Fifteen dollars, two towels, and endless opportunities. Such is life within Ken's of Kensington, where Ken wasn't present yesterday but many loosely fitting his description were. 

Calling this place a gay men's club is kind of like calling a Roman orgy a swap meet.

It's the club David Campbell MLA (NSW State politician) was filmed leaving earlier this week.

As a visitor yesterday, there were ... things ... I ... cannot ... explain.

Ken's is a place of pools and bubbling spa baths, saunas and deep red lighting.

There is a dungeon room with chains hanging from the roof and a bondage rack against the wall.

A massage room and many small, cell-like rooms equipped with rubber gym mats.

A ceramic lion's head on a wall adds to the Roman theme but, even with all this going on, it was important to remember that, when in Rome, it is not always necessary to do as the Romans do.

By the time I was sitting around the pool area, with a perspex roof so the visitors on the first floor could witness what was happening in the pool below, much had happened.

Yet it all went on in a strange, silent world where nobody spoke and permission was sought by presence.

I got there in time for yesterday's lunchtime crowd.

"Can I help you, mate?" said the bloke behind the counter.

"I'm here for a steam," I said.

"Been here before?"

"Nope."

I paid $15 and was given a key to a locker with two towels inside.

Apparently, yesterday was Towels Off Friday. And so once it was off, I was off.

To get to the main area you leave the locker room and walk downstairs to the pool room.

Walking around the facility were as many as 10 men.

It was difficult to get an exact number given the rabbit warren of hallways and rooms that make up the building along Anzac Parade at Kensington, in Sydney's east.

One man enjoyed a video, Hombres, on a large flat screen around the pool.

A sign requested anybody using the pool or sauna to shower first, so I took a shower and headed to the sauna, where two wordless men followed. We sat and sweated.

Just as I was ready to leave, the one beside me got up and walked out.

It meant I now couldn't leave, because in this wordless world it was obvious that to follow him out was to indicate agreement.

So three more minutes were required inside the sauna, under a full sweat, to underscore a suitable break between exits and thereby avoid an embarrassing faux pas.

I got out and showered, at which point one of the men was back.

To watch me shower.

Following that, I then walked around to get the real Ken's of Kensington experience.

There was the dungeon and its rack and along a hallway were small cells lit by dim bulbs.

A man followed me down the hallway, saying nothing, even after I chose not to enter a cell and instead walked back.

Obviously identified as a newbie, I felt more popular than the foreign exchange student - it was clear that had I walked inside, it would not be long until I had company.

The men's ages ran from late 20s to late 50s.

In the 45 minutes I spent inside it emerged how naive it is to believe Campbell is the only man living a secret public life.

In the days since his outing there has been an enormous swing of public sympathy.

But to portray Campbell as a tortured, closet homosexual is somewhat at odds with the sexual free-for-all being offered at Ken's of Kensington.