I hate to sound ageist, but I mean it kindly: If you were 28 pre-Wolfenden, doesn't that put you past 80? And if so, then your pedestrian treks across Bangkok sound all the more impressive.

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-- Khun Stillthrobbing,
- 'Dinna fash yerself.' as they say in N. BRITAIN; no offence offered so no offence taken!
- A few yrs. to go still afore I'll be hitting the Big Eight Oh! As I like to say: "I'm as olde as I feel and I haven't stopped feeling yet." - 555!

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How old is your "frequently visiting American friend", then, if you refer to him as "elderly"?
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From my occassional sightings of SexyT on the massage circuit, he is nowhere near 80 or even 70. With his Japanese army cap, he looks less than 60. He has even had massage boys older than himself I believe.

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-- 'A woman who tells you her age is capable of telling you anything.', (O. Wilde.),.

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-- Yr. reply caused me to re-check my age and thus to make a corr'n.: I was all of 26YO. when I came-out. Apologies for error:

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Still impressive.

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Having spent the last 3 days at Babylon for at least a couple of hours each day, I have to say me experiences in the last 72 hours reinforce Babylon as the premier Gay Sauna for western men in Bangkok. On 31 December 2010 it was "foam party" night...which I didn't stay for. I needed rest! After initially hooking up with a very cute, slim, smooth, short Vietnamese guy, I took a rest before hooking up with a tall, slim, smooth and very sweet Vietnamese guy. Both guys spoke excellent English, both were very enthusiastic "in bed". I went back on 1 January and fortunately there were many less patrons there....but still I enjoyed intimacies with two slim and sexy young men (both Thai this time) and left with a sizable smile upon my dial. And today's encounters....same old same old. Lol.
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I don't care so much about "well-heeled", but gorgeous would certainly be welcome.

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I have been reading the board for several years and thought it was time to contribute. I've enjoyed (and benefited from) the experience of others here. Particularly indebted to s_xtile for his wide-ranging travels and observations.

I visited Babylon three times in the past six weeks, each time hoping that it would finally emerge as the same place I used to love. I felt like a restaurant reviewer, giving the kitchen one more chance to prove itself. Alas, disappointment persisted.

The numbers are certainly down (way down). Non-Thais appeared to outnumber the locals on each visit. And the Thais who do frequent seem, on average, older than I had remembered. For those who haven't been there lately, the layout in the cruising area has changed. Gone is the atrium-like stairwell with the big TV display and grand sound system and light show that I really liked. It has been replaced by a small maze-like cruising "box" on each floor level, none of which seemed at all cruisy.

Visitors from the past frequently used to comment on the AC in the cabin areas (quite cool). Now it seems that the temperature is not much different than that in the courtyard below. And absent are the cadre of staff who used to patrol the cabins with flashlights, quickly cleaning up any mess left behind. It's now common to find tissue paper and other stuff in the cabins, so you frequently have to clean it up before using it.

The one time I used the main restaurant, I was one of only seven diners at 1900 but the food was OK. The large steam room was open but it had an odor about it that discouraged me from returning.

On two of the three visits, I was approached by a MB. They quickly took the hint when I declined their offer.

Overall, I don't feel compelled to return any time soon. Babylon may well reinvent itself or get "rediscovered." But for the immediate future, it's dependent upon a loyal number of locals who frequent it regularly. And, of course, on the kindness of strangers. Many of the younger locals have gravitated to other saunas.

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With the massive growth in social networking sites in the last couple of years, and the much more affordable access to the Internet, it is inevitable that the younger guys are going to use those media to either network with their own age or offer themselves to older guys in exchange for a few ฿. Therefore Babylon continues to evolve.
I do wonder whether many of the younger locals may have just stopped going to saunas in favour of searching on line. I guess we can speculate until...well until they see the folly of their ways and return en masse to Babylon. Lol
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Although I agree that younger locals are using the internet widely, I visited three other saunas (with mixed results) and can say that a considerable number of young locals continue to use saunas. There's something about the thrill of the chase, in a real time environment, that cannot be duplicated on line.

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I just got back from a Bangkok visit that started with my arriving at my hotel (Pinnacle) around 1 a.m. on December 20. I left to return to the U.S. in the early morning of January 3. Anyway, I checked out several cruising areas in Bangkok during the daytime and found them to be totally bad and/or dead--worse than ever before.

I went to Babylon for something to do during the day (about once every other day). It sure looks like older farangs are quickly snapped up by nice young Thai in there. Unfortunately, I have a problem. I'm tall and basically slim and 49 (but look younger). I don't want to sound conceited, but I think my problem is that I'm too young for Babylon. It's just amazing to see older farangs quickly disappear into booths with young Thai. I still cannot figure out the psychology of the place. Also, what amazes me is how all of a sudden, almost all the booths become occupied. I'm observant but still don't see who goes into the booths. It's just amazing how secretly and quickly this is done.

Anyway, I can still connect with some nice Thai in Babylon--but it's really difficult and frustrating. It's amazing to see average older farangs walk in and immediately disappear into a booth. (It seems that having a "silver daddy" appearance helps.) So hopefully I have that to look forward to.

Sometimes I had good luck in that new downstairs under the metal grate crossover section.

I hated December 31 starting around 6 or 7 when the place got so unbelievably crowded that I literally had a problem getting out of Babylon to go to Central World for the New Year's celebrations. It was cram-packed with wall-to-wall bodies (even though all areas of Babylon were opened up). All booths were occupied.

The other thing that always baffled me was all the hot young Thai who go with other Thai. Again, why are they going to Babylon, then?

By the way, Babylon continues to jack up its prices. I think it was 380 baht on December 31.

The other weird thing is to see really hot young farangs, arabs, etc. pose forever in the hallways. I mean, why don't they just connect with some other hot guy? I suppose this is some weird gay mental thing they have to do.

Also, I don't understand why Babylon waits until later in the day to open up the other areas. Sometimes that little black cruising area upstairs (the Bruegel gallery) gets so cram-packed nobody can even walk in there.

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I don't understand the thrill of the chase in sauanas. Actually, I think it is a semi-mental-illness. If you go into Chakran, Farose II, or any other Thai-for-Thai sauna, it is almost all young, super-hot, Thai, and at some appointed time, a parade starts where everyone walks around forever, and then once in a while, some pair up and go into a room. Can someone explain why it takes a really hot young Thai so long to simply go in with another really hot young Thai? I mean, what is the mating process? Is this endless walking around some kind of endless mental osmosis matching process (like animals)? I just don't get it.

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Unfortunately, you want asians but they, by and large, dont want you. May be a name change might work

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