A Kengtung Massage in Myanmar (Burma)
We were in Kyaing Tong (or Kengtung), Myanmar's gateway to the Golden Triangle.
It's a great area to visit the different ethnic minority communities of the Golden Triangle. This was Trip #2 (we've since done Trip #3 and are planning Trip #4) using Diethelm Travel for all of them. They have group tours but we have always arranged private tours through them. ( I'll be doing more in-depth articles on Myanmar later on.)
Kengtung is a small town and we had gone to several ethnic villages that day.
We casually mentioned to "Toe", our guide, "is there any place to get a Burmese massage" never dreaming that he would answer, "yes, I can arrange that." And off we went....
Kengtung
We walked down a few streets to this small, barber shop - along with Toe and the Princess Hotel owner's daughter to translate.
Than Toe Win
Princess daughter on cell, naturally
The second floor had a very large, high-ceilinged room - immaculate, with cubicles separated by airy curtains. Each cubicle had a mat on the ground, covered with a sheet, and a clean set of cotton pajamas. In many Asian countries, your body is manipulated fully dressed by using only their body weight.
We got into our p.j.'s and left the curtain open between us. Our two little teen-age masseuses (about the height, size and weight of my 11-year old grandaughters) came in and listened to a lengthly translation from Princess daughter..then they left - to return in an hour. The masseuses spoke NO English.
A Burmese massage is painful! They knead, pull, apply pressure, stretch legs and arms in directions that you need great flexibility for, and, at one time, my little teenager had me airborne, supporting my body weight!! Ex-Marine was shouting, "how did she do that? you are twice her size and weight!". Thanks, sweetheart.
In the meantime, ex-Marine is in the cube next to me screaming "Oh my God...oh my God" in agonizing pain..."My leg doesn't go that way!...."You're killing me"....he has zero flexibility. I am laughing so hard that tears are rolling down my face and our little masseuses, thinking they've learned some really neat English, are repeating over and over again, "Oh my God...Oh my God".
By now, all the other customers are laughing hysterically even though no one understands English! So much for a serene massage!
One brutal hour later, we crawl off the floor and pay for our massages, $2 per person. Ex-marine leaves double that as a tip just for the fun this massage gave us all. And, once the pain went away, we felt GREAT!
