I decide to get up early and see what the breakfast is. I shouldn't have bothered, all there is available is some bread and butter. When you toast the bread it turns in to this really dry crispy toast, and the butter is kind of sweet, it's a horrible combination! After this disappointment I go for a shower, the water is freezing, so I'm entering very slowly, getting acclimatised, then I turn round let the water over my back and my back has a spasm and I feel like I have been stabbed! What is wrong with me? Who does this? Am I 85? I think I even whimper, what a joke! I am moving at geriatric pace in the shower now, every movement hurts, I reach for some shower gel and it nearly kills me, it was nearly all over for the sake of having a wash. Eventually this old man finishes in the shower and hobbles back to the room to get changed. I'm kind of laughing at myself now, not that it is helping in my newly discovered fragile state. I tell some of the guys in the hostel about my misfortune, it brings a smile to all the faces.
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I'm considering getting a massage today, especially after what I have just done to myself, perhaps I might feel a little better. Now, I haven't taken myself for a massage anywhere in Asia, there is a very good reason for this. I don't want to be in a situation where I get offered more than a massage. I most certainly think that the actual massage would not be where the talent would be in such a place. I have a rule in my mind, if there is a pretty girl outside, trying to pull me in, that is no the place to go for a massage! So I venture off, cautiously, looking for somewhere. I pass many places, just on the roadside, but I'm not convinced. I keep heading down the road, being pestered alternately by, Moto Moto, massage sir. After a long walk in the heat I get to this professional looking place called body works. I look at the prices and they are steep, but from the look of the place I reckon I'll get a good massage out of it. So I get myself signed up, I have to wait an hour, so that'll give me time to go and have some real breakfast and cool down after my walk. Some bacon and eggs and a cup of coffee, hits the spot.
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Back for my massage. I check in and there are a lot of people here. The place even appears to do nails, hair and all that other beauty stuff. Unsurprisingly I am the only man in the place, so I take my seat to wait. This woman comes and calls my name, an older woman with glasses, I follow her and she leads me in to this room that has a bath and 2 beds. The beds are on some raised section in either side of the entrance with the mattress in the middle of the raised area. I get changed in to the short provided and then lie on one of the beds. The woman comes in and starts with my massage. It is a good firm massage, where I am sure that she is in a press up position putting all her weight on my back as she kneads her way up. Of course my shorts are in the way of the techniques being employed and so they are nearly pulled off me as she works my lower back. One very strange aspect of this Balinese massage is the amount of time the woman spends massaging my ass. I must say it was a very strange experience indeed. Plenty of attention given to my buttocks, including a spread technique that I'm not sure I was entirely comfortable with. There was non chat out of my masseuse and after 50mins we were done and I was left to get a shower after. That was good as I could wash off the oil and feel clean. My back is feeling a little better after my massage and so I am happy to pay the high price.
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I head out for dinner with Troels and Louise. We play the classic game of letting someone else pick your meal. Troels picks me some spicy seafood dish. We have to really labour the point that we all like spicy, because I think the locals are scared that it will be too spicy. They probably have a lot of people asking for the mega spice and then not being able to handle it, but it is fine for us travelled Asian professionals. We grab a couple of beers after dinner and practically get chucked out of the place. I don't understand because they let us order another round of drinks, then 5mins later they turn the lights out and start pulling the shutters down. Why let us order the drinks then? After our kick out it is time for home, so I jump back in to my taxi and arrange to meet Troels for some football in a sports bar tomorrow night.