During a visit to Chiang Mai this weekend I came across this interesting stall in the lower floor of Kad Suan Kaow shopping Plaza. Foot therapy in the manner of letting lots of little fish feed on your dead skin.
I decided to try it out, even at 99 baht for just 15 minutes. As it was, the girl on the stall told me that a special promotion meant that I would get 30 minutes for the same price.
After first washing my feet, I took my place, dangling my feet into one of the several large tanks on display. It wasn’t long before the tiny fish started munching, and I have to say that this therapy was not as pleasant as I’d hoped.
It felt like lots of mini-electric shocks as the fish enjoyed a banquet of dead foot skin. I’m also not sure of the hygeine factor as I would imagine that, with many different feet going into these tanks, the water ought to be changed each time. This didn’t happen. I watched for a while and it was simply a scooping out of floating dead skin between customers.
As for the after effects. Immediately after my feet were quite sore, although only similar to after a skin stripping pedicure. But the day after I developed a deep crack in the skin of my big toe, where most of the fish had been feeding.Coincidence maybe, as i do suffer such ailment occassionally in this climate, but I don’t think I’ll be trying this therapy again for a long while.
Heading over towards San Kam Paeng on the Banthi road, I should have remembered from Saturdays ride out with Ally, the distinct lack of decent eating stops along this road.
On the way back we called up to Wat Pa Tung and I got a photo of one of the possible sites for our Foundation plans.
As apposed to the normal ‘splash about’, I actually did about half an hours serious swimming.
Our other lunchtime companions were the cafe cat, who happily ate our leftovers, and a beautiful yellow and black butterfly, possibly a cousin of that hairy caterpillar.
On the way home we called in at Chompoo where we fed the fish and I bought a new Moneybox.
We also saw these amazing looking toads.
oh, and watching Wispa playing with her latest buddy, Fleabag.
So leaving here at around 10 am we first stopped at the Car Wash outlet underneath Tesco Lotus at Kamtieng.
About half an hour later we left on a shiny JRD, barely recognisable from the filthy wreck we rode in on.
We then popped over to The Brick Road Cafe where I sat and had drinks while Boon went off to Central Plaza for a haircut. And very smart he looked when he returned.
After feeding the fish for a while we spotted a stall selling plain plaster figurines, along with small amounts of various colour paints. Behind the stall was a shelter where there were a few brushes and a pallet available for customers who wished to sit and paint there figures whilst enjoying the ambience of the day.
oh and heres the orange Wave!
You can find this place by following the old Lamphun rd from Chiang Mai. When you get to the traffic lighted junction, with a left turn to cross the railway, you go straight on to Lamphun and this cafe is about 1 km up on the left. The menu was restricted to 2 choices, panaeng chicken or kapao liver. I will be interested to go again and see if the choices change by the day. have to say that the paneang was very good(30 baht).
Actually got Boon to smile for the camera by getting him doing ‘red lorry, yellow lorry’.
The people there directed boon to the local municipal office, who in turn directed him to the Rural Skills Development Centre, a little way out of town off the 114 back to Chiang Mai.
When Boon came out I got him to ask the shopkeeper who informed us that it was the Lamphun weather station.
So we gave up on that for the day and went off to a fish(pet) shop, close to the cafe we had eaten at earlier to get some of the small colourful fish that eat mosquito larvae, for our outdoor fish bowl.
