My Thai Fish Pedicure...

On our first trip to Thailand, Jenn and I were wandering through the Suan Lum Night Market when we happened upon a little shop with a bunch of fish tanks set up inside. I didn't think too much about it until I saw somebody inside with their feet dangling in the tank...


I had heard about a treatment where a certain species of fish will eat the dead skin off your feet, or hands or any part of your body really. Some may think this sounds really creepy (I think Jenn still does). It seemed really strange, but oddly intriguing to me. I debated having the treatment done, and then cast it from my thoughts. Besides, I didn't have my camera with me to document the event anyway.

A month later, we found ourselves back in Bangkok again on an unscheduled visit. While we weren't there to be tourists this time, I made the decision to go back to the night market. My decision to go back wasn't solely for the fish pedicure, but I must admit, I felt as though I missed out on something the last time around.

So we went to the market armed with money and a camera in tow.

A little bit of information about the Garra Rufa fish (also known as the Doctor Fish)... small tropical fish is in the cyprinid family of fish. It is a non-migratory freshwater fish that can be found naturally in Jordan, southern Turkey and nothern Syria. It is normally a bottom feeding type of fish. It was discovered in Turkey in a hot spring that the fish would feed upon dead skin, and not only that, had some positive health effects on those who have skin conditions such as psoriasis.

So, after locating the shop amongst the myriad of stores in the night market, paid my money, washed off my feet and dipped them in the fish tank. It was a bit disconcerting to see all the fish immediately swarm around my feet and ankles. It looked as though they hadn't had a meal in weeks! They started nibbling my the bottom of my feet where I am notoriously ticklish (perhaps I should have thought this through before trying it), but after a fit of laughter I started to get used to it. The only way to describe the feeling is to liken it to the pins and needle type feeling when parts of your body fall asleep or have their circulation cut off. It definitely didn't hurt, but it was a little weird and definitely surreal. I could see someone getting freaked out by it with the thought of ferocious pirañas attacking your flesh. But it was nothing like that, they were gentle but quite persistent. So I had my 15 minute treatment and I got to document it with photos. Just another day in Bangkok....