Surprising as it may sound, considering my love for all that is massage, this image always scared me a bit. Perhaps it is because I have had back surgery and am afraid that the bending would snap my spinal hardware like a twig... Perhaps it is that no matter how much I stretch, my hamstrings stay tighter than a violin string... For whatever reason, Thai massage was one technique that I was curious about, but terrified of at the same time...
I may have gone my entire life without trying it, particularly since the idea of paying 60-100 for something that may be extremely painful is not usually at the top of my list, and so at other times in my life where Thai massage was an option (at top-end spas or on a cruise), I always chickened out and went with what I know.
In Bali, where all massages are between 7 and 15 USD, it is hard to justify not trying every type of massage available....
Thursday
I had insomnia the night before, which was exacerbated by the tablet game I was hooked on. The bright lights stayed flashing when I would try to sleep... Finally, around 6AM, I went to sleep. This threw off my whole day and I spent most of the day in bed, reading or sleeping. It was the first day that I asked them not to clean and I didn't even leave my room until around 7 when I went downstairs to find some food. As far as I could tell, it was a lazy day for everyone...
I was on the verge of a migraine from my screwed up sleep, but it never did kick in until the next morning. Mom got a massage downstairs and Mat got a massage in the room, while I read, and then we went to bed fairly early.
Friday
I woke up with a full-blown migraine, to which I responded with every pill in my arsenal, including Benedryl, Ibuprofin, and sumatriptin (the magic migraine trifecta). Its funny, I had been using sumatriptin for a few years, with varied success, but when River started getting migraines, his dr. said to wipe them out with a wallup with these three meds together. I tried it myself and was amazed by how well it worked, and how it works EVERY TIME. Much better than the more expensive migraine meds I had tried over the years in order to improve the consistency of a successful remedy.
Anyway, after recovering, and having spent nearly 36 hours in bed, I felt like "doing something" and so I talked mom and Mat into a nice walk. The only real goal was to get some change so that we had tip money for dinner and massages. We headed down to the store, and got some water and power drinks for Mat in order to make change. We then decided to walk another 10 min to the massage place on our road that we had been trying to find open since we got here. We kept getting there when it was closed and so we thought we would give it another shot. It advertised massages starting at 60k (about 4.50) per hour and we were curious if it was any good.
Mom stayed at the store while Mat and I did reconnaissance to find out if it was open. We caught the woman, Yanti, burning incense and doing a little prayer. She said that she would be open after she did her prayer but it was only her so she could do just one at a time. We said we would be back soon and took her flyer and walked back to the store. We talked with mom and decided that only two of us should go because otherwise we would be waiting forever so mom said she preferred to go back to the villa and let us go. She called Esty for a ride and Mat and I walked back down. He told me that I should go first since he has been taking the first massage most often. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go first, but I didn't want to belittle his generosity, so I accepted. I decided to try the Thai massage, figuring that it was only about 6$ and also I already had a hot stone massage scheduled for that night, at the villa, so I figured that if the thai massage was terrible, I could at least recover that evening with the calming of the hot stones...
Oh my god....
Within 15 minutes, she had bent me ways I didn't know that I would go, and it felt so, good! Each stretch would leave me feeling more relaxed than I thought possible. She also used a form of energy with her work, sometimes barely touching you, but clearly sending good energy into you. Now, in general, I like the "idea" of energy work, I think it is calming and nice and all, but I have never actually felt like it was doing much for me, other than just being relaxing to have the calmness of someone who was focusing on you. But, there was something special about this woman. I don't know if it was just the stretches, or that she was just that good, but the entire time I laid there, I just felt a buzz running through me that I can only describe as "good". It felt like a natural high and I don't know whether it was from her use of energy, the way she manipulated us, or something else, but I have to say that we left there floating.
We walked back home, about a 40 min walk uphill, and then just relaxed until evening when I got my second massage of the day, a hot stone massage, from Ketut. I have to say, it was pleasant and the stones were comforting, but I didn't find it that spectacular. I am afraid that I was so spoiled by Yanti, that it just couldn't possibly live up to it.
Saturday
During each of our massages with Yanti on Friday (short for Wayan Martini), her husband, Yanta (short for Wayan Suta) had sat and talked with the other. He had worked on a cruise ship for 6 years and spoke great english. He told us that Yanti was going to be gone from Sat afternoon until Sunday night or Monday to go to Lombok to see their spiritual teacher. I decided that I had to get mom down there to try her before she was gone for a couple days. So, on Saturday morning, I texted Yanti and arranged for us to come down, and then we walked back down there. Mom went first and after telling Yanti where she hurt, she told mom that she thought she should do a 90 min balinese massage. Mom obliged and was not disappointed. After hers, she called Esty for a ride and I did a 60 min one that I can't remember the name of. It was like Li Lanur or something. It was Yanti's signature massage, that she had designed with her own oils and everything and was what she called a combination between thai, shiatsu, and balinese. Whatever it was, it was great. She used a balm with her oil that was like a muscle rub which seemed to help with circulation. She was able to stretch muscles and then get deep into them. It was impressive and again, I left there feeling high.
I walked back to our villa, this time being the first time that I walked the hill alone and found myself saying hi and smiling at everyone. As I walked by a food stand, I saw a woman buying something from this bowl and so I thought I would pretend to be a local, or localish, and I walked over, pointing to the bowl, and handed him a 10k, the amount the woman had paid. He smiled and pulled out 8 or so of these little steamed packets of banana leafs wrapped around something and put them in a bag for me.
I walked back, wondering what was in them, but not wanting to look stupid by inspecting them. It occurred to me that they may not even be food, they may be meant as offerings which made me less likely to inspect them in public...
Later, I saw an old man sitting on a stoop. I had seen this older man there a lot of times and each time I had smiled at him. This time I decided to go sit with him and introduce myself. After saying my name, I realized that he didn't speak English and so we sat for a minute or two, petting a dog who had arrived when I had. After a bit, I patted him on the shoulder and smiled and walked off.
When I got home, I inspected the bundles and found something that looked like meat in them but I couldn't be sure. Later, I asked Made's wife and daughter, who were at the front desk, and the wife managed to say "pig", indicating that it was pork. I said "to eat?" and she said yes, but I got a good laugh from the daughter when I tried to offer them some. They both said no thanks and I am sure had a lot of joking to do with one another at my expense after I left.
The banana leaf wrapped pork is still sitting in my fridge. I am still a little scared to try it, and I am afraid it is going to end up wasted...
Last night I gave Mat a massage, thinking that maybe if Mat and I learn to massage each other every couple days, we won't go through too much withdrawal when we leave here...
We had new guests show up at around 10:30 last night. They are a group of rowdy 18/19 year old boys staying in the 3 bedroom next door. Mom said that she heard Made running after them last night saying, "don't swim yet, 2 of you haven't paid"! She also heard them complaining that the price of something, maybe the food or beer, was steep.
This morning, Esty came over to us and complained to mom that they had kept her here until 12 o'clock last night wanting sandwiches and beer! And then she said when they went to clean their room, they were like "just one day! how did they get it this bad!"
She complained that they were going to be here for 10 days more!
Sunday
Today, fathers day, Mat will get a 90 minute massage in the room.
We got up, listening to our new neighbors splashing around in the pool. Mom wants to tell them to do their partying next door at the restaurant and I encouraged her not to make enemies with our neighbors. 10 days with animosity between neighbors is no fun... The way I see it, they are just young boys excited about vacation. They were only loud until about midnight last night, and they probably had no idea that they were keeping Esty from going home. They may not be the most considerate people on earth, but they are just trying to enjoy their time here, just like us.
Oh well, I am sure it will all work out.
Back to work tomorrow. I did a little today, just to get myself back in the habit. Then I blogged...
Yanti won't be available for massages until Tuesday, and I can't wait. She is about half the price of getting the massage at our house and in my mind quite a bit better, so I may use most of the rest of my massage budget with her :)
I don't have any pics for the last couple days, so I will share some neat photos I have collected on other days...
How we are greeted in our room when they change our sheets/towels..
Another towl creature, A swan I think
An example of statues all over the island
Our cute boys cleaning out a fish pond, because the water source has dried up since it is dry season, so they moved the fish to a different pond. Octa is closest to us, in the middle is Gun, and the boy walking away is Sumana, the boy who was in the dance that mom and Mat attended. You can see mom in the far background in the red shirt harassing them while they work...
Or cute bo
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