DurianSeed

I always went early in the morning and found WOW to be uncrowded. I hate when the customers sit on a machine and rest or talk on a telephone. I found the staff, other than the salespeople to be very freindly. But I never asked for anything special and other than checking in had nothing to do with them. I just checked in, changed, and went from machine to machine. It's very clean. I don't know what a Diamond Dual Membership is but I paid 8000 for 4 months, because I had to leave BKK for 5 months. I should have taken the year I guess. I guess I could have gotten and year for 8000. Next time I'll be tough. But I think I got my moneys worth any way. I got some good workouts in. If anyone has pointers about the membership, please enlighten me, because I'd like to join with the option of going to use the Pattaya WOW as well.

Farang here ... and had an excellent experience and walked out with a great haircut (in my opinion), even with my limited Thai and their limited English. At 150 baht, highly recommend the place for guys looking for a comfortable place and a superb price.

I joined last week, only on a monthly basis as having just moved here I am unsure if this location will be ideal for me. I went in on the basis of the free 7 day offer on their website, only to find that this was offered to Thai's only. They were more than happy to offer a life time membership though. Go figure. The gym itself is very well equipped and very well staffed and they offer a very good level of service. My main gripe is that I used to paying a hell of a lot less for a like facility in the US. What I wouldn't give for a planet fitness.

Have had my hair cut 2-3 times here now and each time they have done an awesome job If its your thing, they specialise is shaving lines and patterns into the hair, they have some awesome pics on their hi5 webpage (see above) I dont know in which way these guys are linked to, but the place is endorsed/run by the guys from the HipHop band Thaitanium, and they stock a wide range of Thaitanium, and other branded T-shirts. Ive seen a few of their music videos on TV and some of them are shot in the salon itself Its 150baht for a haircut which is really good, and the barbers here are pretty cool guys. Also the female receptionist is hot

A workout buddy of mine has a corporate gig here, and managed to swing me a free weekend workout. This is a fairly small sized hotel gym, but all the kit is very well maintained, if a bit limited. They have a smallish freeweights section, and they have 1-2 resistance machines that will cover each major muscle group. They have treadmills, crosstrainers and rowing machines for cardio. They also have dimly lit peaceful yoga studio at the end where they run a basic programme of classes, and some basic boxing gear. Where the gym gear is slightly lacking, the facilities more than make up for it. The changing rooms and especially the showers, are lush, and the swimming pool is awesome, set on the 7th floor, offset by the skyscrapers of Ploen Chit. You often see a lot of last nights hookers coming in for a dip, which is always good entertainment. I think a walk-in workout is about 900baht and yearly, was something silly like 90,000baht. This place is nice, but not that nice. Still if you can swing a corporate membership, or are staying here, this place is cool They have complimentary water and fruit which is a cool touch, and the training staff are really friendly

Of all the Californa WOWs I've used, this is by far the worst. There are 2 different entrances on (I think) the 2nd Floor of major Ratchayothin. The place has all the standard high-end resistance/freeweights kit as all the other branches and they run a full programme of LesMills classes (Body Pump, Body Combat, Rpm etc.) but the place is just so crowded and poorly laid out, with too many mirrors to confuse you, and narrow staircases to get from floor to floor. The changing rooms are comically small, and is impossible to get changed in comfort. Really cant stand this place

By far my favourite of all the California WOW gyms You can enter the gym by a small booth on the outside of the ground floor, or by the 1st floor inside Esplanade, and is maybe a 2-3 minute walk from Thailand Cultural Centre MRT This place is absolutely huge, and both floors have tonnes of high end kit, yet the place doesnt seem anywhere near as crowded as the other branches Because its kinda far from where I live, I dont go that often, but if I remember correctly, the ground floor (which is tiny) is the spa, yoga & chillout areas, the 2nd floor has banks and banks of cardio, tonnes of resistance machines and the Muay Thai ring, and the 3rd floor has yet more cardio/resistance machines, a huge and spacious freeweights section plus cycling and dance studios. I also find the trainers are more chilled out here, and the place just has a really cool vibe. If it wasn't for the distance, I'd come here every time.

According to FitnessFirst, this is the largest hotel gym of its kind in Asia. If you enter the hotel through the main lobby, take the elevator to the 4th floor, and it drops you right into the gym. I think if you walk in off the street, its 600baht for a workout, or around 1500baht if you do a monthly sign-up gig, depending how hard you can bargain I train here at weekends for free with a friend who is a fully paid up member. Theres a really good freeweights section, a tonne of cardio equipment and nearly every conceivable resistance machine going. If im not wrong, they are all Life Fitness machines, but dont quote me. Unlike the California WOW's theres a huge stretching area, with boxing kit, medicine balls, resistance bands, floor mats, et al, and the trainers here, aren't meat-heads and arrogant pricks. I havent taken any of the classes here, but they do run the full Les Mills programmes such as BodyPump, BodyCombat, DanceFever etc, and also run the RPM cycling classes too Changing rooms are really big and luxurious, and showers are great This is by far my favourite gym in BKK

I use this branch almost as much as Ekkamai. In the basement you have Male/Female changing rooms, freeweights, resistance machines and the Cycling studio. On the ground floor you have the only entrance to the gym, a chillout area and maybe 6 treadmills. Then up on the first floor, theres a tonne of cardio equipment, stretch area, resistance machines, pilate, Muay Thai equipment, dance studios and a bathroom The prick personal trainers are still here, as are the lowlife sales team, but they also have some real hot female PTs aswell which makes up for it Of all the Californias I've visited, they have the best music, and occasionally have a live DJ, depending on the time of the week.

Of all the Calfiornia WOW gyms, this is the closest to home, and the one I use the most. The ground floor is small and purely cardio, the 2nd floor (which can be accessed direct from the BTS station) has even more cardio equipment, a large freeweights section, resistance machines, and a kickboxing section, and 3rd floor is more cardio, pilate stations and the group excersize studios. The 2nd floor is quite crowded, and a pain in the arse to get around, and in the evening, the freeweights section is jam packed. As with all the California WOWs I've been too, the trainers are arrogant pricks, and the sales staff are overly pushy to the point of being rude. Also the admin and customer service is in the gutter, but thats a given with any major gym-chain The Ekkamai gym actually has the most spacious changing room of all the other branches, but thats still not saying much. One major gripe, is that on the 2nd floor, because of the huge opening to the BTS, the air-con isnt upto scratch, and if its been raining, the whole place steams up Im a Diamond Dual member, so I have no idea on membership costs here, but If you stick to your guns, a year can be had for 7-8000baht cash