I went to the Institut Baim Siam on Saint-Germain Boulevard in Paris, France for a traditional Thai massage. Paris is covered with Thai massage establishments similar to this one, and this one had fairly good reviews, so I was able to do a walk-in on my second visit. On my first visit the door was locked. The therapist work dully as a receptionist, so everyone must have been in appointments. A busy establishment can usually be a sign of good services.
I asked for a 30-minute Thai massage and 30-minute foot massage for a total one hour service. She kept asking me if I wanted an oil massage, and I repeatedly said no, that I wanted Thai. She seemed very surprised that someone would walk off the street and ask for a Thai massage, but that’s what I did. I was then asked to change my shoes for their natural material flip flops and gladly obliged.
She brought me downstairs and asked to change into pants that were the exact same draw string that I was already wearing, because I knew I was going for a Thai massage. When I lifted my shirt and showed her I was wearing the exact same pants in a very similar color to what she was holding, she burst out laughing and we had a nice bonding moment.
She then asked me to remove my top, and had lied on the table in pronated position. After I laid down, another massage therapist entered and asked me to remove my bra as well. I was lying on table paper on a 40” wide table and then most of my posterior body was covered with some type of towel that didn’t really feel like a towel. I’ve never felt anything like what I was covered with before. The image below shows one of two massage treatment rooms in the basement which are separated by curtains.
The Thai massage started with pressure points up the feet, then she hopped onto the table between my legs and continued applying alternative pressure on my posterior legs from inferior to superior. The pressure was too much and she did not respond to French or English requesting less, so I asked her in English, what language do you speak, and she said Thai. So I grabbed my phone and googled an English to Thai translation for less pressure and played the audio for it, and she laughed and used less pressure.
The alternating pressure with her palms continued into my hips, and then when she got to my back, she performed circular friction with her thumbs on my erector spinae from inferior to superior. She pulled on and kneaded my upper trapezius and it all felt divine.
Once she finished kneading my back, she then applied oil and performed a Swedish style back massage which was a surprise. I was only expecting a Thai massage until she got to my feet, but I went along with it because it felt really good and she had beautiful hands and good training.
After she finished my oil back massage she then went back to the inferior end of the table and started legs stretches, following by placing one leg at a time in various positions for more kneading of the leg with her palm. This felt wonderful as she stretched my adductors and other muscles with simultaneous kneading through the draw string pants.
Once she had me roll-over from prone to supinated position, I realized we were doing an hour long table massage without the 30-minute foot appointment I had requested, which was fine by me because the massage was extremely interesting and enjoyable. The massage therapist continued to place my legs in various positions as she continued her experienced compression which all felt good and non-invasive.
Then she undraped my chest to expose my abdomen and performed an oil massage over my tummy. She reached through obliques, used appropriate pressure and it was another wonderful experience to receive this with my Thai massage appointment. The abdomen is usually included with traditional Thai massage bodywork.
She then left the room and thoroughly washed her hands. She returned with herbal cottons which she then applied to my face. The first herbal cotton was placed over my eyes, then she placed another over my jowl area, and then started chest compressions using her palms again. Another herbal cotton was then placed over my lower face and she started squeezing my mandible under the cotton. She then moved to my forehead and did some pressure point work. After she removed all the cotton which was now cool, she started a facial massage without lubricant, which was fine, because my skin was still wet from the herbal cotton.
The facial massage felt wonderful and she finished with an incredible mind-blowing scalp massage before finishing the treatment. The scalp massage wasn’t sophisticated but she kept rhythmically repeating the same incredible engulfing stroke over and over again. She had both hands over my entire head with her fingertips reaching all the way down to my ears and would pull up with the stroke, and relax back down in the same starting position and repeated it over and over again. It was really wonderful. The picture at the top of this article is one of their treatment rooms upstairs which looks a little bit better than what I occupied in the basement.
When I came upstairs, I was presented with a snack, bottle of water and paper cup which was a really nice way to finish the Thai massage appointment. The snack was some form of delicious, airy, salty wafer from Thailand.
I asked if I could get a 30-minute foot massage at this Thai spa and they obliged. It appeared they had all the equipment they needed to perform the foot massage in their lobby/reception area. She had me sick back and placed both feet on the ottoman which she had just placed a towel over. She started with one foot by oiling it, then adding cream and what seemed like a menthol gel (pictured below) together. So there were three massage mediums used all at once. The oil provides the high viscosity slip, the cream provides a moisturizing effect and the menthol provides an additional cooling and energizing effect. She worked one foot at a time while leaving the other covered with a towel, similar to how we would work in Reflexology treatments. She was methodical in stretching the foot and using her knuckles for foot massage as well.
Once she finished with one foot and lower leg, she would provide compressions on it through a black towel. Notice how she always has two hands on the client. While compression is being made with the hand working superiorly, the inferior hand remains with firm contact which makes the massage feel wonderful and wholly engulfing. We call the second hand that remains in constant contact the "mother" hand.
Once she finished both feet, she then provided dual foot stretches and compressions on both.
Pictured below is the gel that was mixed with the cream for the 30-minute foot massage appointment at the Thai spa:
After my foot massage ended, the massage therapist had me sit on the ottoman where she was massaging my feet, and finished with a couple minutes of upper back massage, primarily squeezing, kneading and massaging my upper trapezius.
In the end, I was very happy with this massage therapist's technical skill; however, the work surroundings justified the lower prices of their services. When we went downstairs to the basement for my massage (pictured above), it was dark, cluttered and just felt a little dirty. I lied on a table partially covered with paper and the towels or blankets I was covered with felt pilled, scratchy and/or gritty.
If they are laundering their supplies between clients, the cloth type material is far past what should be considered normal use because now they just feel quite soiled. The same with the towels that were used with my foot massage upstairs. Aside from the environment and my therapist’s inability to speak in any language other than her own Native tongue while working in another country, it was all good. Please note that I was not provided the service I had requested in both French and English, which was only a 30-minute Thai massage plus a 30-minute foot. I received a 60-minute full body thai massage instead, then had to add the 30-minute foot after the fact. Regardless, it was still a good experience despite these setbacks.
I probably would not go back due to sanitation concerns, communication issues and poor quality of the supplies used. The therapist repeatedly "double" dipped her hand into the cream after massaging my feet with oil, and despite the quality of her massage, that’s unfortuantely not something I would want to be on the receiving end of on a regular basis.
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