Ka-plunk and Ka-pow

A couple of days ago I had my first Thai massage…ever. It was sort of by accident.

For those that don’t know a Thai massage is different from an oil massage and it’s because of this distinction that I’ve always done my best to avoid them. In Thai massage the person giving the massage moves your body around into different poses and exerts pressure or pulls muscles or pushes their elbows, finger into your muscles; hell, they may even walk on your back. You are stretched; your body might go ‘click’ and ‘clunk;’ it might hurt, it might be relaxing but it will probably be a mixture of both.

The reason that I have done my damnedest to avoid them is because of a seventeen-year relationship with physios, osteopaths and chiropractors. This connection began only a few months into my first pregnancy when my lower back went ‘kaplunk’ and produced all kinds of hideous pains. During pregnancy chemicals are sent around the body to loosen up joints, ligaments etc to facilitate birth. To someone with hyper mobile joints (me) this can be a problem: flibberty flobberty body parts (the technical term.) A physio at the maternity unit was my first port of call.

I love physios and osteopaths: I rate them highly. BUT, I’m nearly always in pain when I go to see them. So, I’m nervous of Thai massage on three counts: I associate being manipulated with said pain. Two, I’m afraid that they may not be as trained as they should be and what with my wibbly wobbly joints I might end up in pain after the session. And three I have an old shoulder injury and a present hip issue: Gosh, I really am a specimen of good health and fitness. Not.

So that’s how it came to be that Husband and I pottered up the road to a massage place (infinitely more affordable than in our hotel) for a Thai massage for him and foot massage for me. However because the foot massage only lasts for one hour she did a sort of Thai massage on me for the remaining thirty minutes.

I don’t think I can be an easy candidate for such things; I don’t switch off easily. I'm cautious that she’ll do something that will hurt and my brain goes careering off but that can be useful for all sorts of inspiration. But by the time I was turned over onto my back I’d totally lost the use of my arms and legs; they were leaden.

Pretty damn incredible it was.

Hmmm, when the blogging cupboard is bare...

I had plans for today’s post but not until it was too late, she says cryptically; I shall post that tomorrow instead.

I’ve been out at Book Club this morning. We read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; could I tell you about that? I guess I could but perhaps there’s something else more exciting... I could tell you about the physio appointment I had this afternoon and that she’s very pleased my gluteus maximus muscles are finally working and not lying idly against whatever they were lying idly against before I started working out. But that’s a bit icky and maybe too personal…So, I looked in the cupboards for a proper blog subject but the shelves were bare. So I went out of the condo, wondering how far I’d have to go to find something exciting to show you.

I had faith in the fact that I’d find something out in my soi to tell you about. Just a few steps away from our place are the mooing frogs; I really want to tell you about them but it wasn’t raining and they only moo in the rain.

Then I had a little panic. What if we are moving home to the UK this summer? There won’t be mooing frogs or street vendors or soi cats and dogs or spirit houses in my road in the UK. What will my blog be about then?

Anyway, enough panic, I am trying to be zen about not knowing what is happening to me…

This is the spirit house - San Phra Phum - in the garden of our apartment. It is at the corner edge of the property as we come into our drive.

Most houses and businesses have a spirit house, often placed in the corner of the plot but it will be an auspicious place where the shadow of the human building will never fall on it.  A Brahmin monk will probably have been consulted to find the best place to put the spirit house.

The houses are put in the grounds to appease any spirits who may have been disturbed by the building process. (Incidentally, this is Animism rather than Buddhism and as I understand it, they have sort of merged into the Thai beliefs.) It is believed that the spirits can be mischievous and they can make problems for the business or home unless they are mollified. Offerings of food, flowers and incense are put onto the house to keep the spirits happy.

Here's another one. This spirit house belongs jointly to the businesses down the road.