Outcall massage at Surasak
Surasak is the last station before the business district gives out. The towers thin, the shophouses start, and it is the quietest central address we cover.
- Arrival
- 25 to 40 minutes
- Hours
- 24 hours, every day
- Therapists
- Licensed, named first
- From
- THB 900, pay after
The last station before the towers give out and the old city begins.
Surasak sits on the elevated line between Chong Nonsi and Saphan Taksin, at the point where Sathorn Road is heading toward the river and Silom has already run most of its length. It is the western edge of the business district and it does not feel like the middle of it.
What Surasak books most
Ordered by what people here actually choose, rather than by our menu. Every one is worked on your own bed with sheets and oil the therapist brings with her.
Deep tissue massage
Slower and heavier than an oil massage, aimed at the knots underneath rather than the surface. Say the word at any point and she eases off.
DetailsOffice syndrome massage
Targeted work on the neck, shoulders and upper back for people who sit at a desk all day. The one to book if your pain has a laptop-shaped cause.
DetailsRelaxing oil massage
Long, even strokes with warm unscented oil. The most straightforward thing on the menu, and the one to pick if you simply want the tension gone.
DetailsAromatherapy massage
The same slow work as an oil massage, with a scented blend chosen for what you need. Lemongrass to wake up, lavender to sleep. Most people book this one at night.
DetailsTraditional Thai massage
Stretching and acupressure along the body's energy lines, worked through clothing without oil. Firm, and on tight muscles it can smart. Worked on your bed, so there is nothing to clear.
DetailsCoconut oil massage
Cold-pressed coconut oil rather than the standard blend. Lighter on the skin, absorbs rather than sitting on top, and it is what most Thai therapists use on themselves.
DetailsThe buildings change here. A few tall towers remain, including hotels and offices that belong to the Sathorn cluster, but between them are two and three storey shophouses, small workshops, older apartment blocks and a scattering of colonial-era buildings left over from when this part of Bangkok was the trading quarter.
That mix makes the district unusually varied for somewhere so small. A five-star hotel room and a walk-up apartment above a printing shop can be two hundred metres apart, and we visit both in the same evening.
Assumption University occupies a substantial site here and there are several schools nearby, which puts a student and teaching population into a district that would otherwise be entirely commercial. It also means the roads have a school-run rhythm that the rest of the business district does not.
For us the appeal of Surasak is that it is genuinely easy. It is central, the station is right on the main road, the traffic is lighter than at Chong Nonsi or Sala Daeng, and the arrival window barely moves between the middle of the afternoon and the middle of the night.
The quietest central district, and what that is worth
Surasak has a quality that is genuinely rare in central Bangkok: the arrival window here holds almost flat across the day. Twenty-five to forty minutes at two in the afternoon, and twenty-five to forty minutes at seven in the evening.
The reason is that it is a through district rather than a destination. The heavy traffic on Sathorn is heading past Surasak toward the bridge and the river, not stopping in it, and the station sits directly on the road so the last leg is a short walk regardless.
Compare that with Sala Daeng, which is choked with people going to and from the offices, or Chong Nonsi where the crossroads itself is the bottleneck. Surasak has neither problem, because there is no reason for most of the city to come here.
In practice that makes it one of the better addresses in central Bangkok for a short-notice evening booking. If you are here and you want somebody in the next forty minutes at seven o clock on a Thursday, that is a realistic request in a way it would not be three stations east.
Everywhere else central gets slower at six in the evening. This one barely notices.
Shophouses, and working above a business
A meaningful share of the residential accommodation here is the upper floors of shophouses, which is a building type we barely encounter in the newer districts and which has its own practicalities.
The upper floors
A shophouse is typically three or four storeys with a business at street level and living space above it. The upper floors are frequently rented separately, and they can be surprisingly large and pleasant inside despite how narrow the frontage looks from the pavement.
Stairs and no lift
None of them have lifts. She is carrying oil and linen up those stairs, so knowing that the treatment is on the third floor is a courtesy that costs you one word in a message.
Access after hours
Access is the thing worth flagging. If the business downstairs is closed, the street door may be locked and there may be no bell, which means somebody has to come down. In the evening that is the single most common reason an arrival here runs late.
What to tell us
Send the shop name at street level rather than only the house number. The business sign is visible from across the road and the number frequently is not.
What Surasak books
Deep tissue and office syndrome, from the towers
Deep tissue and office syndrome lead here, arriving from the office towers that belong to the Sathorn cluster and behaving exactly as they do a station east. Weekday evenings, neck and upper back, and a customer who has been at a screen since morning.
Oil massage in the older buildings
Straight oil massage takes a larger share here than in the rest of the business district, and it comes from the older residential stock rather than the towers. It is a cheaper district to live in than Sathorn proper and the treatment mix reflects that.
Aromatherapy from the hotels
Aromatherapy is the hotel booking and there are more hotels in this small district than the frontage suggests, several of them large. The pattern is the standard one: late, before an early start, and chosen to help somebody sleep.
Traditional Thai, and the space question
Traditional Thai needs nothing asked about in advance here. We work it on your bed like the rest of the menu, so a shophouse upper floor and a compact studio in one of the newer blocks take it equally well. What does vary across this district is how long she needs to reach you, and that is the thing worth asking about.
Between two roads and a river
Surasak is defined by what it sits between, and it is worth being clear about which direction you are in because the district is small enough that the neighbours start quickly.
Northward and eastward is Silom, which by this point in its length is older and lower than it is at Sala Daeng. Southward is Sathorn heading for the bridge, and the guidance about which carriageway you are on begins to matter as soon as you are on that road rather than on one of the sois behind it.
Westward is Charoen Krung and beyond it the river. That is a different world of old shophouses, creative studios and grand hotels, and it has its own pages here.
Because the district is compressed between all of those, an address in Surasak is rarely more than a few minutes from a station, which is the main reason the arrival window is as reliable as it is.
Therapists who cover Surasak
Every one of them trained in Thailand and holds a Ministry of Public Health licence. You get told who is coming before they knock.
The school run, and the one time of day to avoid
Surasak has one genuine traffic problem and it is not the rush hour. Several schools and a university sit within a short radius, and the roads around them are congested at drop-off and pick-up in a way that catches people out.
Roughly seven to eight in the morning and three to four in the afternoon are the windows, and they are worse on the smaller roads than on Sathorn itself. If you are on one of the sois near a school, those are the two hours where our estimate is least reliable.
It is easily avoided. Book outside those windows and the district reverts to being one of the more predictable central addresses. If you cannot, tell us which soi you are on and we will build the extra minutes into the estimate rather than surprising you with them at the door. Nobody enjoys being told the reason for a delay after the fact.
The evening peak, which dominates every other central district, matters comparatively little here. Between five and seven Surasak is busier than at midday but nothing like Sala Daeng, because the traffic is passing through rather than arriving.
Booking as a student or on a teaching contract
The university and the schools here put a population into this district that we do not see much of elsewhere, and the bookings that come from it have a distinct shape.
Take the sixty minute treatment rather than the ninety if the budget matters. It is the same therapist and the same work, and there is no minimum spend that would make the shorter session poor value.
Ask for office syndrome rather than a general massage if you have been writing or marking for weeks. It is the same complaint an office produces and the targeted hour does more than spreading the time over the whole body.
Book with a housemate at the same time if you share a flat. Two therapists arrive together and work in separate rooms, and it makes the arrival easier for everybody in a building with an awkward street door.
Use the daytime. This district is quiet in the middle of a weekday and a same-hour booking at eleven in the morning is nearly always possible, which is not true at seven in the evening anywhere in the city.
Say if you are on an upper floor of a shophouse with the shop shut, so somebody is ready to come down and open the street door.
The hotels here, and the ones just outside
For a district this compact there is a surprising amount of accommodation, and it splits into four groups.
The tall hotels
Several substantial hotels sit on or just off Sathorn at this end, belonging more to the Sathorn cluster than to Surasak in character. Formal desks, clear visitor procedures, and entirely routine arrivals.
Small independents
There are also small independent hotels and guesthouses tucked into the shophouse streets, which are the most relaxed buildings in the district and frequently ask nothing at all.
Serviced apartments
Serviced apartments here are cheaper than the equivalent in Sathorn and are used by people on longer contracts who did not want to pay the Sathorn rate. They are easy buildings and a good share of our regulars live in them.
Just over the border
A short walk west takes you to the riverside hotels, which are a different proposition entirely and are covered on their own page. If you can see the water from your room, that page is the one you want.
Prices and payment, which do not change here either
Surasak spans a wider range of building types than almost any district we cover, from five-star towers to walk-up rooms above a workshop, and the question of whether the price reflects that comes up in both directions.
It does not. One price list applies across the entire city and it does not move with the building, the district or the hour. Sixty minutes of deep tissue costs the same on the third floor of a shophouse as it does in a hotel suite two streets away.
There is nothing to pay when you book and no deposit at any hour of the day or night. Settlement happens once the treatment has finished, in cash, by card or by PromptPay, and the amount is whatever was quoted in the confirmation message.
If a figure ever differs from your confirmation, the confirmation is the one that stands. That is the whole point of quoting in writing before anyone travels.
Everywhere we go in Surasak
Find yours below. If it is not here we almost certainly still come, so send the building name and we will confirm in a minute.
Stations
- BTS Surasak
- BTS Saphan Taksin
- BTS Chong Nonsi
- BTS Saint Louis
- Sathorn Pier
- MRT Si Lom
Streets and sois
- Surasak Road
- South Sathorn Road
- North Sathorn Road
- Charoen Krung Road
- Silom Road
- Soi Pramuan
- Soi Charoen Krung 42
- Soi Sathorn 10
Landmarks
- Assumption University
- Blue Elephant
- Assumption College
- Bangrak Market
- Robinson Bangrak
- State Tower
- Sathorn Pier
Buildings we travel to
Listed as places we deliver to. We have no arrangement with any of them and nothing here should be read as one.
Hotels
- W Bangkok
- Mode Sathorn Hotel
- Pullman Bangkok Hotel G
- Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn
- Tower Club at Lebua
- Ascott Sathorn Bangkok
Condominiums and residences
- The Room Sathorn Pan Road
- Nara 9 by Eastern Star
- Klass Silom
- The Met Sathorn
- Silom Suite
- Supalai Elite Sathorn Suanplu
Who books in Surasak
- Office workers
- The Sathorn-end towers. Weekday evenings, neck and upper back, and the same pattern as the district east of here.
- Shophouse residents
- Upper floors above street-level businesses, no lifts, and a street door that may need opening after hours.
- Students and teaching staff
- The university and the schools. Sixty minute treatments, daytime slots, and price aware.
- Longer-contract residents
- Serviced apartments at below the Sathorn rate, and the source of most repeat bookings here.
- Short-notice evening bookers
- The one central district where a same-evening request at seven is genuinely realistic rather than optimistic.
- Hotel guests on the Sathorn end
- Several substantial properties sit at this end of the road and behave like the Sathorn cluster rather than like Surasak.
Questions about Surasak
- Is it quicker to get a therapist here than in the rest of Silom?
- In the evening, yes, and by a useful margin. This is a district traffic passes through rather than arrives in, so the window holds roughly flat from the afternoon into the night. A same-evening request at seven is realistic here in a way it is not three stations east.
- I live above a shop. Does that cause problems?
- Only one, and it is easily solved. If the business at street level is closed the street door is often locked with no bell, so somebody needs to come down. Mention it when you book and mention the floor as well, since none of these buildings has a lift.
- What should I send instead of a house number?
- The name of the business at street level. Shop signs here are large and lit and visible from across the road, whereas the house number frequently is not. Add the nearest cross street and she will find it first time.
- Is there a bad time of day to book?
- Around the school run, which is roughly seven to eight in the morning and three to four in the afternoon. Several schools and a university sit close together here and the smaller roads clog. Outside those two windows the district is one of the more predictable central addresses.
- Can I get traditional Thai in my apartment here?
- Yes, anywhere in the district, and there is nothing about your room to check first. We work the stretching on the bed, so a compact studio in one of the newer blocks takes it as readily as a shophouse upper floor does. The only thing worth describing when you book is the street door, since several of these buildings lock theirs once the business below has closed.
- I am a student. Is there a minimum booking?
- No minimum spend, so the sixty minute treatment is genuinely the cheapest way to do this rather than a poor-value option. It is the same therapist doing the same work for a shorter time, and the riverside hotels sit inside the free radius so nothing is added for travel.
- Can two of us book together in a shared flat?
- Yes. Two therapists arrive at the same time and work in separate rooms, or in the same one if you prefer. It also makes the arrival simpler in a building with an awkward street door, since somebody only has to come down once.
- How late do you work in this district?
- All night, and because the district generates so little demand of its own after the offices close, a booking at one in the morning here is usually met faster than the same request in a busier central area. The estimate holds up well right through the small hours.
- My hotel is on the river rather than on Sathorn. Same page?
- Probably not. If you can see the water from your room you want the Riverside page, which covers the grand hotels and the pier arrangements. This page is for the stretch between Sathorn and Charoen Krung, a few minutes inland.
Near Surasak
Sathorn
Embassies, corporate towers and the densest run of five-star rooms in Bangkok.
Silom
The old financial district. Packed on a Tuesday, deserted on a Sunday.
Chong Nonsi
Where Silom and Sathorn cross. Newer towers, and the tallest building in the city above them.
Riverside
The grand hotels on the Chao Phraya. Almost entirely visitors, and the boat is the road.
Charoen Krung
The oldest paved road in the country, and the creative quarter that has grown back into its old shophouses.