What is a Soapy massage ?

Soapy Massage (àap-òp-nûat, อาบอบนวด, literally bath, steam, massage):

Soapy Massage (àap-òp-nûat, อาบอบนวด, literally bath, steam, massage):
These are the bigger massage parlors where girls are presented in the “fishbowl” and you get the full program (including sex) for a fixed price, depending on the girl starting from 1,500 and up to 5,000 Baht. The body-to-body massage is one part of the program here but not at all places – more on that later.

A soapy massage also known as a Body massage is a naked girl, usually 4 or even 5 star, well stacked, young and willing to please, giving you a bath, then, soaping both of you up, slides back and forth, her body parts massaging yours and then retiring to the bed for physical therapy of your choice.

For details about the Bangkok soapy massage, here’s a true account of all the gory details from an experienced expat who lives in Thailand. Be warned, www.thairomeo.com › bangkok-soapy-massage

The 3 Types and Prices of Girls in the Sex Massage Parlors

• Fishbowl Girls: As the name already says, these are the girls sitting in the fishbowl and most of the girls are classified as those. They’re employed by the parlor and receive a base salary of around 10,000 Baht, but of course it’s their sessions that pay a lot more over the month, so if the massage is 2,000 Baht they’d get no less than 1,000 so if they do 2 guys every day that’s at least 70,000 Baht income a month – more than most Farangs make! Fishbowl girls have fixed working hours and may not leave the parlor until it closes which is midnight to 1am.
  Price Range: $$$$$ (1,500-2,800 Baht)
  Expression in Thai: tam-má-daa – ธรรมดา – Standard
• Sideline Girls: These girls could also be called freelancers because that’s what they essentially are – they’re not employed by the massage parlour and come and go whenever they want. Some say they are more attractive than the fishbowl girls because they got a higher price tag but that’s mainly because they are quite young, usually between 18 and 22. The age usually dictates the price rather than attractiveness in Thailand’s entertainment industry.
  Price Range: $$$$$ (2,500-5,000 Baht)
  Expression in Thai: sai-lai – ไซด์ไลน์ – Sideline
• Models: The term “model” is quite popular not just in the massage parlours but also at the escort agencies. When they say a particular girl is a model, that usually doesn’t indicate that she’s a photo model for magazines but simply that she’s among the tallest, thinnest, youngest, white skinned and most attractive women working in that place. However, there are a couple of massage parlours in Bangkok that do have active and former Thai Penthouse Models (e.g. Poseidon & Utopia).
  Price Range: $$$$$ (3,500-12,000 Baht)
  Expression in Thai: naang-bɛ̀ɛp – นางแบบ – Model

Both sideline girls and models used to sit outside the fishbowl but nowadays they’re usually inside so the customers can get a full overview of the selection. You can see the difference by the different colors of their number labels (blue, red, yellow) and the more expensive girls especially the models would always sit on red or pink couches, usually at the very top of the fishbowl.

This is the typical categorization of girls in the massage parlors in Thailand, but it really depends on the place how they go about it. Sometimes you will find all girls have the same price and / or sitting on couches without any glass at all.

Where to find Sex Massage Parlors in Thailand?

It’s kind of a tradition in Thailand for a good hotel to have its own massage salon. And while in most cases that would be a “Traditional Thai Massage” Salon (see beginning of the article), many hotels have a second one and that one would be the soapy one with fishbowl. Since the massage business has become such a huge industry over the centuries, there are now whole buildings with guest rooms which have only one purpose and that’s serving as the place for the “dirty” body to body business. Perfect examples would be Poseidon and Emmanuelle in Huai Khwang, Bangkok.

You can find the detailed names, descriptions and locations of the Sex Massage Parlors throughout Thailand in my nightlife guides.

Soapy Massage Girl vs Go Go Girl

A lot of foreigners think 2,500 Baht, 3,000 Baht or even more sounds a bit pricey and prefer taking girls from the go go bars. Let’s do a simple calculation for a typical night out in the go gos: 2 drinks for you 300 Baht (at least), 2 lady drinks 400 Baht, bar fine 700 Baht (average), short time 2,000 Baht (if she’s one of the more attractive girls then you’ll be lucky to not getting quoted 3,000 Baht). That makes at least 3,400 Baht for the whole experience. Well and maybe you want to rent a short time room instead of dragging her back to your hotel (supposing it is guest friendly at all) and that’s another 350-400 Baht.

For all that money you can get an even more stunning hot and white skinned girl in the massage parlors without problems. Sure, a visit to the go go bar is also fun itself and looking at the girls dancing (hopefully naked) on stage might be more entertaining than looking into a fishbowl where half of the girls watch TV, play on their phones or simply ignore you while hoping that makes you want to choose them.