So, lying around Kata Beach in Phuket, I didn’t really do much of anything, but enjoy my sweet room and lay by the pool and the beach.
I also took advantage of the cheap spas and got a little pampering. Well, for any girl out there who’s had a bikini wax… I would say that ‘pampering’ is NOT the first word that really comes to mind… perhaps ‘torturing’ is a better descriptor. I wandered over to the many small local ‘spas’ lining the narrow alley-like pedestrian streets here. They aren’t exactly how we define ‘spa’ back home. These places are simply storefront rooms with body-length cushions on the floor separated by curtains and if you’re lucky there’s a/c or at least some oscillating fans. The place I popped into actually surprised me. They cranked the A/C for me, turned on some Thai-pop tunes and even lit little candles. Not to get too graphic here, but this $12 wax was way better than any $40 job I’d had back in Chicago. It hurt less and she was way more, ahem, thorough.
Since I really liked the people and the vibe here, I decided to stick around for an hour long $7 Thai massage. My massage therapist was Momo, a big, gay Thai guy with highlighted hair tips and black-framed glasses. He was a blast and we talked about which of my American friends I could fix him up with since he said his body ‘too fat’ (by Asian standards) for Asian guys. It was funny because he was probably about the average size of most American men. He wasn’t into Asian guys anyway, and wanted a nice, white, pasty Westerner instead.
After the relaxing massage, I stuck around to chat with Momo and the other girls at the spa and helped them hawk other customers on the street.
“Hello. Massage?” “Hello. Pedicure for you today?”
It was fun to be on this side of the ‘hawkfest’ for once.
I shared some of the photos on my laptop from my trip so far, but Momo was only interested in seeing pics of guys. I didn’t have too many, but showed him any guy I’d met along the way. Of course he thought my ex-boyfriend was quite handsome, but I assured him that Andy is not gay. Unless things have changed drastically since I left.
Andy
Ummm…..there was this one little thing I was going to tell you;)