Massage
The best massages I've had, at least out of the ones I've paid for, have been either at Harbin Hot Springs or in San Francisco. I've had some really good ones in Amsterdam, too, and Arizona. Then there's a loooong gap in rank above anything else.
The ones I had when I lived in Malaysia were okay, even the first one which came with a 'happy ending' that I wasn't expecting. (This was at the hotel my employer put me up in, not the sort of place I was expecting that sort of thing.) I'm sorry to say that I've yet to have any good massages in Australia, except for some decent 20-minute ones at various hippy festivals. The couple of complete ones I had were mediocre and awful, respectively. I hope to find a good Aussie place eventually.
Anyhow, I had a massage in Cuzco today that was pretty good. I got it on recommendation from a guy I met and found to be a source of helpful information, the only Gringo street vendor I've seen in Perú. It was in the neighbourhood where women are handing out fliers for massage all day, which made me wonder what kind of massage they were offering, until I passed through that neighbourhood again at night and got no such offers. The way I put it to my Gringo friend is 'are these the kinds of massages I'm used to in Northern California, or is it more of a Malaysian deal? (He's lived in Oakland and has been to Malaysia, so he knew what I meant.) He said his contact was the only one he'd recommend to anyone looking for the former.
It certainly felt nice, and I came out of it feeling relaxed. The massage therapist used a lot of the same techniques I do when I massage somebody, ones I used to think actual massage therapists would laugh at, until I'd dated enough of them to realise that being touched lovingly and intentionally means as much to them as technique. But it wasn't what I've grown accustomed to in NoCal. I still have that crick in my neck, and there wasn't that instinctive honing in on the parts of my body that needed the most attention. They probably don't have any kind of massage accreditation here in Perú it just felt nice.
So there's a thing to add to the list of things I miss about California. I sure hope I find something decent in New South Wales as well.