What a massage..

One of my former colleagues whose was not used to English typed an email to the whole group with the subject "Happy to give you all a massage".. we figured out later he wanted to give us the good news. 

This post is about a "massage". 

On the recent Asia trip, finally got a "cup" massage. This is the thing where they light little fires and place cups on top of the fires. The smoke sucks up the skin into the cup and removes excess moisture locally. It also stretches the skin and the cups do an auto balancing act over 10 minutes.

Just to be on the safe side I asked my friend to translate. The lady said "There will be a lot of pain for a very short time.. if your friend can handle the pain, then he will ike the end result. It will take 15 mintues total and cost you ~10 USD". 

When we went up to the room, she gave me another option. To speed things up she can use "gas directly into the cups instead of using flame.. safer and faster". So went with the direct gas option.

It was an offer I could not refuse. There are very few places that do this massage in the US and it costs a lot more. Given my experience with Bikram Yoga where we go through short term torture for long term gains, told the lady "mei wen ti" and next thing I know..

As advertised there was an intense pain once she put all the cups. Once I "let it go" they stretched my skin as far as possible and there was a deep calm. After 10 minutes she released the gas and the cups came off.

Then she announces "skip showering".. that can be tricky on a business trip.Apparently the darker the circle, more issues and stress in that area. Shoulders and waist are an issue. No surprises there. 

The kids freaked out when I showed them a back full of red circles after coming back. 

Good news is they are disappearing fast!