Friday, May 8, 2009

Siem Reap massages

I am learning that there may be nothing else more akward than getting a massage in Cambodia. First off, the way you get lured into a massage place is by 3-5 Cambodian girls sitting in front of the building in the shade yelling "Hello Lady, you want Massa??!!!-or-Mister, you want massa?!!!??"...This happens at least 4-5 times while walking down a street block. The first couple of times you smile and politely say "No thank you." Then after about 15 times of hastleing you just don't look or acknowledge, especially if they start grabbing your arms or shoving a pamphlet in your face.
After an early day of biking to Angkor Wat to catch the sunrise, and hours of bike riding in the squelchering sun we decided it was time to give in, to the less than tempting temptations. We heard a recommendation for a place on the corner of our street and walked in. Thinking that the two older ladies who washed our feet before heading to the room were going to be giving us massages, we felt a little at ease.....
We were promptly escorted to a room with two mattresses by two 15 year olds, nice, then asked to change into towels...I hesitated a few moments to see if the girls would leave. They didn't. So I undressed and wrapped myself in a towel and plopped on the mattress. Meanwhile, the whole time there eyes glued on me,watching me undress like it was some kind of show. Then it was Jeff's turn. They were starting to get giggly and straight up stared the whole time. He managed to slip the towel around his waist and do a manuver to wriggle his bottoms off under the towel...nice!
Plop! We were both down on the beds ready. Now we were waiting for the massage ladies to come in...but they were already there! The two 15 year old girls told us to lay face up, both had jars of what smelled like vicks vapor rub. The girl who was doing my massage scooped out 3 fingers full of the rub and managed to rub the same spot on my left thigh for at least 20 minutes..interesting technique...Rub the leg till it hurts and turns raw and you can't feel it anymore, literally...that's new! I look over at Jeff and he has his eyes closed and has the most painfully uncomfortable look on his face. It was so weird and akward so far that I was couldn't wait for the "massage" to be over!
I must mention that meanwhile this whole time the two girls are speaking to each other laughing and giggling in Cambodian like no one else was in the room. They stop and ask Jeff if he speaks Cambodian, sigh in relief, and resume talking and rubbing the vicks on our thighs...Obviously talking about us.
I thought I would try to close my eyes and pretend that this was the best massage I had ever had but found it hard to relax or even keep my eyes closed for longer than 10 seconds...Why? because my massage girl was making rude gestures to her friend and stopping occasionally to pick her ear or rub her nose...
Finally the hour was up, I couldn't wait to unload all the things that were going on in my head and see what Jeff's experience was like.I thought I was going to burst with all the things I had to say! Little to my surprise, akward was his experience as well. Could possibly be the most uncomfortable time I have had on this trip thus far, the worst massage and $6.00 that I have ever spent in my life!

2 comments:

  1. That sounds worse than picking the Hungarian girls out of a lineup, then having her turn on an R Kelly mix tape, pour a bottle of baby oil on me and give me a massage that carefully avoided applying any pressure or "massaging" motions, which might damage her acrylic nails.

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