around me.

When my masseuse came in, she began rubbing my muscles with her hands, which felt much like the massages I have had before. The only difference was that she was sitting on my back rather than standing at a table next to me. But soon I found that I had more in store for me. She stood up and began walking across my back, legs and arms. Along with using her feet, she also began massaging my muscles with her arms, knees, and elbows. Next, she began twisting my body in various positions - grabbing my arms and pulling my body back and up, pulling my leg across the body while sitting on my hip, pushing both legs up and leaning on them to stretch them forward. It felt painful and wonderful at the same time. She cracked my back in about ten different ways and she continued to push and pull me this way and that. I wasn't surprised when I later learned that Thai massage has origins in yoga and Ayurvedic healing.

I left my massage feeling incredible. Waking up today, I still feel like my spine is somehow more aligned than usual, my muscles looser. It was a massage, yoga practice and trip to the chiropractor all in an hour and all for the price of a really cheap massage. At $40, I don't need to save massages for special occasions anymore. I'm already looking forward to my next Thai massage.