February 6, 2004
Thai massage: Bangkok and Hua Hin
So I'll be writing about Thailand for a while, especially Bangkok and Hua Hin. In Bangkok we got Thai massage at Wat Pho, a famous temple with a huge reclining Buddha. We paid 400 for an hour herbal massage. A regular massage would have been 300/hour.
In Hua Hin, we went to Elephant Thai massage but we checked out a few places and most have the same price (prices vary on the beach and at the little place near our hotel - Patchara House - 1 hour was 250). Anyway, at most places in Hua Hin 1 hour was 300 just like in Bangkok. Two hours was 400 and 1 hour with herbs was 800 (twice what we paid in Bangkok).
So I would suggest doing the herbal in Wat Pho and the two hour traditional in Hua Hin. By the way, the foot/reflexology massage was 300/hour in Bangkok and Hua Hin.
If you like gentle massages, Thai massage may be quite a shock; they use at least as much elbow as they do hand. And most of them have big huge hands so it doesn't feel much different from the elbows anyway. They also mix in some bone cracking chiropractics. I don't know if I feel relaxed because I'm on vacation in Thailand or because of the massage...
