Babylon-like Sauna?

[alvnv]

2 hours ago, Gaybutton said:

it's probably much less expensive to every so often send flowers to my hands . . .

 

[scott456]

3 hours ago, Gaybutton said:

Pattaya has a bar scene?

I'm getting to the point that "self service" doesn't seem like such a bad option.  Besides, it's probably much less expensive to every so often send flowers to my hands . . .

Of course you can "self service" everything, but I don't think you come all the way to Pattaya to jerk off yourself, although it's less expensive.

[floridarob]

14 minutes ago, scott456 said:

Of course you can "self service" everything, but I don't think you come all the way to Pattaya to jerk off yourself, although it's less expensive.

He lives there I think.

[scott456]

22 minutes ago, floridarob said:

He lives there I think.

That's still depressing...living in Pattaya but "self service".

[Mapraou]

On 1/31/2023 at 12:41 PM, PeterRS said:

Just for clarification unless others have not noticed it, Babylon closed about 3 years ago. The building is currently being demolished.

Apparently the developers are having problems with the last Eurotrash tourists refusing to remove their towels from the sun lounges around the pool…

[Gaybutton]

7 hours ago, scott456 said:

I don't think you come all the way to Pattaya to jerk off yourself

You're right.  I don't.

 

Crew:  "What never?"

Captain Corcoran:  "No Never"

Crew:  "What never?"

Captain Corcoran:  "Well . . . hardly ever"

-  Gilbert & Sullivan, "I AM The Captain Of The Pinafore", 'HMS Pinafore'

[emiel1981]

On 1/24/2023 at 5:55 AM, MarcSingap said:

It is just a general trend in saunas. Young Asian are not into having sex with farangs for free... unless the farang is young and not fat.

I always liked going to Babylon. I am getting older and fatter (lol...) but could still have my fair share of groping, getting touched and sucked... But also just liked to aspect of cruising the complex and walking into one of the dark steam rooms. Somehow I didn't really dare to visit another sauna in Bangkok since Babylon closed. Probabaly because me too I have feeling that I might not belong to these places as they might have a different croud.

I won't feel comfortable between too much in shape Asians I'm afraid... 

On 1/30/2023 at 11:58 PM, hojacat said:

 I honestly preferred going to the Rama 9 saunas, like R3 and Underground, which even though geared more  towards a Thai-to-Thai type of action, had a  much younger local crowd who didn't mind messing around with farangs.

As for Krubb, i have been twice, in August and December. As I said in some other posts, there is definitely a big "sticky rice" vibe in the crowd, but Westerners are definitely welcomed, both young and old. 

Makes me think I might be right not checking them out as I might feel out of place... Shame. Liked my little sauna afternoons in Babylon. 

Somebody can tell me about their recent sauna adventures in Bangkok that might change my mind? 

[reader]

The only place that comes to mind is 39 Underground Sauna, a five-minute walk from the Saphan Kwai BTS stop. You can read customer comments at this site:

https://www.travelgay.com/venue/39-underground/

Entrance fee: 200 bht, open daily 12-12

 

[alvnv]

5 hours ago, emiel1981 said:

I won't feel comfortable between too much in shape Asians I'm afraid...

Between - yes, among - no 😆

[jjhjjp]

Has anyone been to 39 sauna? Who are the usual clients?

[reader]

9 hours ago, jjhjjp said:

Has anyone been to 39 sauna? Who are the usual clients?

Review from Travelgay.com

“I go there often and I am never disappointed. Guests are mainly Asians of all ages, but on average quite young. As long as you smile and talk a little, relationships can become good qualities. It is also true that management does not distinguish between age and ethnicity. The staff are also friendly. From these bases, it is easy to give your whole body to make this evening a very good time.“

[jjhjjp]

On 2/24/2023 at 4:26 AM, reader said:

Review from Travelgay.com

“I go there often and I am never disappointed. Guests are mainly Asians of all ages, but on average quite young. As long as you smile and talk a little, relationships can become good qualities. It is also true that management does not distinguish between age and ethnicity. The staff are also friendly. From these bases, it is easy to give your whole body to make this evening a very good time.“

Thank you!

[khaolakguy]

The Travelgay review reads like AI. I wouldn't take it too seriously.

[vinapu]

2 minutes ago, khaolakguy said:

The Travelgay review reads like AI. I wouldn't take it too seriously.

all reviews are like that. It's why I never pay much attention to reviews  by people I don't know either personally or at minimum from their input in sites like this.

For fun sometimes I read reviews of hotels I stay in the past and often wonder  if that really was a case reading what it's  written there

[scott456]

A lot of reviews on TripAdvisor are fake, paid by the hotel/restaurant/tour operators. Years ago I made negative review on a restaurant in Buenos Aires.  Sure enough, there was another review to counter my factual points soon after my review.

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, scott456 said:

A lot of reviews on TripAdvisor are fake, paid by the hotel/restaurant/tour operators. Years ago I made negative review on a restaurant in Buenos Aires.  Sure enough, there was another review to counter my factual points soon after my review.

years ago one of our members reported catching owner of Oasis restaurant on Suriwong writing review of his own restaurant on TripAdvisor.  At least that was very good restaurant and I miss their chicken with cashew nuts a lot.

[PeterRS]

There was a two-page article in Business Traveller Magazine some years ago about how Tripadvisor and other such similar sites manipulate reviews. Basically it claimed "Don't trust them!"

Any review comprising one or two lines will always be suspect in my book. I recall writing to Tripadvisor in North America after I had spotted what were certainly fake reviews - about 20 of them. More than half relatively quickly disappeared. All concerned the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, that mighty monolith with the rooftop pool stretching across its 3 towers. (I stayed there 11 years ago when a guest at a Conference. Ghastly hotel - 25 minute wait for check-in, 10 minute waits for lifts, 20 minute queue for breakfast, a pool with half of Singapore behind watching you and a premium non-smoking room with cigarette burns all over the place). But that hotel is one of the city state's key projects. When its powers-that-be realised it was the lowest ranking 5-star hotel in Singapore on Tripadvisor by quite a margin, it obviously got all its contractors, PR people and others to write these silly fake reviews. Sadly they worked. The hotel jumped from over 60 in the rankings of all hotels to the mid-30s. I see that today it has fallen back to #47.

The point is that many reviews in gay travel magazines are equally not to be trusted. Not because they may be false. More because many gay travellers have very different expectations of what a bar or especially a sauna should be like. I think one reason many older regular farang liked Babylon in its second incarnation was that it was as much a social hang out with its bar, restaurants, pool, gym and plentiful cruising. Sex was almost secondary, whereas for the younger crowd sex was probably the prime reason for visiting. 

Take Travelgayasia, a site which I believe gets a lot of things wrong. As others have said several times, by far the most active and fun sauna in Taipei is Soi13in. That site claims it used to be the Rainbow sauna. Wrong! That sauna's latest review has this - "“Went lat [sic] night and the steam room was cold, the dry sauna was cold, half of the rooms were closed and even after asking the staff, they said it could not be open. Yet you pay the full price!! Avoid this place, it is a scam to make money and deliver no service!!!“ Admittedly this was inserted during covid on 24 June 2020 but within Taiwan the island had basically not been affected by covid then. 4 reviews later you find this from 6 December 2019, "I've visited many gay saunas in Asia but surely I will vote for Soi13in is the best of the best." Almost all reviews are on the lines of this second one. 

It will have been noted that neither of the above reviews is from a recent patron (although @hojacat in the Taipei thread has posted much more recent rave reviews). The review posted by @reader of 39 Sauna in Bangkok above is also very dated - it's virtually 4 years old. A great deal can happen in 4 years. I do not trust a site with no more recent reviews during the rest of that pre-covid year and the more recent opening up. I'd much rather trust the latest reviews from members here.

[reader]

10 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I do not trust a site with no more recent reviews during the rest of that pre-covid year and the more recent opening up. I'd much rather trust the latest reviews from members here.

I agree that reviews shouldn't be taken as gospel but you've got to start someplace, especially when members aren't reporting any recent experience. That leaves the time-honored--and best--method of satisfying one's curiosity about any venue: spend the 200 baht and just go there and find out for yourself. The glass may turn out to be half-full but there's only one way to find out for sure.

That also limits any potential prejudice to just your own and then you can report back here for the benefit of other members. It's not rocket science. 😃

Using the search engine. I did locate a dated (2013) post about 39 Underground from our moderator.

In this photo, the sauna is at the far end of soi. Large cinema known

for gay sex cruising is on your left. Out of frame are some all-male massage

shops on right side.

Here's some other photos:

https://ja.world-gay-guide.com/thailand/pc/detail/index.php?rainbow_no=170

 

[ChristianPFC]

Completely different from Babylon, but 39 underground is certainly worth a visit. I have Farang friends who are regular customers. I go once a year. Mostly Thai, but rarely spot someone who is my type. The place is brimming on weekend evenings to nights.