Thursday, March 11, 2010

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT

Reluctantly leaving the beautiful island of Koh Samui we once again boarded a ferry, this time for new adventures further down the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Our disappointment was forgotten as we once again passed the incredible islands in the Gulf and, one-and-a-half hours later entered a magnificent mountain-surrounded harbor, protected by a glistening white statue of Buddha.

The welcoming committee, as always, was there to greet us with open arms. Although our itinerary called for us to be taken immediately to our new host families, the greeters told us that they had a special surprise for us -- a Thai massage. OK -- big deal. We've already had Thai massages and, as pleasant as they had been, we really didn't need another one at this very moment.

Only this one was really different. Instead of having our feet kneaded by Thai masseurs, this massage was to be administered by fish! We walked down a path, past trees loaded with the dreaded durrean fruit -- a spiked 12" ball that, when ripe (which these were not) supposedly has one of the worst aromas of any plant on earth. Finally we came to a gentle stream where a Buddhist monk sat serenely on a the stump of a tree with his feet firmly set on the creek's bottom.

As he invited us to join him, we rolled up our pant legs, and took our places on other tree stumps.

Within seconds our feet were attacked by hundreds of 4" fish that started to nibble dead skin cells from our feet. (I believe that one of the team members, not to be named, let out a screech that one might hear from a child being unexpectedly tickled.) As we got used to this unorthodox treatment it actually became quite pleasant and, in a strange way, sensuous. After about 20 minutes we once again put on our shoes, said "Sahwahtee krup" (or "Sahwahtee kah" to the monk, and proceeded on our journey.

Later in the evening, with our new hosts, we attended a reception for us given by all of the area's Rotary clubs. It was a festive affair and after much food and photographs, we settled in for a good night's rest.