I wrote this blog post in Northern Thailand in a town called Pai, about 80 miles northwest of Chiang Mai, the center for Northern Villager Style Thai Massage. It’s the first stop on a 350-mile motorcycle tour I’m enjoying, through the mountains of the Northwest.

Read on for some details about where I’ve been in Thailand and where I’m going next and also about my next classes scheduled in the Los Angeles area in January and in North Carolina in February 2016.

New Year’s Day 2016 arrived for me with a Bang… in fact many bangs… as I watched the midnight fireworks all over Bangkok from the 22^nd floor rooftop garden of my Airbnb condo in the sky. Which is also where I watched the first sunrise of the year, while practicing some much-needed yoga to balance me out after the long trip from Los Angeles via Shanghai.

Later that morning I took the Metro subway into town and had my first street-side Pad Thai for breakfast, in the shadow of the spire of Wat Traimit, the temple that houses the famous and huge Golden Buddha.

Then I walked through Chinatown to Wat Pho, the official center for Traditional Medicine Training in Thailand, where I had a Traditional Thai Treatment in the Royal Style at Chetawan Health Center, the Thai Massage School associated with the Wat Pho Temple.

It was a good pummeling, from an experienced expert, mainly using only his hands, which I actually enjoyed, despite the fact that I am somewhat prejudiced towards the more laid-back Northern Villager Style, where we like to use feet, knees, sit on you, or apply whatever other body part that seems most useful at the time.

If you haven’t seen them already, you can take a look at some of my pic’s on my Facebook profile here, and, if you’d like, send me a Facebook friend request and you can follow me on the rest of my travels in Thailand.

After a couple of days, I headed up to Chiang Mai, center for the style of Thai Massage – the deonThai METHOD – that I practice and teach. Over the next few days, I met up with several good friends from there, both Thai and Western, all of whom have been involved with Traditional Thai Massage for many years, in some capacity or another.

Why Thailand, Why Now?

Other than it being for my own periodic and very essential immersion into that wonderfully chaotic, yet mysteriously harmonious swirling “Thai-ness”, it’s a bit of a scouting mission. After many years of increasingly persuasive requests from you all, my students and clients, I’ve decided the time is right and we can start looking forward to some of our own Cultural Immersion Tours to the “Land of Smiles”. Stay tuned and let me know if you’re interested. The first one, with a limited number of participants might be taking place as soon as early December.

Interested in a Thailand Cultural Immersion Tour with Deon de Wet?

If traveling with me, meeting my Thai friends and allowing them to take us around and enlighten us on the “Real Deal” coming from working Thai Medicine Practitioners who know what they’re talking about, and learning how to “catch a glimpse” through Thai eyes sounds like your cup of tea, please check in with a comment below or an email and give us an idea of your preferences in terms of budget; ideal amount of time to spend over there; any particular interests you have, such as Thai Buddhism, Shamanism, Thai Bodywork techniques, cultural peculiarities, sight-seeing, personal pampering Thai-style, meditation, yoga, food, etc.

Next deonThai METHOD Yoga Massage Therapy Classes in January and February 2016

On another very important note, much closer to home: There are several classes coming up in the USA that I am sure will be VERY special, given that I will be there all fired up with renewed enthusiasm and reflections on the fascinating world of Thai-style Thai Massage… and how it differs and aligns, or not, with the sometimes strange (from a Thai perspective) approach that we offer in the West…

For upcoming Thai Yoga Massage class information, please check out our Calendar.

Please do whatever you can to join us in these upcoming classes! You are guaranteed to get enthused like never before about this incredibly life-affirming system/modality/method… or more accurately LIFESTYLE that still has me gushing about it after more than fifteen years, since first making the connection on a beach on the Island of Koh Samui.

I REALLY hope to see you at one of the next classes in the States and who knows, maybe in even in Thailand, sometime very soon!

Much Love & Be Well,

Deon de Wet