After yesterday’s adventure we agree that we want a quiet day. There is a blog to write and many photographs to review and process. For lunch we decide on Rajdarbar, an Indian restaurant with good reviews just a 20 minute walk away. The food at this small restaurant does not disappoint us. Of course we eat too much!
As we waddle back toward the condo I spot a place I want to try for a foot massage. They advertise 30 minute, 45 minute, one hour and two hour foot massages. I have never had a Thai foot massage, so 30 minutes sounds like a good option. A young woman perhaps 18 years old washes my feet then begins the massage. There are some moments of pleasure-pain, but mostly just enjoyment as she massages my feet and calves. The fee is 170 bhat ($5.50 US) and I take the 30 bhat I receive in change and hand it to the massage woman as a tip. She is so excited, almost like it is Christmas morning. That the equivalent of $1 US has such significant impact strikes me. Later I look up the minimum wage for Chiang Mai - it is 325 bhat per day, approximately $10.50 US. I wonder if she is making even minimum wage.
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