Thai Professional Massage - 200 Hr ***FINISHED***

Dec 17, 2011...took the final exam and passed.  My scores were pretty good, considering my level of exhaustion.  After the exam we had lunch - I chose my favorite, which is stirfried kale with mushrooms and chillies, with a little rice.  After lunch we got our certificates and had pictures...

From left to right:  Kittiphat Yokaeo, Yimlack Visetsuwan, Martino, Serat Tan, Malee Saisamboon, me, Lynn Noimany, Olja Peternek, Somphong Visetsuwan.

Kittiphat, Yimlack and Somphong are our beloved teachers, Serat Tan is the managing director of the Chetawan Health School and Spa.  Missing from this picture is Teacher Malinee, who couldn't be here due to family obligations :-(

I took some pictures of the school at Salaya...

This was our first classroom and is also the room everyone comes to in the mornings for prayer.

The wading path, as seen from the hallway upstairs in front of our classroom.  There are different types of stones in the path, and the point is to walk around in the water and let the different surfaces massage your feet.  Fantastic!

The pool!  To the right are the changing rooms, to the left is the bar and exercise area.  At the top of the pool is the hotel for the spa customers.

This is the courtyard which separates the spa from the school.  This shot was taken from the school side, so beyond the courtyard is the entrance to the spa.  Thai decoration often includes symmetric patterns and is both soothing to the eye and very beautiful.

Lynn, Jazz and Me.  Jazz works in the office at Salaya.  She is 28, stands maybe 4'5" tall, and weighs 20-25 kg.  She is the cutest admin person in the entire world, without a doubt.

Once we'd photographed ourselves silly, it was time to jump in the pool!  The water was too cold for me, so after a few minutes I climbed out and lay beside the pool to bake dry in the sun.  We have spent many happy hours swimming in that pool, wading in the water path and sitting at the (nonalcoholic) pool bar, drinking coffee and talking.  I missed Lisa a lot today, since she was a critical component of all those activities.

We didn't really bond with the school at Wat Po in Bangkok.  While Bangkok has its attractions and advantages (monks, cheaper rooms than Salaya, a million restaurants etc) Salaya is our spiritual home and we were very happy to return to celebrate the completion of this very arduous course!

The Level II course is not for the fainthearted.  It's a lot of work, and if you don't know at least the basics of anatomy you are pretty much out of your depth.  You must have discipline as well - I know Thailand is a place a lot of people (mostly dickheads) think is a cheap place to come party and you can sure do a lot of that in Bangkok, but you can't study and party at the same time in the same space.  Your head has to be right, and you have to spend evenings studying and practicing.

Knowing the rudiments of Thai, while not strictly necessary, would have eased my passage through life considerably.  I suffered a lot of frustration due to being unable to communicate properly.  I also made some mistakes with people and saw others make mistakes due to cultural ignorance, and that is something I will never do again.  Research the people and their ways before leaving your country! 

Western people tend to think that if someone doesn't speak their language so good it means that person, or group of people, are stupid.  The Thai people are easy-going (to a point), and live simple lives, and this might contribute to the Western opinion of stupidity.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Thai people, collectively and individually, are switched on and are paying much more attention than you think they are, and definitely more attention than YOU are.  They live simple lives by choice, not because of circumstance.  The Thai society has been around much longer than the Western one, and everything you think you've done, they did a thousand years ago.  Underestimate these people at your peril.

Not only is every move a farang makes in this country is watched, but judged as well.  I don't think this is exclusive to Thailand, I am sure it's the case throughout Asia.  The standards of behavior are much, much higher, and because so many people come over here to drink and act like assholes all foreigners are tarred with essentially the same brush. Thai people are naturally welcoming and friendly, but I think this has been somewhat abused by poor guests.  It therefore takes time to earn the trust of the people that live here.  I walked the same route to school for five weeks.  The first few days I clocked people along the way, mostly food and drinks vendors, who were just beginning their day.  They clocked me as well.  After a week or so, they started nodding to me in the morning, and I would nod back and smile.  After two weeks they were smiling and calling out greetings.  Somehow they all figured out where I went each day and some of them would smile and say "Wat Po".  For me, it made a good start to the day.  I never knew anybody's names, and they never knew mine, but it didn't seem to matter.  We reached across the language and culture barriers and connected.

One of my morning friends.  He lives in this spot - the umbrellas are the walls of his house at night. 

The whole "Land of Smiles" thing?  Thai people smile because they are tough, and proud.  The flooding in Thailand cost some people dearly - all they had left at the end of it was their smiles, and they used them!  Even in the most adverse conditions, Thai people will find a way to smile - but if they get to know and trust you a little and actually open up and talk you'll find out sometimes behind that smile is a lot of pain.  Some of the people I have met here have tolerated situations for months or even years, that I wouldn't for a day.

Have I changed?  Indeed I have.  Have I learned some new things about me?  Yes - some bad stuff, but more good stuff than bad.  I have been introduced to "Thailand Time", which isn't so dissimilar to "Indian Time" and "Cebu Time".  I have lost weight.  My taste in clothes is still pretty naff.  I have found Buddha, and look forward to walking his path a bit further.  I have calmed down some.

Would I do this again?  Yes - but not without bringing my hubby with me.  I spent an awful lot of time missing him and that distracted me from my mission a little.  It was hard to stay the course; much harder to be separated from him than I thought it would be.  Eighty-two days away from home is a very long time.

I am coming back to Thailand, tentatively scheduled for January, 2013.  There are four more weeks of courses I would like to take, I'd like Pete to take the Level 1 course, and Lisa wants to be there to take the Level 2 course.  When we finish we'll buzz off to Cebu to hang with my family, and then we'll see what happens after that.  The Thai Massage Level 3 course is still being discussed, and as far as I know will be happening in approximately two years or so.  I'm going to need these two years to get good at the Level 2 skills!

I've pretty much finished packing, and I have to check out at 12:00.  I can store my suitcase and box in the hotel office, and will walk up to Malee and Olja's hotel to say good-bye.  My flight to Mumbai leaves at 8:55 pm, and I should be home by 7:30 am, Monday morning.