Sex in Beijing Part 1: Whoring

So, let's start this somewhat risque topic with a disclaimer. This may offend you if you think paid sex is dirty, and that hooking up for a one night stand is a bad thing that you will go to hell for. Also, from a male's perspective (not necessarily mine) - this post was assembled after interviews with several people who apparently, do know how to have a good time.

First, we'll talk about whoring today. Every guy is interested in that at a base level. Yes, it costs money, but yes, it's a sure thing, and yes, people do, do it, regardless of what they say.

But let's face it. You're in Beijing, there's only so much hanging out with the guys you want to do, sometimes, you just wanna get down and jiggy with it. But what can you do? Well, as a rule of thumb, Beijing has officially no vice - that's officially. Why? Because it's the capital city of China and they've got to keep it clean. And that's another reason why it's so safe to walk the streets at 3am as well.... alone.

Even though Beijing isn't Shanghai, or close to Dongguan (apparently the sex capital of China, or rather, the whoring capital of China), you can still negotiate for love at certain places.

i. KTV - there are KTVs and then there are KTVs! KTVs tend to have female companionship. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get laid. Most KTVs tend to keep it pretty clean - above the belt. However, they are not cheap, if you head to a Chinese KTV, you're paying RMB100/RMB200/RMB300 or for the companionship of the lady. If you head to a Korean-style KTV, a night out would cost a minimum of RMB3000 (room, some alcohol and some ladies). But again, nothing below the belt. Some KTVs allow negotiations to be made between you and your lady privately, while others do have a pool of girls that are willing to get down for the right price. You could always ask the manager whether it's possible for you to take the girl home and he/she might point you out to which girls are open for negotiations. From what I hear negotiations are usually around RMB 1,000 (Korean KTVs) and around RMB600 onwards for Chinese KTVs.

ii. Name cards - every once in a while, you'll get name cards slipped under your door. Especially so if you're staying in a cheap hotel. There's a picture of an alluring girl and a number to call. I have been told that, never ever call those numbers. Simply because the girls that come look nothing like the girls in the picture - false advertising. And also, sometimes the girl shows up with some guys to jack your shit, so not safe and not advisable.

iii. Clubs - so, what do you do if you really want to get it on in a relatively safe way? Well, there are several options, if you have a thing for Mongolian girls, go to a bar called Maggie's at Ritan Park, if you like Chinese girls go to Xiu at Park Hyatt and if you like Russians, go to Chocolate which is on the otherside of Ritan Park. There, it's up to you to go up and approach girls, of course, you should do it discreetly incase you approach a girl that ISN'T interested in negotiating her love. At Maggie's, just about every other girl is open to ideas, at Xiu, look for those standing around the fringes of the bar by themselves, and at Chocolate, I've got no idea. I'm told that the price ranges from RMB 800 to RMB 1,200 per night. Go later and you might get it cheaper.

iv. Barber shops - yes, seriously, barber shops. Again, I'm told that you should look for barber shops with plenty of girls sitting around dressed in short skirts. I'm not sure how the system works, but I think you negotiate somewhat while sitting down in the chair with a girl's hands up your pants and you may move it to the back of the shop where there's a nice little bed for you. I think the price ranges around RMB 300 to RMB 400. I couldn't find anybody reliable to tell me.

v. Girls on the street - they seem scarce but not that scarce. My friends tend to get approached by girls on the street every once in a while, especially at key nightspots late at night. What more can I say about this? You may check Houhai, 3.3 and other areas. But I doubt there's a sure fire way to be able to single out the girls that are wiling to sell some love for the night until they approach you. Prices start at RMB 600 to RMB 1,000, but you can always negotiate it down, especially if it's late at night. I suspect it's because they would like to make some money before everybody heads home to sleep.

vi. Outcalls - outcalls or so they're called, is basically a home delivery service. In a way, the name cards is an outcall, however, if you're going this route, you should probably get a reliable number and delivery. Search hard enough on the Internet (hint: forums) and you might be able to get a few numbers of people who might be able to assist you in your search for love, lust and pleasure. You've got to becareful again, for reasons like being jacked come into mind, but in general they have more to fear than you do - because the police would be more than happy to come and tear them apart. I think prices are around RMB600.

vii. Taxi drivers - get a reliable taxi driver, preferably a black cab driver that you use every day and isn't going to jack your shit, and he will probably be able to arrange it for you. Courtesy of my black cab driver, he's been offering me a 21 year old student from Hebei who will show me the meaning of love for RMB400 an hour. Please keep in mind I haven't accepted his offer and have no intention of doing so. Of course, you will get taxi drivers that offer you all kinds of shit when you're stumbling out drunk from Vics or Spark, but I really advise you against taking their offers unless you REALLY know them well.


And there you have it, the several ways you (a guy) can whore in Beijing. Keep it real, keep it safe and remember to use a condom.

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Buzz, Barry Diston & Stevie D feat. Jess Palmer - Alone

Download

Definitely worth listening to. It's a remix of.. Alone? Can't remember who did the original, but this version is good.

And since I haven't posted something for a while, here's another song. A favorite of mine

Al Storm - Move Those Feet

Starting something?

Most MBA schools market themselves as a breeding ground for entrepreneurs. But in reality, it usually isn't like that. If you were to look at the numbers of people who went into Finance or Consulting or Marketing after an MBA you'll see that maybe only 2% to 4% of the students actually started something. So why do schools talk about entrepreneurship so much?

Well, I personally think schools talk about entrepreneurship because they don't want to be seen as a school that puts people in to a 9-to-5 job only. It does sound good when they're able to say "hey, student X is an entrepreneur and he just IPOed his company this year". They're selling the dream that you can be your own boss and run your own show. Don't fall for that.

Entrepreneurship is an important skill or drive or possibly talent to have. But the school can sit you down and talk about entrepreneurship until it comes out of your ears and you still will think that going to Goldman Sachs is a better option than starting something on your own. The usual line that I hear is that "if you were a real entrepreneur, you would have taken your money and time and started something instead of attending school". How true is that? It's pretty true to a certain extent.

Sometimes, people go to business school because even though they're entrepreneurs (in their heart), they are looking for ideas or a partner to start something. Entrepreneurship as a module is pretty much nonsense. It's actually the entire MBA program (or at least the core parts of an MBA program) that teach a person how to be an entrepreneur - you won't learn how to be an entrepreneur just by taking a module called "Entrepreneurship".

What the schools don't teach you is that starting something on your own is hard work, full of rejection and probably failure. If anything, perhaps they should start doing that in the Entrepreneurship classes, but nobody really wants to talk about the downside of graduating with debt and then starting their own business.

Anyway, I just thought I wanted to tell you guys, if you think coming to business school will make you an entrepreneur, you might find that thinking very wrong. You will learn skills that are important to an entrepreneur, you might meet people that excite you and make you want to start something - but if you are unwilling or have never been willing to put the money down on the line, you will not become an entrepreneur magically.

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theloneranger

I just wanted you to let you know that my application for Tsinghua IMBA has been rejected
:-/

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Hey, I'm really sorry to hear that. But you shouldn't give up hope - there are other schools that would be willing to take you, and some might be even better than Tsinghua. Applying to business school is very much a crapshoot sometimes, you need a little bit of luck.

The few things that you can control are your application essays and your GMAT. You can't really control your past work experiences. I do think though, that if you really feel that Tsinghua SEM is the best school for you, then you should try applying again. If you want some help on the essays again, let me know and I would be happy to read over them for you.


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Alex

Thanks for shining a light on the Tsinghua student budget - the indicative numbers are very helpful. I've just been admitted to the MBA starting September, and would be keen to link up for a drink after arriving in Beijing. Have you an email I can contact you on? Cheers, Alex.

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Hi Alex

Congratulations for being admitted. I hope that this blog allows you to come to Tsinghua University with your eyes wide open knowing what you should expect and get out of the program.

Truth be told, I'm not sure where I will be after this coming June. I'm currently looking at my
options and haven't made a decision on what to do or where to go. But we can arrange to meet up during September if I'm still around!

But feel free to ask me more questions if I haven't really covered anything in this blog and I'll try to answer it the best I can.

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Brisk & Fade - Stay here forever

This is a real classic that I came across again recently. It definitely brings back memories...