Chinese Cheerleaders

Met an ex-pat here, someone that my friend Nguyen knows, who is engaged to a woman who is from Beijing. She is clearly educated to a level and a diversity of knowledge that we would admire in the west, and she studied in London for a few years.

While watching beach volleyball together, they had cheerleaders both before and between games. Young girls jumping around in skimpy bathing suits to provocative music, just like in America. We both were amazed that China would have that; She had never seen that in China before. China is changing so fast, embracing things that before were taboo. Economic liberalization, and many personal freedoms, although still with an authoritarian regime.

Her fiancée commented: Maybe the 21st century won't be the century of democracy the way we all thought it would. With the fall of the Berlin Wall we thought it would usher in an era of democracy. But if you look at China, and Russia, and many other smaller countries, they tend to have much more economic and personal freedoms, but still with authoritarian governments. Is this what we will have to get used to in the 21st century, a necessary intermediate step before development of political freedoms later?

I was surprised to be able to have this conversation with a local Chinese person. Eight years ago when I was in China no local Chinese person would have dared to discuss the subject. They would have feigned that they didn't understand, rather then even claim they didn't have any thoughts on the subject. Did she feel free to talk about such things with her other friends from China? Yes, they do discuss such things, as long as everyone understands they are discussing events, and not advocating any particular policy. Her parents do not discuss these things, though: They lived through the cultural revolution. The older generation is shocked at the pace of change, and happy that things are so much better than they were before. They still remember the times when discussing such ideas, even thinking such thoughts, could be dangerous.

The flow of information is getting harder to control. Internal media still don't report on many events, but outside media do report on things in English. Many more people are learning English, and are using the Internet, and the Chinese government are encouraging both trends.

Polar Survival Kit

While on the plane from LAX to Tokyo, while waiting for the lavatory, I noticed a placard on the ceiling that said "Polar Survival Kit". So I ask the head stewardess, "What's in a Polar Survival Kit?"

She answers: It's for when we fly to India, over the polar region, in case we need to make an emergency landing on the ice. There are only two on the plane. It's a protective suit, jacket, gloves, boots, and so on in case the pilot needs to go outside the plane.

Why would the pilot need to go outside the plane?

She answers: I'm not sure. I haven't actually seen one of the survival kits, I've only seen pictures. But don't go outside without one; You would die quickly. Of course, you'd die pretty quick in the airplane too, because it wouldn't be much warmer inside the plane.

So only the pilot gets to survive?

Answer: Well, there are two suits, so the pilot and one other person.

Monogamous Prostitution

I went down to the front desk one night to ask about clubs that would have salsa dancing, but there was someone in front of me so I had to wait. The hotel guest in front of me was talking in Spanish to the desk manager, and a woman was standing nearby looking bored. The woman was pretty and dressed provocatively. The desk manager had stopped the woman from going with the guest up to his room, because she wasn't registered as a guest. I remember that when we had checked in to the hotel, the desk clerk had made a point of telling us that any guests that went up to a room had to be registered guests, and that since Bobby and I were staying in the same room we would not be allowed to bring any other guests up with us. Here is the translation of my memory of the conversation between the Spanish-speaking guest and the hotel desk manager:

Manager: She cannot go up to the room with you because she is not registered as a guest.
Guest: OK, then I want to register her as a guest.
Manager: Yes, but you already registered a different woman as a guest last night. Hotel policy is that you can only register two people to a room for the duration of the stay. If you want to bring this woman up to your room you will need to pay for another room.
Guest: But the other woman isn't here anymore, and I want to change it to this woman.
Manager: I understand, but the hotel policy does not allow that.
Guest: But I've already paid for this room and I'm the only person staying in the room.
Manager: I understand, but hotel policy does not allow you to bring more than one guest during your stay.
Guest: How much does another room cost for the night?
Manager: Another room for tonight would be 235 Reals.
Guest: But I can get a motel for less than that.
Manager: I understand, but that is the hotel policy.

At this point the guest left with the woman to go to a motel. The woman looked bored with the conversation from the beginning, because she had probably heard the same conversation before. The hotel didn't have any policy against bringing hookers into the hotel, but they would take their cut of the money. Either you had to bring the same hooker in every night, or you had to pay for an additional room every night, or go to one of the many love motels in the area. In Rio hotels are normal hotels like you would expect, but love hotels rent for 8 or 12 hour periods.

Clubs & Cowboy

Rio has a crazy system with cards at most bars & discos. When you enter they ask for your ID, and they type in your personal information into a computer and give you a card. It looks similar to a phone calling card, and it acts as your charge card while you're inside the bar. You buy drinks with it, food, whatever else someone might need to buy (cigarrettes, gum, candy). You can't pay in cash to the bar or waiter, you have to use the card.

When you're ready to leave you can't go to the front door. That would make sense. They have several large men standing there who prevent you from leaving. Instead you have to go find the cashier (caixa), which is sometimes labeled with a sign, but sometimes not. Then you pay your tab, which often times requires the cashier to ask questions of the waiter & bartender, discussion ensuing. Wasn't everything listed on the card already? I'm not sure of the purpose of the discussions. As part of your bill you also pay the cover charge for the bar. Did you remember to ask about the cover charge when you went in? They usually remember to tell you when you enter. After you pay the cashier gives you a slip of paper, or maybe a different card, or maybe the same card marked for exit. That is your exit pass. Don't lose that piece of paper or card, nor shove it in your pocket. You'll need that to exit, and you'll have a tough time if you lose it.

Rio is a late night city. Things start at midnight or 1am and go to 4am or 5am. But why is my body still waking up at 9am?

We decide to take a slow day on Wednesday. Sleep late, a long breakfast, sitting by the pool, reading, using the sauna. We also work out in the exercise room and swim, and I do my own yoga in the sauna. I'm starting to feel healthier again for the first time since we arrived in Rio.

On wednesday evening we go back to the hostel for fun, then went to a disco with brazilians and have fun dancing and playing pool. Then Bobby and I decide to go to a brazilian strip club that a guy at the hotel told us about. It's filled with hookers and an occasional stripper, but also samba-style dance acts.

(This picture is from a different club with samba-style dance acts, one without hookers. But you get the picture.)

The hookers in the strip club start calling me "Cowboy". I've been wearing a western hat sometimes in Rio. Technically, it's not a cowboy hat; It's a western hat, made in Australia from kangaroo leather. (Explaning the origin of my hat is probably as meaningless to you as it was to the people here.) Twice earlier this week random people would start calling me Cowboy. For the hookers in this club, it is in full swing. They only know about 10 words in English, but they know how to say "Cowboy". One of the hookers motions to borrow the hat. I'm wary, but I allow it. She starts dancing with it, and then the stripper on the small stage sees her with the hat, yells over to her, and motions for her to bring it to the stage. Soon the stripper on stage is wearing my hat and incorporating it into her act, pulling imaginary six-shooter guns from near her hips.

The place is so overrun with hookers that I can't take any more after 10 minutes, so I retrieve my hat and decide to leave. That's when they say I owe them 60 Real as a cover charge. Now, I know I should have asked about this before we went in, but I'm still annoyed that they purposefully didn't tell us about it. I tell them I won't pay. The manager comes over and starts yelling at me in Portuguese. He knows I don't speak Portuguese, he's just doing it to intimidate me.

I tell the guy I'm leaving and start walking towards the door. A big guy jumps in front of me and says "Hey man, you tough guy, you superman, you're just going to walk out of here like superman?" From the way he was talking, I think that was the only english he knew. Bobby was still chatting up the hookers, and I decide to ask his advice. He says "What, are you kidding? Just pay the 60 and walk out."

Angry at the partial deception and hostage situation, after paying I decide to walk instead of getting a cab. A block away from the club, I walk past two guys sitting on the street corner who see me and start yelling "Cowboy, come here man!" They start following me and yelling "Cowboy" after me. Did the hookers radio ahead to these guys? Somehow it's far more threatening coming from two guys who have nothing better to do than sit on a street corner at 2:30 in the morning.

Bobby shows up at the hotel about 20 minutes later.