Thai Happiness (泰幸福) is one of several Thai style massage parlors operating in Taipei. While they advertise Thai massage the women that work in these shops seem to mostly hail from mainland China. They can do decent body massages but they aren’t necessarily great Thai massages nor will customers get the kind of services they could expect from an oily massage parlor in Thailand.
The Thai Happiness parlor is located near the previously reviewed Taizhilian Spa. It is right out on the main drag across from the well-known Landis Hotel. It has a red colored theme and a sign on the door listing a price for 2 hours of service that isn’t actually available inside as far as I can tell.
When customers walk in they are shown a sheet indicating the prices for a Thai massage at 1000 New Taiwan Dollars ($31 USD) and an oil massage for 1500 New Taiwan Dollars ($47 USD). Those looking for extras would normally opt for the latter as is the case almost anywhere in the world.
Once customers chose their service a woman on staff will offer to wash their feet in one of the basins at the back of the ground floor. This seems to be optional though I would imagine anyone with even the possibility of stinky feet would probably get better service if they opted in for this.
After the foot wash customers are led up a flight of stairs into another floor with blue walls. There is a large clean bathroom at the end of the hall where customers can wash off before or after their sessions as well as a series of decent sized rooms with locking doors and walls that go all the way up to the ceiling for maximum privacy. Each room has a high quality massage table and a television but they don’t seem to be turned on unless one requests that. There are some other rooms for Thai massages with mattresses on the floor.
Customers are instructed to take off their clothes and get into a pair of black paper panties that are ridiculous as they sound. If anyone has been to a massage parlor in China, Japan or Taiwan or has watched massaged-themed Japanese porn they will have an idea of what these things look like. The masseuse leaves the room while the customer get into their little paper pants and returns soon after.
From there things go pretty much as one would expect in any massage parlor of this nature. The customer lies down face first with his face through the hole in the massage table. The decent looking middle aged Chinese masseuse covers part of his body with a towel and works the remainder with oil.
After about a half hour the masseuse will ask the customer to turn over and she will go to work on his front side. The towel and oil will be used in the same way. At some point in most cases the masseuse will ask or indicate that a happy ending by hand is available and the customer can accept or decline the invitation. The masseuses don’t speak much English if they indeed speak any at all but they do seem to be used to dealing with clients from various nationalities so things aren’t as awkward or difficult as they could be.
If the invitation is accepted the paper piece blocking the way will be removed and the soft touch hand service will begin. There’s no way to rate every women because things and people change but generally speaking things are done in a caring way that stretches out just long enough to prolong the enjoyment without becoming overkill. Mechanical and robotic service isn’t the norm.
After the hand service clean up is provided by way of a dry towel followed by some hot towels. This is a nice touch and helps to ensure that sessions last the full amount of time allotted. Customers also have as much time as they need to shower up after a session to remove any residual oil though of course that can be easier said than done. While there does seem to be some room for negotiation the standard tip for the soft touch service is 1000 NTD which is given directly to the masseuse inside of the room.
Once everything is done the customer heads back downstairs to put his shoes back on head out the door. Some guys hang around for a while to enjoy some hot tea and watch television and this doesn’t seem to be as weird as it sounds since the staff is pretty welcoming.
While Thai Happiness obviously isn’t a wonder of the world it is nice enough for what it actually is. As a standard massage parlor where good rub downs are offered along with suitable hand service at rates that aren’t out of this world I think the place deserves an average score of two-and-a-half stars.
Thai Happiness. No. 80 Minquan East Road Section 2, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. Open 12:00 PM – 4:00 AM, 7 days a week. Phone: (02) 2531-0809.