Fish Massage in Cambodia

Getting a fish massage on our feet, originally uploaded by jasonwmak.

After walking around Angkor all day (well, for 3 hours) our feet required some maintenance to maintain their supple, but firm textures. As if a sign from God, we saw a sign for "fish massage". I had heard of this phenomena from the news and was eager to test it out. Because we are cheap bastards, we, of course, bargained the $3 dollars/per person for 20 minutes into $4 for 2 people for 15 minutes thus saving $2 dollars which was applied to our dinner fund. (s.e asia is absurdly affordable. nyc will be hell)

We were led to a tub-like wading pool and greeted by a few other tourists (Guailos) who had already submerged their feet into the tub which was infested with tiny little fish. An attendant cleaned our feet with a communal towel before we were allowed to begin.

Upon submersion, the fish hungrily swarmed to our parched, delicious heels and nibbled ferociously, as if their very lives depended on our calloused contributions. It took about 10 minutes to get used to all the weird nibbling but my feet really did feel smoother after.

Apparently, in the US, this type of massage has been outlawed, deemed "unsanitary" and "illegal." Fortunately, S E Asia has no guidelines around sanitation, so if you are interested, you can try it in Cambodia!