Friday, March 23, 2012

An Appointment with Dr Fish!

I'm trying to find the time to go through all my holiday pictures to share with you, but there are so many I just don't know where to start! Between multiple cameras and iPhone shots, it's a task in itself to just collate all the images! I thought I'd start with sharing an interesting experience with you...

The streets of Siem Reap are lined with sign after sign for Dr Fish. Our friend Mark always jokes "Those Cambodians give out PHDs like nobody's business - everyone's a dr!" haha. Also known as a fish massage, there are pools of water which are filled with hundreds and thousands of fish of varying sizes - all eager and ready to consume any dead areas of skin you might have!

Although I'd had a fish massage on a previous trip to Phuket, the difference between this was the sheer size of the fish! The fish in Phuket were tiny little tadpole sized things, but when I looked at the creatures swimming around in the water in Siem Reap I freaked!

Liam and I decided that we had to try it though. There are many places offering all sorts of deals; even throwing in a free beverage to sweeten the deal. However if that doesn't work for you, you can barter and bargain your way to a satisfactory price! We were given a rate of $2 for an hour, but decided that we only wanted 20 minutes for $1 each. Little did I know it would take the better part of 20 minutes for me to actually get my feet into the water!


We settle down with mocktails, and prepare ourselves. I actually requested cocktails, but clearly my cousin thought it was far too early in the morning, and ordered these delightfully fruity drinks instead!


Here's Liam, preparing to dip his toes into the water. You only need to dangle your feet slightly over the water, and they come swarming! Although you can't see it all that clearly, that is the Mother of All Grimaces (no, not the big purple monster!) on his face.


He bravely plunges his feet into the water!


I, on the other hand, spend the next 10 minutes just hovering over the water, and squealing my little heart out every time a fish approaches my little toesies!


But I get there eventually...

GET AT MY DEAD SKIN, LITTLE FISHES!


7 comments:

  1. those fishes feel really weird, it took me like 15mins before i could put my feet in there without taking it out again.

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  2. I love Dr Fish. Honestly my feet felt so amazing after they had nibbled away. Plus there is nothing quite like sitting in the middle of the street, with your feet in a fish tank and a drink in hand. I wonder if it would take off if you put one in a shopping centre in Australia?

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  3. Those mocktails look awesome! I wanted to do that in Cambodia but my mum was convinced that the fish had leprosy, and she was in charge of the money, so no soft feet for me :(

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  4. I love how they advertise 'No piranha'. LOL

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  5. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, part interested part creepy.

    And you should download picasa, google photo organiser. Makes holiday pics so much easier! Plus, you can upload directly to blogger :-)

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  6. You didn't ask for cocktails! You asked for a drink... I didn't see any alcohol there other than beer otherwise I would of course have ordered you something more vodka-infused =) Love, your cousin xx

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