The door at No. 186, Sec. 5, Yanping N. Rd, Saturday, eight in the evening, usually looks like this: lights on, the front desk says full, next opening after ten.
Tai He Xuan Thai SPA now carries 140 reviews at a perfect score — a few dozen more than when the Shilin Thai massage piece was written — and it is the highest-rated Thai house in Shilin. That piece walked the whole Thai strip from Zhongzheng Rd to Yanping N. Rd. This one does a single job: you're standing at that door, they've said no, where do you go.
Two directions. One within ten minutes. One up the hill to Tianmu.
Near: Yanping N. Rd and Shezheng Rd
The near one first.
Walk back eight house numbers. The Thai massage house at No. 178, ground floor, has 140-plus reviews at 4.5 and is one minute away. Same price tier as Tai He Xuan — ninety minutes of Thai for a little over NT$1,000 to NT$1,500, by posted prices.
A little further, toward Shezi, the Thai house at No. 66 Shezheng Rd holds 110-plus reviews at 4.8, about ten minutes on foot. The names look alike; they are two different doors. This stretch of Shezheng Rd is residential, and on weekday nights around eight or nine there's usually a room.
These two are the answer for people who don't want to change their plan. Same budget, same ninety minutes, a different door.
Far: three lanes in Tianmu
The second direction costs twenty minutes, by cab or by bus. Tianmu's Thai massage doesn't sit on the main road; it hides in three lanes.
No. 1, Ln. 109, Dexing E. Rd, ground floor: 320-plus reviews at 4.8, the most-reviewed Thai house in Tianmu. Same road, No. 115, a foot-massage shop with 70-plus reviews at 4.3 — for the day after, when only your feet need work.
No. 4, Ln. 114, Sec. 7, Zhongshan N. Rd: 90-plus reviews at 4.7, a quiet lane, rooms where nobody hurries you. No. 8, Ln. 14, Sec. 7: a foot-massage house on 30-odd reviews at 4.8, the kind kept alive by neighbours. No. 57, Ln. 405, Sec. 6, ground floor: a Thai house with 80-plus reviews at 4.4, about fifteen minutes north of Zhishan station along Sec. 6 — the closest of this group to the MRT.
No. 158, Sec. 2, Zhongcheng Rd: Thai, 110-plus reviews at 4.3, on the stretch north of Takashimaya. The spa on the twelfth floor of No. 55 on the same road is the aromatherapy kind, nearly 600 reviews at 4.9 — not today's subject, but the two are a few blocks apart and worth comparing if the budget stretches.
All of these run a tier above Yanping N. Rd; go by posted prices. What you pay extra for is quiet, and not waiting.
Who should stay, who should go up
Saving money, living in Shilin, going straight home afterwards — stay on Yanping N. Rd. One minute to No. 178, ten to Shezheng Rd, ninety minutes for a little over NT$1,000, then about twenty minutes' walk back to MRT Shilin; last train around midnight.
Wanting quiet, in no hurry, planning dinner in Tianmu afterwards — go up. From the Lane 109 house it's about five minutes to the izakaya at No. 143 Dexing E. Rd, 140-plus reviews; the izakaya at No. 103 Dexing W. Rd, 600-plus reviews, is a little further. The Tianmu after-dark piece covers the eating and drinking; no need to repeat it.
One honest note. Tianmu closes early. If it's past half ten before you think of a massage, don't go up — the foot-massage shops on Wenlin Rd run latest.
Getting back
Tianmu has no MRT. Zhishan station is at No. 70 Fuguo Rd — fifteen minutes' walk from Dexing E. Rd, twenty from Zhongshan N. Rd Sec 7. Buses along Sec 6 and 7 are frequent; last departures vary by route, so read the stop before you board.
If you've had a drink, it's a cab or a designated driver, nothing else. September nights in Tianmu are still warm, your whole body is loose after ninety minutes of Thai, and that twenty-minute walk is longer than it sounds.
Every Shilin massage house with its address and review count is on the Shilin massage and spa list; how to plan the whole night is in the Shilin guide.