Friday, July 08, 2005

Overwhelming and exotic Bangkok: Day 3

For our final day in Bangkok we really only had time to take in Wat Po and the Reclining Buddha before leaving for the airport. My dad and I had planned to get thai massages, while my mom (perhaps still smarting from her reflexology experience) decided to sit this one out.

For being such a basic operation, the people at the Wat Po Thai Massage School are really world-class. As I described during my birthday post, everything takes place in a large, very simple, non-airconditioned room with rows upon rows of plaform beds. The masseuses chat softly with one another as they stretch and knead their clients. Since I returned to S'pore, I've been trying to get Jeff to stretch and pop my back the way I remember my masseuse did it. Unfortunately, it seems this is one of those things that can't be recreated and faking it just doesn't work.

After Wat Po, we took the water taxi back up the river to our hotel and dashed off for the airport, where I bought a few duty-free bottles of wine to bring back. Wine is outrageously expensive in Singapore, so you take advantage of it while you can. We were back in Singapore by 6:30 and drinking Guiness with Jeff by 8. Oh yes, we have Guiness here.