New Adventures In Backpacking

The fish spa blog that I posted last December was very popular so when I returned back to Bangkok I was not surprised to see how many Fish Spa’s had popped up all over the Khao San Road area. I returned to my original spa for some foot fish therapy but this time I was armed with my camera.

Enjoy

When I first saw a local walking down Khao San Road with a sandwich board advertising ‘His fish will eat your feet,’ I thought it was yet another of the many weird and tacky gimmicks that you find along the Khao San Road. So when I went north to Chiang Mai I was surprised not only to find numerous fish spas, but they were also full of local people(and not the Euro trash types you find in Bangkok). If it was good enough for the fair people of Chiang Mai then it was good enough for me.

However, I waited until I returned to Bangkok before getting my first ever fish spa. It really is catching on to the point where you don’t have to go to a specialist fish spa. Bars, restaurants, hairdressers, as well as random opportunists with a padding pool are getting in on the act. I chose a fish bar which was also showing Scottish football knowing that if I did not enjoy the fish action then I could still be reminded that worse things are happening in the world.

The spa cost 100 baht, which is roughly two pounds, for thirty minutes. Fish therapy originated from the fish called Gara Rufa in the river basins of Turkey. Gara Rufa are the original species used for fish spa skin pampering and nibbling treatments. The idea is that they work together as a team to improve foot skin condition through natural exfoliation by removing dead skin (nibbling it away). This also allows newer skin to regenerate by releasing the enzyme, diatanol.

You lower your legs into a large aquarium and the Gara Rufa start attacking your feet. At first it is excruciatingly ticklish and feels like you are having thousands of little electrodes poked at your feet. Watching hundreds of fish sucking at your feet whist they move in-between your toes is not for the squeamish, but after five minutes of the treatment I got used to it and enjoyed a coke and had some chat with curious passers-by.

Once my time was up and the fish returned to the bottom of the tank satisfied with their efforts I cannot say I was that impressed with the immediate results and my first thought was that I would have been much better served going for a pedicure. However, the following day I noticed my feet looked much healthier than normal, and since the fish spa have remained so, which given the wear and tear of donning flip flops everyday and walking on the beach for days on end I’m surprised how well they are holding up.

Whilst I’m 100% convinced by the powers of these fish, I wont be rushing to get my own little fish slaves in New Zealand, but it was quite good fun and made for an amusing tale. You should try everything at least once, and it is certainly much less painful than watching Scottish football!