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A little bit of history.
Previously, I had a business called Sabai Sabai Massage in Phuket. I had taken over that one in 2015 and had been running it ever since.
The business was located on a very famous street in the Chalong district called “Soi Ta-Iad” or also “Soi Ta-Ead.”
The soi (street) houses many gyms and fitness centers, such as Tiger Muay Thai, Phuket Top Team, Unit 27, Titan Fitness to name a few. Many professionals and amateurs practice their sport there. Therefore, the street was and is known worldwide as the Mecca in the training world of martial arts and fitness. Many of these athletes visited our salon to get a massage to recover quickly from and after their intensive trainings. Sometimes they also came prior to their training in preparation for it.
In the last quarter of 2018, our landlord announced that we would not be able to renew the lease on the premises that ran until September 2019.
Of course, that was bummer (to say the least) because we had made a good name for ourselves there over the years.
So it meant we had to look for another location to continue the business.
In December 2018, we got an offer to rent a property a little further down the street and start a business there.
The property was the restaurant part of an exclusive hotel Anchan Lina hotel, but due to the oversupply of the many small and cozy restaurants in the soi, the restaurant was not running. And so we got the opportunity to use the premises for our massage parlor. It was a great location diagonally opposite the Tiger Muay Thai gym. We could already use it from January 1, 2019.
So we did not have to think long and a contract was quickly signed.
However, we did have to redecorate everything since the rooms were delivered completely stripped of the interior.
After 2 months of intensive work, we could start our new business at the end of February 2019. We named the business RandR Massage, referring to the initial of my first name as well as that of my husband. In addition, it was a quip to the famous R&R (Rest & Recreation) introduced by the Americans in the Vietnam War to offer the soldiers some rest and relaxation in Thailand after weeks of fighting the war away from the battlefield.
One of the many professional athletes who visited our salons in Phuket. Russian professional mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler and champion Khamzat Khizarovich Chimaev.
Many of our regular clients followed us to the new location for their regular massage, and we got many new clients in a short time as a result of the larger business. So, because the contract with the first business continued for a few more months, I managed two businesses for a short time.
However then, in early 2020, corona came around the corner and we were forced to close our business, like so many others, several times and for several months to stop the spread of the virus.
So of course that was a gigantic bummer and threw a whole barrel of soot into our meal.
At the end of 2021, the new morale and tourism slowly picked up, but by then my husband and I had already decided to focus on Belgium, more specifically Kessenich (Kinrooi) and its surroundings, where my husband had been living for years.
So I arrived in Belgium in the second half of 2022. And had to do the integration first.
That whole process has been completed and now I can fully focus on my new salon.
In Thailand, the New Year is always celebrated in the month April. It is called “Songkran” there and is ushered in with rich, or rather; lots of water.
The date varies slightly as it is adjusted to the phases of the moon, but typically it is in the middle of April.
Here is a short impression of the Songkran festival in Phuket :
