Every day, they cross the fingertips, probably the farthest distance in the world.
—Ring Planet • Issue 070 —
Ring Planet is a mysterious organization with members distributed around the world. Every week, friends from different countries and regions are invited to share with us his local experiences and knowledge.
In this episode, we invited Columbia University Master of Human Rights Studies - Arou . Aruo, who lives in the world, has visited more than 30 countries and regions. Today she wants to tell us about the masseurs in Southeast Asia.
— Text-Aruo / Review-Xiao A —
I am a hotel experiencer. Whenever I stay in a hotel in Southeast Asia and experience a spa, I always like to chat with masseur through the situation of doing massage.
These five-star hotels cost more than a thousand yuan a night, which is more than the monthly salary of local staff who provide meticulous services in the hotel. Customers rarely notice these service personnel living at the bottom of society, and I gathered some interesting lives through conversations with masseurs.
Cambodia
family vision of earning 2,000 US dollars in annual income
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In the location of the world's ancient site Angkor Wat, Cambodia Siem Reap , the person who gave me the SPA massage was a local woman in her thirties Ruan Jie . She has been working as a masseur in a hotel for more than five years.
She said that this job was hard-won. Her husband entrusted several acquaintances to introduce her into the hotel through her previous relationship as a doorman in the hotel.
When she first arrived at the hotel, she could hardly speak any English. The hotel conducted training for the staff for several months and taught them basic English greetings.
For a masseur, the most important sentence that Sister Ruan learned is: "Is my pressure ok? Is my strength appropriate?" and every time I say a sentence to the guest, I have to follow the sentence "Thank you" at the end.
Sister Ruan is shy and at first she answered my various questions about local life very reservedly. As she chatted, she started talking and talked to me about her family .
Sister Ruan’s husband felt that the salary of the hotel guard was too low, so like most men in Siem Reap who rely on the Angkor tourism industry to make a living, they became the tuk-tuk driver who picked up and dropped off tourists.
Her husband needs to spend money on his own to buy a motorcycle of $700-800, plus an additional $400 passenger seat, and assemble it into a tuk-tuk car of about $1,200.
Every September to March and April of the following year is the dry season in Cambodia and the peak season for tourism. Her husband can earn $250-300 a month. During the annoying rainy season from May to September, Siem Reap is not only hot and humid, but also frequent floods and low tourists. Drivers can only earn $100-150 a month.
Sister Ruan has a 12-year-old son who is about to go to middle school. The family of three lives in a Khmer-style wooden house loft outside Siem Reap. Sister Ruan and her husband are quite lucky. They hold the "golden rice bowl" of tourism that receives foreign tourists, and their income is two or three times higher than the average annual household income of Cambodia. However, with the rapid development of Angkor tourism in recent years, local prices in Siem Reap have also increased several times.
Sister Ruan smiled and said, having a baby is enough, but if there are too many, you can’t afford to raise it!
All public schools in Cambodia provide free education to locals from primary school to high school, but many people still cannot afford to go to school. For some low-level farmers, letting their children go to school means losing a family labor force.
They either live too far from the free school and cannot afford the transportation cost of their children running around for several hours on the dirt road to school, or the accommodation fee of boarding schools, or they cannot afford the miscellaneous fees, books, and school uniform fees in addition to tuition.
Sister Ruan said that there are actually several international schools in Siem Reap. Europeans and Americans working in Cambodia send their children to study international private schools in full English, with annual tuition fees ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 US dollars.
Only only local people like wealthy businessmen in Phnom Penh can afford private schools in the whole of Cambodia, and all the others are foreign children.In Sister Ruan's words, for ordinary Cambodians like them, they can't even think about sending their children to private schools.
"I hope my son can learn English well and be a tour guide in the future. I heard that the tour guide earns a lot!" Sister Ruan said with a happy smile.
In one of the poorest countries in Asia, this may be the biggest expectation of an ordinary parent for his children.
Singapore
Young people work for two years to buy a house without stress
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Chen Jie , who works in the Singapore Beach Hotel Spa, is the first Chinese-speaking masseur I met in Southeast Asia.
She is a Chinese Malaysian , speaking in Chinese with a strong Minnan accent. After a closer look, it turns out that Sister Chen is a three-generation immigrant, and her grandparents immigrated from the coastal areas of Fujian to Malaysia.
Sister Chen was born in Kuala Lumpur . She came to Singapore more than ten years ago to seek better job opportunities. Sister Chen said that when she came, Singapore was scarce in labor, so the immigration policy was very relaxed.
Migrant workers can apply for Singapore permanent residence status as long as their monthly salary is above 1,800 SGD (1 SGD = 5 RMB). They can receive approval notices three months to six months after submitting the application.
"It's not possible now. A monthly salary of over 2,500 SGD may not be in line!" Sister Chen said that if you want to apply for a Singapore green card now, you need to queue for at least one year, and the application may be rejected for various reasons.
After getting the green card, Sister Chen met her current husband. After getting married, she officially became Singaporean nationality. The two have a nine-year-old son.
Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singapore_Merlion-at-Marina-Bay-03.jpg
"Although I have been in Singapore for so long and have been a nationality here, I am still used to telling people that I am from Malaysia." Sister Chen smiled and said that life in Singapore is indeed more comfortable than in Malaysia, but she always has to go home to see her parents and relatives every few years. "After all, Kuala Lumpur is my hometown."
Sister Chen lamented that every time she goes home, she can find that Kuala Lumpur has built several new buildings and opened some new restaurants. Prices have risen rapidly, but everyone's salary has not changed. In Singapore, avoid the bustling tourism and business center, stay away from expensive high-end internet celebrity restaurants, and go deep into the locals' favorite civilian food court, and have a delicious dinner for just one or two SGD.
Sister Chen excitedly recommended several food courts (Hawker Centres) she usually likes to go to, such as the Old Airport Road Market and the Little India Bamboo Foot Market.
Whether Singaporeans have a monthly salary of several thousand or tens of thousands, they like to make an appointment with colleagues and friends after get off work to gather in the middle of these snack stalls similar to food stalls, spend five yuan, order a bowl of fish ball noodle soup, and drink a few beer. This is the most authentic way to eat in Singapore.
Photo by Lily Banse on Unsplash
Sister Chen said that Singapore is such a place where you can live a happy life even if you don’t make a lot of money.
The Singapore government provides HDB housing subsidy policy to the people is a model, greatly improving the contradiction of housing scarcity and making the vast majority of young people affordable houses.
The government has planned large-scale HDB flats and regulated the full payment of a house to around 200,000 Singapore dollars. Residents only need to pay a 10% down payment, and the rest can be paid slowly with provident fund. The housing provident fund is paid 16% and 20% of the monthly salary by the employer and employee respectively.
The conditions for purchasing HDB flats are Singaporean citizens or permanent residence, married, and the annual income of the family is less than S$12,000. If you are an unmarried single, you can still be eligible to buy a HDB flat until you are 35 years old.
is the highest-income Singapore in Asia, which has the highest GDP per capita, although education and medical care are not free, HDB housing policies effectively solve the biggest difficulties faced by young people.
As Sister Chen commented, young couples in Singapore can easily buy a house after working for two or three years, which will bring much less pressure to the younger generation.
"How are your housing prices in Beijing?" Sister Chen asked me curiously. I said Sister Chen, my shoulders are sore and painful. Please press them harder.
Bali
Alternative Hinduism Hippie Paradise
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Bali resorts claim to have the best spa in the world, I had to try their signature Balinese massage, and it was indeed well-deserved.
Balinese massage penetrates the blood vessels and reaches the acupoints, blending the smoothness of essential oil massage. After doing it, it feels like the whole body is toxic and refreshed. So I also met my masseur Ashita , who has been working in the resort for more than ten years.
Ashita comes from Bali, like most locals on the island, is a Hindus. She is the mother of three girls, and just like most couples on the island who rely on tourism to make a living, Ashita's husband works as a chartered driver for the island.
Bali is really a magical place. Most of the population of Indonesia is Muslim believers, but on this island that is loved by tourists from all over the world, all Balinese believe in Hinduism.
The Hindus here are different from the native Indian Hindus who practice vegetarianism. Their personalities are casual and enjoyable, without many red tape. Ashita does not resist other meat, but does not eat the beef that is considered sacred in Hinduism.
According to Hindu customs, believers need to worship gods every day, respect heaven and earth, gods, and nature. Shops that do business, such as shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, and hotels in the Ubud center, will place fresh flowers and tributes at the door of the store every day to worship gods, pray for good luck, and bless the prosperity of business.
No matter when you arrive in Bali, you can see the sacrifices of gods every now and then on the streets. When I was there, I happened to be the anniversary of the establishment of the temple. The locals affectionately called it "Cherish the temple's birthday". A large group of men were dressed in white, women wore garlands around their necks, and paraded along the streets with drums and drums. It was very lively.
Perhaps because the tropical climate in Bali is warm all year round, Balinese people are in line with the usual lazy and easy-goingness of tropical islanders.
Local residents live in small villages far away from the tourist hotel area, and the neighbors have a harmonious relationship. They ride motorcycles to and from get off work for one hour, and often complain about the poor transportation on the island.
Ashita said that over the years, a large number of European and American people have been pouring into Bali. They feel that the atmosphere here is very free and open. After moving in for a few years, they still love it so much that they are reluctant to leave. They wish they could retire here early to enjoy their youth.
In the eyes of Europeans and Americans, Bali is an almost utopian hippie paradise: low-priced, unrestrained, ubiquitous beach parties, paradise for surfing, yoga, and meditation.
"For European and American people, the rent in Bali is very cheap, but it is very expensive for us and cannot afford it." Ashita said slowly. A cheap house in Ubud, the central area of Bali, only a monthly rent of one house is about US$100, and a good four-bedroom villa with a whole villa costs only US$800-1,500.
However, Bali natives like Ashita who are engaged in basic tourism services have an average monthly salary of US$140, which is difficult to support the whole family.
Indonesian education system is not free. It costs dozens of dollars a year for elementary school and $150 to $350 a year for high school. This is an extremely high expense for the salary level of ordinary Indonesians, and many families are unable to afford their children's secondary education expenses.
Like Sister Ruan in Cambodia, Ashita never hopes to send her children to expensive international schools. When talking about the high education, medical care, housing prices for locals, and the cost of living raised by the tourism industry, Ashita did not complain, but just smiled faintly and tried hard to interpret all aspects of Balinese life in a not-so-smooth English to me and patiently.
"I am very happy to be with my husband and the children." Ashita mentioned his family and showed an uncontrollable smile on his face. Yes, the family is neat and orderly, and they are happy when they are poor.
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When the physiotherapy is over, the masseurs will always bow with their hands and express their gratitude respectfully to me.I always have to wait until I walk out of the dimly lit physiotherapy room before I can see their faces clearly. Under the dazzling high-hanging chandeliers in the hotel, the middle-aged woman's dark skin and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were nowhere to escape.
They cross the fingertips every day, probably the farthest distance in the world.
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