Sometimes cultural sensitivity should be ignored...

Yesterday we decided to get a massage. There are massage studios all over the place. Many people mill around outside, attempting to entice you inside. We decided to find a "reputable" one via the internet. As someone later told us, if you find a massage parlour online, chances are they are making too much money to do only a simple massage.

We googled "massage Sala Daeng". Sala Daeng is our current neighborhood. One of the results
on a website listing of massage locations was "Ogoto Massage - Japanese style". It was only two blocks away - how convenient!

As we walk in, Naomi said "huh, I thought this was an erotic massage place by the neon sign I saw last night, but I must have been wrong". We walked in and this older commanding woman who spoke very good Engrish (which is rare in Thairand) asked us what style of massage we
wanted. We pointed to the Thai massage with oil. It was like $15 for an hour, which made us game. She barked something at the 20 or so women who appeared to be milling around in....sort of see through lab-coats with skimpy clothes underneath. And they were each wearing a ton of
make-up. Did we leave? NO! WHY? BECAUSE WE ARE STOOOPID. We walk upstairs to our respective rooms. It was very clean and modern with tasteful Asian decor.

My "masseuse" walked into the room. She asked "you want shower?" Uh, no. I'm not greased up yet. I was confused. I disrobed. Nothing out of the norm, except she grazed the crotch a little more than I'm accustomed to. She also let me keep my underwear on. Afterward she
said "you want shower?" Yes. Now I am greased up, I want shower. I go to the bathroom and she follows me in. I think this is a custom of some sort. I think I am being culturally sensitive. She follows me into the shower. Let me say that there comes a point when people should just throw language barrier and cultural sensitivity out the window. Anyway, she WASHES ME. I don't let her get to the hoo-ha, but she washed the butt crack!!! I let THAT happen all of one time. Her lab coat robe was on the whole time, thank God (Naomi's masseuse took her lab coat off and was wearing a little tank top with short shorts. Yep. Also different than any massage experience). Anyways, I dress quickly and start to think "this was the weirdest massage I have ever head." I wait for Naomi to come down. We pay and leave. Then we started to discuss our experience, the masseuses and think "huh, I think that place is probably sketchy. I bet they would give you a happy ending if you asked."

We got home and googled "Ogoto Massage Bangkok" and looked at their official website (which we should have done from the beginning): http://ogotomassage.client.jp/en.html. Enough said.

We are getting a massage recommended by a married woman today.