Lahu Life-read 1st
So I arrived at the massage school where we departed from to find three couples also signed up for the course, and I was thinking, ohh great! This is going to be fun! Me and three couples all taking the massage course.... Anyway, there was some confusion about the time that we were supposed to meet and about an hour later 6 other people showed up. I ended up chatting and really connecting with this English woman, Madeline, in her early 30's, a Belgian woman Lut, in her early 40's, and another English guy Dave, in his early 40's. Lut has been traveling and living in India for the last 15 years, and Dave has been traveling/living abroad for the last couple of years too, and Madeline is on a two month Holiday where she is going to learn Tai Chi and massage.
So, transportation consisted of all 15 of us packed into the back of 2 small pick-up trucks... Again, I had that fear thing come up... what if they crash? what if I die? etc...It's quite common to see that here in Thailand, but in the US, it is of course illegal...I feel like the US is such a fear culture though too... Anyway, we drove into the mountains, with lots of winding turns: I realizing again how afraid I am of heights, but I survived! And then we then turned off the main road and had a couple miles of a dirt road before we arrived in the village... I felt beat up upon arriving...
We were divided between different bamboo huts throughout the village, and I ended up rooming with Dave, Madeline, and Lut: what a blessing...
The food pretty much consisted of all carbohydrates: fruit and sticky rice for breakfast, sticky rice and veggies for lunch and dinner... Luckily our massage teacher brought brown rice and some beans as supplements, but I definitely noticed the all carb diet isn't super beneficial for my energy levels, but I tried not to put too much energy into it. There was a little shop where they sold eggs and coconuts though, so I supplemented my diet with those foods.
There were common squat toliets (I am a fan! They really are better for you!) and gas heated showers, which worked sporadically, but a nice cold shower was often more refreshing than a hot shower.
We started off the mornings at 6:15 a.m. with yoga and meditation, but we all commented on how much louder the village was than the city: about 4 a.m. the village was alive with roosters and pigs loud and awake! It took me a couple of days to adjust, but I was able to start sleeping through all of that. Our massage practice consisted of 3 hours in the morning, a 2 hour break, and then 3 hours in the evening. It was pretty intense, and disorienting having all of these semi-massages with people who didn’t quite know what they were doing, but overall, it was a great experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything!
So, transportation consisted of all 15 of us packed into the back of 2 small pick-up trucks... Again, I had that fear thing come up... what if they crash? what if I die? etc...It's quite common to see that here in Thailand, but in the US, it is of course illegal...I feel like the US is such a fear culture though too... Anyway, we drove into the mountains, with lots of winding turns: I realizing again how afraid I am of heights, but I survived! And then we then turned off the main road and had a couple miles of a dirt road before we arrived in the village... I felt beat up upon arriving...
We were divided between different bamboo huts throughout the village, and I ended up rooming with Dave, Madeline, and Lut: what a blessing...
The food pretty much consisted of all carbohydrates: fruit and sticky rice for breakfast, sticky rice and veggies for lunch and dinner... Luckily our massage teacher brought brown rice and some beans as supplements, but I definitely noticed the all carb diet isn't super beneficial for my energy levels, but I tried not to put too much energy into it. There was a little shop where they sold eggs and coconuts though, so I supplemented my diet with those foods.
There were common squat toliets (I am a fan! They really are better for you!) and gas heated showers, which worked sporadically, but a nice cold shower was often more refreshing than a hot shower.
We started off the mornings at 6:15 a.m. with yoga and meditation, but we all commented on how much louder the village was than the city: about 4 a.m. the village was alive with roosters and pigs loud and awake! It took me a couple of days to adjust, but I was able to start sleeping through all of that. Our massage practice consisted of 3 hours in the morning, a 2 hour break, and then 3 hours in the evening. It was pretty intense, and disorienting having all of these semi-massages with people who didn’t quite know what they were doing, but overall, it was a great experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything!
posted by meagan at 12:45 AM
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