Babylon

Shortly after arriving in Bangkok last week, my Thai friend B takes me to get a traditional Thai massage at one of the Health Land Spa and Massage centres.

"It's really good for helping you beat jet lag," says B in the taxi on the way, "and it's much cheaper here than in London too!"

Indeed, the charge for a two hour traditional Thai massage at Health Land is only 450 Baht, which is just £9 at current exchange rates.

The next day we do some sightseeing, but by mid-afternoon we've run out of energy.

"How about another massage?" I suggest to B, "perhaps an oil massage this time?"

"OK sure, do you want to go back to Health Land?" replies B. "Health Land is excellent and very professional, but there are other possibilities ..."

"Such as?" I ask, wondering why he's being mildly evasive.

"Such as Babylon!" he replies, looking a bit ashamed of himself for suggesting it.

I'd heard of Babylon because it's Bangkok's famous top quality gay sauna and spa, but since this is my first visit to Bangkok I'd obviously never been there.

"You can get massages at Babylon :-)?" I say enthusiastically. "But are they any good? Or are the masseurs there just rent boys!"

"You westerners have completely the wrong idea about Thai massage!" says B. "Massage is an important part of our culture :-). Just because there's physical contact doesn't mean that there's anything sexual about it. A tiny proportion of the massage parlours here may be involved in the kind of prostitution that you're inferring, but most of the time Thai massage is just massage. Having said that, I don't know whether the masseurs at Babylon are any good because I don't go there!"

"Well, I think we should try, if it's OK with you? Then we can go back to Health Land for an oil massage on another day and compare :-)."

B nods his head and smiles. He can't really complain at the decision because it was his suggestion, so no doubt he's interested to go too! Needless to say, having disappointed my readers here by failing to see either a pussy ping pong or a hard cock show, my primary reason for going is to do some research for a good blog posting. My enthusiasm for going has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the place will be full of good looking horny guys wearing nothing but towels round their waists :-).

We hail a cab and about 20 minutes later, we're making our way up the stairs inside Babylon to the locker rooms on the first floor. It doesn't take us long to get changed and wearing just our towels, we start to explore the complex. Soon we're standing in front of the desk where we can book massages. The spa menu is fixed to the counter in front of the desk and immediately we notice an important message in big bold letters right at the top:

No Sex – no hand jobs

So just like B said, Thai massage is massage and not sex! However on a separate card is the offer of a Babylon sensual massage, and I can't help thinking that since this card is separate and without the "No Sex" message, with that option some kind of sexual contact is probably available.

I choose the Thai oil massage from the 'no sex' menu, and since a masseur is immediately available, it's not long before I'm being taken into a room by an exceptionally cute young Thai guy. Inside the room there are two massage tables separated by a white see-through curtain which splits the room in two.

"Take off towel and lie face down on table please :-)," says the cute young guy smiling at me. Unlike the massages that I've had in the spas of up-market hotels in the past, there's no concern that I might be shy about being completely naked in front of him. But of course, I don't have any such concerns, so I take off my towel and do as instructed!

"Hmmm, sexy!" he whispers at me, playfully pinching my right buttock once I'm lying down. I bet he says that to all the guys!

He covers me with a towel before disappearing for a short while, and while he's gone I can't help wondering whether he's actually the masseur. After all, perhaps he's just the cute guy that they use to take clients into the rooms and prepare them for the arrival of the masseur. Although it is the massage that I want, I confess that I do prefer a massage from a guy that I like the look of, compared to a massage from a guy that I'm not attracted to.

My fears turn out to be unfounded and soon the cute guy returns to start the massage. After about 20 minutes, a muscular guy and another masseur walk in quietly and start to use the other massage table. Peering through the see-through curtain after a few minutes, I see the muscular guy's exceptionally pert buttocks completely exposed above the towel covering his legs.

Towards the end of the massage after I'd turned over to lie on my back, my cute masseur is rubbing the oil into one of my legs and at the top of each stroke his hands keep bumping into my equipment. Some contact down there is probably unavoidable during this kind of therapy, however as I gradually react to the attention, I can't help wondering whether the contact is deliberate. Perhaps the masseurs play a game with each other, and are deemed to have failed if they can't produce erections in their clients, even during a 'no-sex' massage?

While I'm standing to attention, the massage on the other table comes to an end. Although I'm not a shy guy, I can't help wondering how obvious I am given that the other two guys will soon be walking past me, so I peer down the table to take a look. Spotting my movement, the cute masseur give me knowing wink and then moves the towel to make sure that I'm covered up. What a rascal, surely he was indeed touching me down there deliberately! But once covered, my excitement gradually subsides, and within about ten minutes the massage comes to an end.

"You sexy guy :-)," says the cute masseur, looking at my body from head to toe while I'm standing there naked, reaching for my towel.

"Thanks very much :-)," I say, smiling back at him. But I'm still sure that he must say that to all the guys!

Before re-joining B, I take some time to look round the rest of the complex, and it's very impressive. I find all the usual cubicles and dark areas, saunas and steam rooms. There's even one steam room which is pitch black inside, although that strikes me as a bit dangerous. After all, if someone was to succumb to the heat and collapse as a result of staying inside for too long, they could be on the floor for ages and no one would spot them. However, the wandering hands in that steam room can be quite good fun!

In fact Babylon is much more than a sauna and spa. There are a couple of good bars, and even a restaurant that looked like it was serving good quality food. On top of that there's a decent sized outdoor swimming pool.

However the swimming pool can lead to problems because it encourages guys to wear swimming trunks, and so after a dip in the pool some guys will wear a towel too. One of the nice things about this kind of establishment is that when guys are just wearing a towel they're very accessible. So initially, it came as a bit of a shock to me that with some guys, one had to work one's way through two items of clothing before one could make any progress!