Intro to Thermae, and my experience
Since it seems this place hasn't been reviewed before, I'm going to take it upon myself to take a stab at it and see if I can do this place justice.
Evidently, it's had a long history of multiple decades and in its current incarnation is located in the basement of a hotel in the middle of Sukhumvit. There is a doorman, but he's really there mostly to check IDs of the women (more on that later). For the men, he's basically controlling traffic volume in the club so it doesn't get too packed all at once. There's no cover charge. Once you enter, buy a drink from the bar right by the staircase. They're relatively cheap and typical for the area at 200-250 baht ($6-$8 USD).
Here's where things get interesting. Technically, it's not a strip club as there's very little dancing here, and no one is taking off any clothes. It's a Freelancer (FL) bar. That means it's simply a bar that encourages women to show up to meet with interested men. The FLs don't work for the bar, they don't pay a fee to be there, the bar doesn't choose who shows up (more on that later). The women will all buy drinks for themselves, but they are completely independent entities.
How many women are there? On the Thursday I visited in Sept (considered the low season) there were well over 60 women at 9pm. Ages ranged from 19-55, short/tall, skinny/curvy, butter-face/model, and everything in-between. If you like Asian women, there's gotta be multiple that will fit your taste. I was surprised by the sheer number of women I would rate at a 8 or better. The vast majority are above a 6. With this number of women on a nightly basis, the competition is extremely fierce. They're not going to be successful unless they can hold their own.
They all line up around the edges of the rectangular room, and another set up against the inner bar that's not used in 2 concentric circles. They generally stand attentively and will make eye contact with you. Some will be on their phones. Here's the important part... in general, the women will NOT approach you. Your job is to run the gauntlet between an outer circle and inner circle of women, and figure out who is to your taste. It might take a couple of rounds of walking to settle on who you want to strike up a conversation with. If you make eye contact, and she's interested, greet her and she will smile and say hi. If she looks away, don't take it personally. Just move on. There are plenty of fish here.
Once you've started up a conversation, you can fairly quickly move right to business. Determine that you're both game for some action. Short-Time (ST) is 1-2 hrs and will cost between 2000-4000 baht. You can negotiate. Long-Time (LT) is overnight and will cost between 7000-10000 baht, depending on duration and expectations. Be clear about those expectations. Also, be sure to determine what activities will be covered and what will be bare. She'll also ask where your hotel is. She may decline all of this if your place is too far away as she won't want to walk in heels there. An alternative is to use the short stay hotel right above for about $40/hr. I would recommend nicer accommodations close by for your stay.
Once you have the financial negotiations concluded, you can leave the establishment and head to your hotel. Just about all hotels in the area are "guest friendly". Don't be embarrassed and don't skip this part. The hotel staff understand what is going on. When you enter your hotel, your lady will present her ID to the front desk. They'll do 3 things that you shouldn't skip. 1) They'll check that she's of age, 2) they'll check that she was actually born a woman, and 3) they may keep her ID until she leaves. All of these things are for YOUR benefit. As a hotel, they don't want trouble, and the best way given the nature of the city is to help manage it as proactively as they can. Once your lady is ready to leave, she'll pick up her ID from the front desk. The receptionist will call your room to make sure everything went OK.... meaning she did not drug you, steal from you, and that she's not trying to run away under dire circumstance from you. (It has nothing to do with her or your sexual performance.)
A couple of notes:
The doorman at Thermae check IDs for the women. It's 100% to prevent ladyboys from entering the bar. All of the women in Thermae are born women. That said, a large majority of the women hanging around OUTSIDE of Thermae are ladyboys. For me, I'd guess that I can tell about 75% of the time. But, I'd rather be sure and I'm thankful for the services of the doorman. Be careful as some of the ladyboys like to walk up and down the stairs to Thermae AS IF they're just leaving to catch some unsuspecting men. I'd advise that you do all your negotiating INSIDE the bar.
Don't take declinations from the women negatively. It's a free market, and while you're choosing who you want to pay, they are choosing who they want to sell to. It's a 2-way street. Some will prefer Asians, some prefer Westerners, some have rules about facial hair, or certain colognes. Whatever, don't worry about it. Find someone who you click with rather than try to force it.
In the room, expect that she'll want to shower before and after the deed, and may expect you to at least shower beforehand. Whether you want to shower together can be negotiated.
Here's my experience:
Ran the gauntlet at 9pm. I was stunned by just how many attractive women there were. Honestly, it's very overwhelming and a lot of decision paralysis. Went around the circle about 3 times. A couple of older more desperate women reached out to grab my hand. Otherwise, you just get a ton of smiles and eye-contact.
Saw a very slim shorty with huge MM cans in a Harley Davidson crop top. Probably mid-20s and had a big smile. Couldn't resist, easily a 9 in my book. Her English wasn't great, but we worked out 3000 baht ST for everything fully covered (my preference) at my hotel 5 min away.
Her personality was super sweet, but in the sack she was an absolute monster. She enjoyed the ride immensely and so did I. I should've gotten her LINE number as I would've loved to see her again. But, I was so tired afterwards I forgot.
