little bits: foot massage, suit saga, da media, more

So dee kaaa (sp?)!

One of the really great and charming things about Bangkok is that whenever you walk into a store or restaurant, you are kindly greeted with a welcoming, "so dee kaaa..." (it sorta trails off). Also, when you are leaving, your waiter or cashier or whoever always takes a second to put her hands together and give you a bow to send you off. Just takes a second, but there's nothing like it in America. Really nice touch.

Anyway, right now it's Saturday afternoon here. I should be napping, as again I find myself on 4 hours of sleep (this is becoming a trend), but I write. Today we have the afternoon off on account of it being Saturday, and tomorrow we have the day off! Nathalie, a girl from The Union in Paris (her office is en face de mine - that means 'facing') made a really wise investment of a Bangkok tourist pocket book (she calls it her Bible). Tonight, a few of the Union folk are going to Sky Bar on its recommendation, and tomorrow we are doing a bicycle tour of the lesser known sites of Bangkok! So excited.


Before I get into the foot massage and suit saga, I'd just like to point out that I got some bandwidth recently (plugged directly into ethernet in the conference room), and uploaded a bunch of media - so in case you missed it...

l'elephant (vid of me feeding elephant)

frungerque pics (self explanatory, I think...)

pics of the royal palace and wat po (sp?) temples here in Bangkok

Sweet.

So foot massage. Yeah, had one! Milli (Union employee based in India), Andrea (WHO employee based in Geneva, Switzerland - taught a class here for the course), and I (jd, Union employee based en Parii) all decided to go get foot massages. They're famous for them here, you can't walk 5 seconds without being offered one, and its dirt cheap, so we decided why not?

It all begins in a back room where you sit down and an employee washes your feet. I imagine there is a similar first step for a pedicure, but since I've never had one, I am unable verify this claim. Next, the massage-ee (me, in this case) is escorted to a really comfy couch (eerily reminiscent of the two comfy chairs in the living room of the Jaff-Inn), one in a line of about 5 on each side of the main room of the parlor. The area where the feet go are covered with two towels - gave me a real sense of cleanliness :)

When settled, the masseuse comes over and gets right to work. It felt (and smelled) like each of my legs (up to about the knee or lower thigh) was covered with icy hot or bengay or something. The actual massage is more or less what I was expecting: some rubbing, poking, prodding, and straight up massaging of the foot, calf, knee, and lower thigh. It was very mediocre for the first 50 or so minutes (pay by the hour - 300 baht, just under $10 - holla.), but then, as my masseuse was finishing early (Andrea's started first and was still goin!), and I was debating whether or not to dispute the charge, she jumped around my back, and began a 10 minute Thai massage on my neck, shoulders, and back. A Thai massage differs from a Sweedish, or oil massage, in that the body is mostly stretched and contorted to massage the muscles, as opposed to rubbed down with oil.

This sampler was awesome. She really earned her Baht during that concluding performance, and probably also won herself a new client (me) for a full Thai massage next week. I tipped her 100 baht... why naht??? (<~this should rhyme.) So Jon, you perv, my ending was QUITE happy, especially relative to the beginning and middle. It was not, however, a ::happy ending::

As for the suit saga, I've been in to this tailor that all of the Union people use. First time, he quoted me 4500 baht (~150 usd - custom made top to bottom, multiple fittings - sweet deal) for some linen cloth. Then I spoke to Jamshed, a boss or supervisor of mine, and he advised that I go wool all the way. So I went back the other night and had another chat with the dude about wool. He showed me some nice cashmere wools, 120 ____ (I forgot the word that follows) or maybe 150 (not thread count, maybe they call it super 150? i have no idea...). My ignorance, however, already put me at a disadvantage, as did my non-Thai-ness (apparently there are Thai prices, and not-Thai prices), AS did my lackluster bargaining skills. He quoted me 7,000 baht, almost double the linen. He lined up 4 cloths, and told me 7,000, 6,000, 5,500, and 4,500 baht. All felt the same to me!

I figure you get what you pay for, sure, but I'd really rather know what it is I'm getting, too. I tried to read a bit online, but my efforts on that front weren't terribly fruitful. Jamshed has promised that he'll return with me next week or so.

Ok, time to go check out that Sky Bar! Keep in touch, I love getting emails and comments from you all!! :)

A bientot,