Journal
Massage, explained honestly
Twenty-five pieces on what the treatments are, how booking works in this city, and what the evidence does and does not support. Every one cites a source you can check.
Most massage writing exists to make a booking feel inevitable. This does not. Where the research is thin we say so, and where a treatment is the wrong choice we say that too, because the alternative is a page that stops being true the moment somebody checks it.
Every piece names at least one external source with a link. Where we cite the NIH on what massage does for back pain, the answer is less flattering than the industry would like, and it is on the page anyway.
01 — 7 pieces
What the treatments are
What each treatment actually involves, and how to pick between them.
What is Nuad Thai?
The Thai name for the treatment most visitors book without knowing what it is called, and the reason it looks nothing like a Swedish massage.
1 source
What are sen lines?
The lines a Thai therapist follows with her thumbs, and a straight answer about what they are and are not.
1 source
Thai massage vs oil massage: which should you book?
The two treatments most people choose between, and the four differences that actually decide it.
1 source
Thai vs oil vs deep tissue: what is the difference?
Three treatments, three quite different hours. A short guide to picking by what is wrong rather than by price.
1 source
Court vs common style Thai massage: what is the difference?
A distinction most visitors never hear about, and the reason two Thai massages can feel completely different.
1 source
What is a four hands massage?
Two therapists, one person, working in time with each other. Strange for about a minute, then very hard to think about anything at all.
1 source
How long should a massage be?
Sixty, ninety or a hundred and twenty. The honest answer depends on what you want done and how far the therapist has travelled.
1 source
02 — 8 pieces
Booking and etiquette
Front desks, hotel sheets, what to wear and what to tell whom.
Outcall vs incall massage in Bangkok: which is better?
One of these ends with you in traffic and the other ends with you asleep. A practical comparison rather than a sales pitch.
1 source
What do condo security and reception need to know?
Every Bangkok condominium has a different door policy and none of them are written down anywhere. Here is what actually happens.
1 source
What do you tell the hotel front desk?
The awkward bit of a hotel booking is thirty seconds long and happens in the lobby. Here is how to make it uneventful.
1 source
Does massage oil stain hotel sheets?
The quiet worry behind a lot of hotel bookings, answered properly: what the oil does, what the sheet is for, and what housekeeping actually sees.
1 source
Should a massage be on the bed or the floor?
Less settled than it sounds. The tradition and the hotel room want different things, and what matters is firmness rather than height.
1 source
What to wear for a massage?
A short answer that depends entirely on which treatment you booked, and a longer one about what draping actually means.
1 source
What is Thai massage etiquette?
Most of what people worry about is fine, and the two things that genuinely matter are not the ones anyone asks about.
1 source
Should you tip a massage therapist in Bangkok?
Optional, customary, and smaller than most visitors guess. A straight answer with actual numbers.
1 source
03 — 6 pieces
Symptoms and outcomes
What a massage helps with, and where the evidence is thinner than the industry suggests.
Does massage help back pain?
The short answer is a qualified yes for recent pain and a clear not-really for long-standing pain, and almost nobody in this industry says the second part.
1 source
Does massage help you sleep?
Almost everyone sleeps better the night of a massage. Whether that survives contact with a research review is a different question, and worth answering properly.
1 source
Can massage help headaches and migraines?
Two different conditions that get one word. Massage has a reasonable case for one of them and a much weaker one for the other.
1 source
When should you get a massage after the gym?
Not immediately, and not as hard as you think. The timing question has a better answer than the technique question.
1 source
How often should a desk worker get a massage?
Fortnightly beats occasional, and short beats long. The scheduling answer is more useful than the treatment answer.
1 source
When should you not get a massage?
A short list of genuine reasons to postpone, a shorter list of reasons to ask a doctor first, and a longer list of things nobody needs to worry about.
1 source
04 — 4 pieces
Bangkok guides
Licensing, avoiding the traps, and how this city actually works.
How do you avoid massage scams in Bangkok?
Most of what gets called a scam here is really a pricing ambiguity that somebody exploited. Removing the ambiguity removes the problem.
1 source
How to spot a licensed therapist in Thailand
There is a real licensing framework here, and it is not the thing most visitors think it is. What to look for, and what a certificate on a wall does and does not prove.
1 source
What does non-sexual massage mean in Bangkok?
Two different industries share a word in this city, and the ambiguity is nobody's fault but everybody's problem. Here is how to tell them apart in advance.
1 source
Why is Bangkok known for massage?
Not an accident of tourism. A transmitted medical tradition, a temple that has been teaching it for two centuries, and an economy that made it ordinary.
1 source
Read enough
Tell us what hurts and how long you have. We will suggest a treatment and a length, quote one total, and give you the therapist’s name before she leaves.