If you've never been to a body massage (aka "soapy massage") place --hard to imagine if you've ever been to Thailand or Macao-- this will give you a glimpse. I have a tiny digital camera and rested it on my table, which was necessary with the flash turned off in these low-light conditions.

Notice as the sequence goes along that the girls getting wise to what I was up to. They notified one of the bosses by pointing to me and making motions as if snapping pictures. The boss cheerfully told me that no photos are allowed and I said, "Oh, OK," and that was that.

I consider these fair game because one can't really identify the girls with the low resolution and slow shutter speed (pretty blurry). Finally, the last one is a very blurry handheld shot inside one of the rooms. Notice the tub in the corner.

There are at least four "soapies" in the Pattaya Beach / Naklua area. Sabai Room is the easiest to spot from Pattaya Road 2 because it's on the way to the Big C mall, which you see in the background. That's where your girlfriend asks you to take her to a movie and then (sometimes) asks for jewelry, shoes, cell phones, etc. I usually give in, having decided ahead of time how much I will spend. Heck, she's worth it. :^)

If soapies are your thing, Bangkok has more than any other place I know of.

Good pics! TJdick. Sabai Room lol! My hotel was right next door Sabai Inn.

I was hoping there was going to be some actual body to body pics lol.

My hats off to you TJ! You managed to get the elusive photos of the massage girls in their "natural habitat" -- the fishbowl. I noticed that the girls and the management were getting more paranoid about guys taking photos and placing them on the internet. In fact, at Poseiden, they now have a sign saying "no cameras" and I can't tell you how many girls flat out refused photos. I still managed to take some photos by sneaking in my Minolta Dicam in my pocket and pleading and cajoling with the girls in the room.
Sabai Room is good, but you should also check out Happy Massage in North Pattaya at night. The place is a dump, but they had a couple of very pretty girlst there. Check out Cleopatra and Poseiden when in Bangkok also.

Awesome stuff. Before, I had to imagine what they were like, and now I have a better idea. Thanks. Great work.

thanks for these very elusive photos..my curiousity has me always dreaming about the famous fishbowls..

Nice work TJ!!! I found myself looking at the photographs and trying to make up my mind which one I want ... then the bubble popped and I remembered that i wasn't in LOS.

(Message edited by mcdijj on March 16, 2004)

I like these pictures of Sabai Room as I was there in February and saw the girl on the bottom row in the second window 3rd from left and when I was talking to the waiter and turned back she was gone. I waited for 30 minutes and she did not return. I think I was there a shift change because I did not see her go with anyone. She looked great in person through the window to bad I missed her.