Hutong Sauna 7
2/F Kar Wong Building
639 - 645 Shanghai Street
Mong Kok
Kowloon
Hong Kong
MTR: Argyle Station, Exit A2
Tel: 2396 9595
Web: Hutong Sauna
Open 24 hours
Received from a reader today:
Hey FuelMix
Long time no speak. Hope you are doing well.
Your
very recent review of Hunter has prompted me to provide my own
perspective on the infamous Hutong (the reincarnation of Double...or is
it?). I visited it for the first time on Wednesday last week and just
thought that I'd share a few thoughts.
Just to provide a context to this review; I'm a
thirty year old GWM who would be described as reasonably 'gym fit'/
lightly toned, but not particularly muscular. As I'm not a GAM and I'm
not a muscle god, I've always been put off visiting Double/ Hutong
(their 'door policy' is somewhat legendary on the gay scene here, as
discussed in other posts). Like yourself, I'm also fairly dismayed that a
sauna is operating such a policy in the first place...irrespective of
whether I am their target audience. However, I'd heard a few whispers
recently that their door policy had gone out the window, so curiosity
got the better of me.
To provide further context; I'm not a particularly
avid sauna goer here. I maybe go to Alexander once a month, and used to
go to Action fairly frequently a few years ago, but not in the last two
years. I was also a fan of Towel Club, but alas it's long gone. So I
think sub consciously I was comparing Hutong to Alexander when I visited
last week, as it's the only sauna I've visited in HK fairly recently.
So, how did it go?
Entrance/ Lockers
The entrance is slightly difficult to find (it's on Fife Street, and the building name - 'Kar Wong Building' - is only written in Chinese on the outside). This isn't a white mans whinge, but just to give a heads up to non Chinese reading readers. The actual sauna entrance is on the second floor of this building.
After buzzing myself in, I paid coin (HKD 138.00) to the fairly hunky receptionist and entered the locker room. The locker room was perfectly fine......spacious and clean. There was a definite clean, minimalist vibe about the whole place. The locker was a bit on the small side but that's a common theme in HK.
Other Facilities
There is a nice looking lounge area adjacent to the lockers where a few local guys were already sitting (FYI- I arrived at around 5pm). There is a staircase at the side of the lounge area which leads you down to the showers/ sauna/ jacuzzi. Everything looked great.....modern, well maintained and clinically clean. I liked the fact that clean towels were stacked up next to the shower area (FYI- Wednesday is 'handkerchief' towel day, so be prepared to basically walk around naked). The jacuzzi looked nice but, like FuelMix, I find the concept fairly gross so I gave it a wide berth.
Adjacent to the whole 'wet area' are a maze of private rooms and interlinked 'dark rooms'/ areas. Again, I found this clean and well laid out. It's fairly spacious, as there must be around 20 private rooms there (similar to Alexander but laid out in a more interesting fashion). There's the usual array of porn playing on small TV's as you walk round (all Asian porn when I visited).
Clientele
Now to the important bit. Let's face it, nice facilities are great and everything, but gay men go to saunas primarily to get a bit of action. Which I got (but more of that later).
The sauna was already fairly busy at 5pm when I arrived, and got steadily busier until I left at around 8pm. At peak time there must have been around 50- 60 guys there. So in terms of pure numbers, this is probably the busiest sauna I've been in here for many, many years (probably since going to Towel Club on Saturdays many years ago).
As I walked around Hutong, one thing struck me. It's not that every guy there was some absolutely gorgeous Adonis (there were a couple though). The vast majority of the guys were like me....attractive enough guys who look after themselves without stinking of attitude. I must say though......virtually no one there is fugly/ over 45/ 'fat' (by western standards). I say these things as a matter of fact rather than to be harsh......I'm not ageist at all, and some of my best sexual experiences have been with people who aren't conventionally handsome by arbitrary gay standards. But it is an inescapable truth that Hutong's reputation precedes them; people who are scared of not 'measuring up', don't go. As other posters have mentioned, the crowd is almost exclusively GAM but I did notice a nice enough looking GWM guy as I left.
As a white man, it's clear I'm not the preferred type for many of Hutong's regulars. Nevertheless, I didn't get any shitty attitude from them, and managed to have fun with three cute (and rather buff) GAM guys.
Summary and Comparisons with Alexander
All in all, I had an unexpectedly great time at Hutong. The thing that really hit home was how overpriced Alexander is in comparison (Alexander's current entrance price is HKD 150.00); their facilities are worse, it isn't as clean, their music is beyond obnoxious and their clientele is nowhere near as hot at an overall level. Don't get me wrong......you can see some stunning guys at Alexander on a Saturday afternoon, but the overall standard is brought down by some patrons who are frankly best described as monsters. I agree that Alexander is very friendly to all comers and should be respected for that, but still.......
Despite having a great time at Hutong, I'm not sure I'll be rushing back. My visit was more out of boredom and curiosity than anything else. I can't guarantee to people reading that their nasty door policy doesn't kick in at busier times such as weekend afternoons. I realize that there is an inherent contradiction in my review; I've criticized Hutong for having a reputation re: its door policy, and yet praised it because the crowd is generally fitter and younger. I think it's for individuals to make their minds up as to whether this might be the place for them (to be fair, the recent reviews submitted to this site have been fairly positive).
Anyway, look after yourself.
FuelMix says:
1. A comprehensive review. We appreciate the feedback.
2. We miss the now defunct Towel Club too. It had real potential, but the location and the fact that it wasn't open 24 hours were big negatives. But whoa.......it could pull in some hot guys on the weekends.
2. We miss the now defunct Towel Club too. It had real potential, but the location and the fact that it wasn't open 24 hours were big negatives. But whoa.......it could pull in some hot guys on the weekends.
3. Your comparison of Hutong and Alexander is not misplaced. Alexander was for a time, the flagship sauna in town in terms of facilities and quality of customers. So it's reasonable to compare those that opened subsequently to it - like Big Top, Club Houzz, The Great and Hutong.
4. We've been hearing that the 3 saunas currently competing for the hotter guys are:
5. It would appear that Alexander, infested with Mainland Chinese, many of whom are not good looking and whose personal hygiene and manners leave a lot to be desired, has sustained a hit in terms of its appeal as a "go to" venue. It still gets packed, but the look and demographic of the customers has definitely changed for the worse. Further, we agree with your comments on the quality and volume of the music, the degrading facilities and declining levels of cleanliness.
6. That said, Alexander is still popular with white tourists of all ages who might not feel comfortable at Big Top, Hunter and Hutong. Given their locations, we frankly doubt whether they could even find those 3. By contrast, Alexander is right next to the Langham Place Hotel.
7. You paid HK$150.00 at Alexander. We've always paid HK$130.00 and suspect others are paying less. We've screeched before about price differentials that customers going to the same sauna are paying and consider it price gouging.
8. Thanks for writing in.
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