Wine & Wine Girl

Had an interesting extended conversation with a girl in a western wine shop this week. They are a high-end French place, with $25-250 wines. It's funny that she has to sell wine she's never tasted, since the manager thinks the wine is too expensive to waste on them; instead he tells them what it's like so they can tell customers !

And actually this doesn't matter much, since Westerners don't shop there - it's mostly rich out-of-town Chinese who want the status of serving expensive wine at meals, so they have no idea what they are buying anyway. Interesting how markets develop.

She also was rather forward about the advantages of various forms of government (such as multiple parties in the U.S.) and looking forward to more competition among ideas as Chinese politics evolve.

Pleasure Quarters

Somehow I thought the sex trade was not quite so vibrant in the lovely city of Shanghai, but it sure is there. I had a long conversation with my foot massage guy this morning (in Mandarin), who told me they get 20 guests/day coming in for "full-service" massages. The price is roughly $100-150, which I guess is a bargain (having never been in the market myself), but I'm struck by how many men seek this service. It's also quite inconvenient for me, since the massage folks are "busy" most of the night and thus wake up very late, making it hard to get a good foot massage before noon.

Separately, I'm also struck by the sheer volume and aggressiveness of the 'working girls' at high-end bars. I was in the bar at one of the cities best hotels, where there were three guys and 5-6 professional girls, all dressed up. And more outside to come up to you when you leave by any exit. And these are not heroin ho's, but very good-looking, well-dressed women. Quite a market, I guess.