Today I woke up at 4:00 am. In all fairness, I was asleep by 9:00, but still the morning, before light of day, really dragged on. Al-jazeera and Fox are only English-language options on TV at this time and I'm having issues charging my devices.
But the cure for jet lag and the stresses of life may be a tok sen "massage." Tok sen originated here in northern Thailand (see full description here). The technique involves pounding the body's sen lines with a wooden hammer and peg. I lay on my stomach for this, thinking about the strength, stamina, and rhythm required of the masseuse to complete a one-hour treatment. Strength and stamina were also required by me. It hurt! I think it hurt good, though. And not all of the massage was clacking. There was also very painful pressure via hands and arms on my neck muscles. I tried to breathe rhythmically, as in childbirth, to get through this. I perceived the soft edges of the life traumas that caused my muscles to clench. Is this akin to watching your life pass before you? This YouTube video will give you the hang of it if you're interested. See video.
I think the massage helped. I walked 10 miles today and am still wide awake at 8:25 pm. I'm watching Muy Thai boxing on tv. I had no idea...first that it seems more like boxing than Thai...the concession is the kicking/leg action. The other interesting thing is that the boxers are rarely Thai. The last match was France v. Cambodia. The announcers... I'm not sure where they're from... they speak Thai, but also English pretty well. Wait, the current match is France v Thailand, but the French boxer is black and wearing a Middle Eastern keffiyeh.
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OW! Don't think I could take that massage. Nor walk 10 miles in a day at this point. Good for you. Foreign TV is always interesting. Are you in Chiang Mai for duration of Thailand stay? Big snafu at last night's Oscars, when Warren Beatty was given the wrong card, announced in error that La La Land won best picture and after everyone made it to stage it was discovered that Moonlight won the best picture Oscar. Weird! On with your adventures, Julie.
ReplyDeleteWeird massage, yo
ReplyDeleteI offer Tok Sen under the bridge every Saturday morning.
ReplyDeleteYou'd be surprized what people will pay for that stuff in East Falls.
ReplyDeleteKeep it coming. I love your reports.
ReplyDelete---MK