Massage Parlors
Massage parlors, or “ab op newut” in Thai, are establishments which have the following:
- The girls are fulltime employees of the parlor and work the same daily schedule
- The ladies are sitting in a show room behind glass (“fish bowl”) wearing numbers, and you choose one (no talk in advance)
- The lady takes you to a room inside the establishment for your encounter, not outside
- You pay one established fee for everything, non-negotiable, and typically 1500-2500 baht in advance
- The girls ARE required to go with whichever man who wants them, and cannot choose of their own free will whether or not to go with whoever chooses them
- The room inside where there is a big tub bath and a bed
- The usual routine is the girl bathes you, applies a condom, gives you oral sex and/or gives you a soapy massage with her breasts and/or and slides down to intercourse and/or continues on the bed.
These places should not be confused for “traditional massage” places. The latter are real massage, not including sex. The sex-massage places normally do not include a real massage whereby “massage” is a misnomer (except they do massage one particular organ).
These establishments are more popular for Asians than for westerners, though many westerners frequent these places as well.
When you walk in the door, you will see girls sitting together in a central section for viewing behind a large glass window. They may be wearing swimsuits or some special uniform linguerie unique to that establishment. They are all wearing a unique number. You decide which one you want and tell the man who has the microphone. He calls the number and you meet near the cashier. You pay your money and she brings you to the room for the above routine. Note: You do not talk to the girl before deciding to take her.
The slang phrase for these places is “fish bowl”, whereby you choose which fish to scoop out of the bowl.
A few can be found in the Patpong area, and there are a few standing alone in scattered places down sois on Sukhumvit. These places are few and far between in the expat / tourist areas because most westerners prefer to chat up ladies first.
Sex massage places are by far the most popular in the Thai entertainment zones up Ratchadapisek, down Petchburi, and in the Phaya Thai region. However, you can find massage places all over Bangkok, and indeed can usually find at least one in almost all major towns, and many small towns. I’ve occasionally seen them in the middle of nowhere between cities. Just see a lit up place on the side of the road, and there are ladies sitting there with numbers on, with a shophouse above, apparently appealing to men driving by!
There are many taxi and tuk-tuk drivers with glossy brochures of massage parlors. The selection of girls in the parlors are almost never as nice looking as the girls in the photo in the brochure. However, girls in massage parlors are often prettier than girls in bars, since the massage girls are successful based solely on their looks, whereas girls in bars can interact with customers first and apply their charms.
Notably, since Thai men like white skinned girls, then practically all massage parlors that cater mainly to Thai men will have girls with whiter skin on average than bars in farang areas. In fact, most girls in farang area bars consider themselves dark skinned, and many Thai guys think the foreigners get the worst ladies. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder (or in the eyes of the beer holder, as the corollary goes).
