In the tourist zone of Bangkok, there is a glut of massage parlors – on Sukhumvit Soi 22, there seems to be a storefront massage parlor every three businesses or so. Sometimes two competing massage parlors are even side-by-side.

Many of these massage parlors are kind of seedy, and the rooms they use for body massage are severely lacking in ambiance. In most instances, the rooms are not very private at all – either the walls are very thin or more commonly, adjacent rooms are separated by a mere curtain.

While many of the ladies who work in these establishments can give you an outstanding therapeutic body massage - more often than not – from my experience as a male, I get solicited for extras such as Happy Endings and the like. I cannot really fault them for offering these “extra services’ as the money they receive for ”these extras’ is clear profit for them - they don’t have to share it with the house .

During my recent stay in Bangkok, I decided to go to the very respectable Health Land for massage treatment as opposed to patronizing one of the many local massage parlors located near my hotel. The reasoning behind my choice was very simple – I wanted to avoid solicitations for extras and I preferred a place which had better ambiance than the local massage parlor.

Health Land is very popular with the more affluent residents of Bangkok; however prices are competitive with the “run of the mill” massage parlors that are so numerous in the tourist zone.

Approaching Health Land Spa & Massage (Ekamai Branch) from the street, it looked like a hotel or an upscale medical clinic. Walking into the lobby, there was a large reception counter where customers register with a uniformed lady for one of the various massage treatments. Checking out their spa menu, I opted for a 90 minute Aromatherapy Body Massage. Price was 850 baht (about $26USD). Fairly affordable, in my humble opinion!

All the young ladies at Health Land (massage technicians) have been properly trained in the art of massage and conduct themselves very professionally. There were absolutely no solicitations for extras. In addition, the massage rooms at Health Land are equipped with a proper massage table as well as having the proper feng shui. Some soothing ambient music was piped in while getting the massage.

After the massage, I felt like “a newer man” – considerably less stressed and more relaxed. I liked Health Land so much that I returned there for a follow-up treatment the day before flying home to San Francisco.

Health Land, my verdict? Thumbs up!

Tags: Happy Ending Massage, Massage Bangkok, Massage Thailand

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Bangkok, Massage, Thailand, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.