i think saunas have been in decline in the West for quite some time. the younger guys (mostly in their early 20s) don't need to go there to hook up and they consider saunas as places for desperate, older people.
in bkk, however, the sauna business is booming, but only in the sticky rice market. sauna mania on the 'naked day' has been very busy and the guys are young (up to the early 30s) and very good looking (way better looking than prostitutes in go go bars).
the problem with babylon is that it's stuck in the past. if the place doesn't recover the sticky rice market (which will be difficult due to the pricing and sticky rice guys' habits of going to less 'international' places), it'll need to rely on tourists who go there to tan and drink beer at the open-air bar. but how many of us travel to bkk to suntan or drink beer in the sauna?
the continued presence of prostitutes in babylon is a testimony to the fact that our choices among locals are very limited. and more often than not, the guys we hook up with are 'working boys', whether we know it or not. yesterday, at g.o.d., all 3 farangs hooked up with prostitutes simply because non-prostitutes are simply not interested in white guys.
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