Thai Foot Massage Can be a Fishy Business
By Talen on Nov 3, 2009 in Thai life
Last trip to the Land of Smiles found me all over the place and seeing all kinds of new things. One night while in Pattaya I happened across the sign posted above while walking up Pattaya Third Road, and thought to myself…why the hell not? Well, it might have been the half bottle of Sangsom that I drank at the Thai Karaoke or the three beautiful Thai women I had with me egging me on. Either way I was up for a little fishy foot fetish.
For those of you that don’t already know there has been a craze going on all over South East Asia for the past few years, and that craze involves getting you feet massaged by fish. Yes, I said fish, but these aren’t your ordinary run of the mill carp or whitefish, these are special feet eating fish.
These are Turkish Garra rufa fish and they like to eat dead skin. Obviously this makes them a great choice for a peculiar pedicure, or as Tickle by Fish like to call it ” Relax with Reflexology”. You are basically soaking your feet in a nice warm pool which just happens to have about 300 fish sucking away at your toes.
It’s quite an odd experience, not bad… but not the norm either. It feels like the fish are tickling you and now and again you feel like you are being shocked lightly. One thing is for sure, they really do love the dead skin cells and after 15 minutes your feet come out feeling very smooth.
Once you get past the mass of fish eating your feet it’s also quite relaxing and you can’t help but laugh and have a good time. Once the fish have their way with you then one of the massage therapists takes over to scrub and moisturize your feet.
They also have a detoxifying treatment where they place some sort of ionizer into the warm water and you wear a low voltage emitter on your wrist. This treatment apparently removes toxins from your body. While I am usually the adventurous type I like to keep my warm water and electricity separate….especially when we are talking about electricity in Thailand.
All in all it was a nice experience that I would definitely try again. They also had standard foot massage available as well as a foot steaming sauna, aroma therapy and full body scrub/massage. Tickle by Fish was a very nice place with very nice people and seemingly nice fish, well, they were eating me. If you have a foot fetish this is definitely the place for you.
If you’d like to give it a try you can find Tickle by Fish on Pattaya Third Road between Central Pattaya Road and Pattaya North Road. They are open 10am-10pm daily and their phone number is 038.410.675
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Blog Post RSS
We have one of those in my area at Tesco Lotus. While I did take photos for a coming post, I did not experience it as it is right there in a high traffic area so would not be relaxing.
Catherine´s last blog ..Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners: Paul Garrigan
Cat, There is a Doctor Fish in Bangkok as well. I wouldn’t think doing the whole fish thing at Tesco would be enjoyable…I don’t think doing anything at Tesco is enjoyable though.
Talen-they seem to becoming quite popular. I wrote about Dr Fish in Bangkok a while ago.
I have seem similar places in KL and Singapore but I think the idea may have come from Japan.
Mike´s last blog ..In the Google Bin?
Mike, The video I added is from someones trip to Doctor Fish…I have no idea where it started and who thought it would be a good idea but it does seem to be catching on.
Fantastic. Thanks Talen! I’ll get the Doctor Fish massage experience and let you know how it turns out.
My reason for shopping at Tescos? They have pretty much same food as Villa Market, but cheaper. And while they are not fancy, they are not downmarket like Big C (Big C gives the Kmart experience).
Oddly enough. Villa Market charges over twice for the same products.
Cannot get at Tescos:
Sugar free yogurt
Sugar free soya milk
Sugar free peanut butter
Western products I (usually) don’t buy anyway
For the above plus fish and meat, I go for the Paragon Gourmet experience. Green veg (some) and fruit, I get on the street. And sometimes the prawns I get from our local fishmonger (also on the street).
When I am in the UK, it is Sainsburys with a little Tescos thrown in (Tescos has a better wine selection).
Catherine´s last blog ..Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners: Paul Garrigan
To think as a kid growing up in South Florida where this would happen many times I went swimming at the beach that someone would market it is pretty cool. (I suppose I should admit that my feet were always better after those little fishy’s feasts).
But I think there is some photograph somewhere of me jumping on someone- I was very tickish and watched Jaws one too many times.
I’m curious how they promote it as Reflexology though. When they massaged lotion on your feet afterwards did they target specific points on your feet?
Sounded like an adventure either way.
CMcKane´s last blog ..Lesson Learned: From Flat Tires
CmcKane, every Thai massage goes after pressure points…and man does it hurt sometimes…but feels much better later.
Have a swim at Pala-U waterfalls near Hua Hin.
Hundreds of fish tenderly sucking your skin. And no electricity!
Feels slightly eerie for a start, but in plain jungle nature. Worth a try!
And totally natural.
BangkokDan´s last blog ..Thitinan’s Rakesh Saxena Encyclopedia
Dan, That could be interesting but I think I might want to wear a cup while swimming. It would definitely be a bit more eerie in water where you can’t see the fish chewing on you too.
The Erawan Waterfall in Kanchanaburi also has toe nibbling fish but I didn’t take up the offer. It’s difficult to smoke in water, no matter what the song says.
A fish massage in Pattaya, what a great idea but I wonder how long it will be before some bright spark sets up next door with half a dozen scantily clad mermaids perched on bar stools. A good business is one than can continually improve but mermaids might be a waltz down the wrong ethical street.
Are those your feet in the picture because if they are then they look a lot bloody younger than mine do. Talking about feet, I best get mine into bed. Work starts in less than 9 hours time. Goodnight from a rather wet Wiltshire here in the UK.
Martyn´s last blog ..Thailand Blogs – October 09 Review
Martyn, I don;t know if I would be adventurous enough to let fish eat me in the open water.
Cigarettes or not…You must be an amateur smoker at that…hell I could smoke while SCUBA diving.
Those aren’t my feet actually…they are of another customer being eaten. I was a lil drunk that night so I thought it best not to be taking pictures while getting the fish massage. But looking at my feet right now they don’t seem to far off.
You guys are such adventurers! Buuut, I might try to feet eating fish thingy as long as there are mermaids. I think Martyn is onto a good thing.
Cat, you are a retail goddess. Tesco has Villa stuff at half price? Gold mine! Tesco at Fortune Town has some really pretty clerks, too.
Argh! How can you tell I’ve been away from BKK for too long?
Siam.Rick´s last blog ..Canada takes more active interest in Southeast Asian issues
Rick, What Martyn isn’t telling is that the mermaids in Thailand are ladyboys…
Rick, prices change weekly, but to give you an idea…
I dislike shopping, so I generally load down with a week and a half worth of groceries (if I’m going to be in the country).
And when a cart full at Villas hit 6000 baht too many times, I went looking elsewhere.
Paragon and the Emporium are lovely, but they often have Villa Market prices (they have Tescos prices too but you need to compare).
I don’t like Carrefour or Big C, so I tentatively tried out Tescos for a first time.
The total bill (a loaded down cart) came to a little over 2000 baht.
Around 2000 baht is what the bill is at Villa for a quick, ‘I need to run in and get a few things’.
So I went to Tescos the next trip. Ditto. And another. Ditto.
At Tescos, I have never had a grocery bill over 3000 baht, even with visitors poking in.
And each time, I’m walking out with a large basket filled mostly with fruit and veg (both are killer prices at Villa Market) and staples (washing up liquid, cat food, kitty litter, fish, rice, etc).
I bought a single mango at Villa market for the same price as a bag of sweet mangoes at Tescos (four or six mangoes, I forgot already, but it does not matter).
But the most expensive (unexpected) item bought at Tescos was a seedless watermelon at around 200 baht. It was such a novelty, the Tesco gals and myself stood around my cart ‘oooohing’ at the price.
Mai bpen rai…
Catherine´s last blog ..Thai Language Thai Culture: What’s There “to Know”?
Awesome, I would live to take my better looking half it would freak her out bad she suffers from Ichthyophobia. I love fish and I don’t know if I would like it either pretty freaky. Actually she runs a beauty salon wonder if we should offer it LOL…
bpSchool´s last blog ..Using your digital SLR camera: Priority modes
BP that would be cruel to do to your better half but I have to admit I would love to see the outcome
Hmmm – I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to try it…
Ursula Comeau´s last blog ..Free Google Tools for Websites and Blogs
It is a fishy business. We start to have services like that in Vietnam as well.
Tickle by fish: whatever next. Can’t wait to give it a try on my next trip in April. Another great post Talen. Thank’s for sharing.