Las Vegas, planning a party

I went to Las Vegas in part to entertain one of the people who entertained me in Korea. It was only a few weeks since the mind-numbing experience, and my senses were still reeling when I thought of the experience.

Unfortunately I wasn't sure how I could reciprocate.

He came with his brother, so it was three all together. My fundamental approach was to stress classic American beach blonde looks for them rather than trying to compete with the overwhelming Asian service I had enjoyed. Since the classic beach blonde is quite popular with the Asian men, I was hoping they would hardly notice the difference in service.

The plan was to warm up at a strip club, to arrange some private encounters en-suite, a kind of special event, and one special gal for overnight company.

PRE-PLANNING

The warm up venue was Sapphire. I had never been there (I'm under the impression it's relatively new), but it was recommended to me. It is truly amazing. It is huge. I mean, nearly mall sized. No, seriously, about the size of a Costco. The reason to go there was the Sky Box, their VIP rooms around the perimeter of the place that overlook the main room. They rent at an hourly rate with or without dancers, and you can specify the music you prefer. The building: modern on the outside, and swank inside where the decor is classic Vegas, dark wood and stone, neon displays, a 20 foot martini behind the bar, and a multilevel stage in the center. The sky box, a couple of couches, a few chairs, room enough for ten, a tilted window overlooking the action downstairs, a flat panel television, some mirrors, decent sound, and controlled lighting. There is a separate VIP entrance to get to the sky boxes.

For the next step I had a suite at the Venetian. It was just before the National Association of Broadcasters conference. I had never stayed there either, but the Bellagio had a power failure earlier, and when I was making plans it was uncertain when they would return to business. The only downside was the separate elevators to get to the suite level at the Venetian, and the extra security. Not that they gave any problems, but there was slightly less privacy from staff. The suite had a great view, a big living room, dining room seating ten, immense tubs, and two bedrooms. I arranged catered dinner. I had thought of renting a house on the lake, but it was too difficult for a single day.

Another part of the plan was a wedding chapel for a faux wedding. I had arranged with a not-to-be-named chapel to do this, although they were initially against the idea. But a little cajoling got them over their reticence and we had the whole package including the limo and wedding party.

Finally there was a gal I imported from Los Angeles for an overnight, a high end girl that I know. I contacted her, outlined the plan, made travel arrangements, and wired a deposit for expenses.

ARRIVAL IN VEGAS

I had made calls about a week in advance with the Sapphire. I mentioned to them the VIP box, a minimum spend on alcohol and time, and six girls that might be able to accompany us afterwards. They were suprisingly helpful and were willing to arrange a meeting with a manager.

I flew down two days beforehand, checked into my room, and checked out the suite. I notified the concierge that I was going to host a party and told him that we would have some girls. He suggested a different suite, perhaps for noise reasons. I noted every display had a DVD player, so I went out and bought a few DVDs.

I confirmed the flight for the LA gal and wired her the balance. I arranged for a large cash withdrawal to cover additional tips. Funny how they cater to that in Las Vegas...

I met the manager the day before in the morning. I tipped him and arranged to have an interview with the gals that evening to pick the six "after" girls. I also specified a certain special bottle of alcohol and a permissable premium he could charge. The biggest issue was that I said that politeness might demand that the girls drink with the men, but eventually he promised to have everything set up. Very friendly.

That afternoon I went to the wedding chapel, met their only male coordinator, tipped him, and made arrangements, which were mostly logistics around photography and transportation. The biggest sticking point, surprisingly, was their hesitation to use an instant camera (apparently they usually retain negatives so you can order prints... or so they can blackmail you later!)

That evening I went back to the Sapphire and interviewed ten gals, and picked six. Interestingly, a large fraction were named after cities or jewelry. Yes, it was rough work, but I have a strong work ethic. Two of the ten were hesitant to commit to open ended services afterwards, despite my strong hint to the manager that was my preference. All seemed pretty motivated to be selected, as it was a minimum of nine hours at an hourly cost plus tips (and it turned out to be more than nine hours). I tipped all ten, with more to the six I picked. I explained to the six gals the plan for the next evening, and urged them and the manager to understand that a no-show would be very bad.

The next day I hired the limo driver and instructed him to pick up my guests and stock up on the appropriate drinks. I had never been in a limo that could fit nine passengers comfortably (this one could fit a dozen, and I was surprised by how poor the ride quality was given the length of the wheelbase.) I obtained the rooms and room keys.

THE EVENT

My friend and his brother arrived on time. They brought no checked luggage, which was fortunate, as that part of the airport was under some rennovation. The pick up was smooth, and I told them that by the end of the evening the limo would be filled. I gave them several cards with my number, room number, and the suite number in case something happened.

The event was a storyline I thought he'd enjoy. He would have time to relax or gamble, and then we'd meet again in the afternoon. We'd spend time at a club and at the hotel where he and his brother would eventually have to pick two gals to "marry" by midnight. All six girls would be competing to be their pick (in part because I told them the two brides would have an extra bonus).

It went remarkably smoothly. Keep in mind as coordinator I wasn't enjoying this as much as my guests, and I had specifically instructed the gals to focus on the two guests. But I can't complain... and as you'll see, I received just desserts at the end.

The gals were amazing. They were very good looking, and really got into the role playing. Maybe it had something to do with the recent popularity of reality shows, but it went very well. They danced, seduced, pouted, competed, and generally worked the guys over. One of them even had baked cookies and brought them as evidence that she was a good pick! A memorable scene was two gals who competed for best oral sex using a sake bottle. Several other gals joined into it, and it was pretty interesting. I certainly had previously never envied a bottle. At the end of the VIP room, I tipped the manager, waiter, and everybody with the fortune to pass nearby.

We then moved to the Venetian, where we had dinner with plenty of wine. The dessert I had ordered was chocolate mousse, which led, as I had planned, to body painting, and other things. Side note: I had specified decreasing quality of wine, predicting, correctly, that people wouldn't notice towards the end of the meal. As such, the dessert wine was nothing special.

I set up some DVDs and made a strategic exit during part of the developing orgy, to meet my acquaintance from Los Angeles. I met with her briefly, confirmed the plan, gave her a key to her room and the suite, and then left her to gamble. I called housekeeping and arranged for cleanup for between 1 AM and 2 AM. I returned to the room to find the dining area vacant, two gals in the living room, and the rest distributed in the tubs. At this point, champagne was the drink of choice.

I reminded my guests that midnight was fast approaching, and a decision had to be made.

The long and short of it was that a decision WAS made. There was general mayhem around this, but I was able to herd everybody appropriately into transportation to the chapel. Two gals were "wed," and the others were bridesmaids. The two chosen, by the way, were very classic blondes. Go figure.

The wedding was raucous, and the decision to have only instant photographs was clearly wise given the nature of some of the photographs. I had a surprise Elvis impersonator show up and sing. I think he was more surprised than we were.

At that point we returned to the hotel and bade the four-not-chosen fond farewells. I tipped them and thanked them, and got a few phone numbers, including for cookie girl.

We went back to the suite. There I had arranged for a variant of an Asian fertility custom, and we blessed the marriage with sons and daughters. I tipped the lucky brides. The couples then stumbled to bed, and I grabbed some DVDs and left for my room.

Unbeknownst to my friend, his room was already occupied by the LA gal. The story was that his virgin newlywed bride wanted to have her sister there also, to share their first night.

Now for the just desserts. Between jetlag and drinking, apparently my man almost immediately passed out, and the dancer wasn't very far behind him. I myself was pretty wound up, so to speak, and had just put a naughty DVD on in my room, and was getting ready to introduce little Siggy to Rosy Palm, when LA gal called me. She had been "warmed up" by the dancer but was left high and dry. Not one to lose out on this particular windfall, I invited her over.

AFTERMATH

I hadn't established a means for communications the next day. I had instructed the gals to leave whenever they wanted, up to and including sneaking out at night. I left a vm for my man, but he hadn't called by the time I had to get my LA gal back to the airport.

After I dropped her off (and she's the only person I did NOT have to tip!) I had a call on my cell phone (which for whatever reason had no signal inside the airport in Vegas). My man had awakened and wanted to have (late) lunch. We met at a noodle restaurant inside the Venetian, without his brother. He was very pleased with the experience, said his brother had a great time, and thanked me. I didn't pry on details or what he remembered.

So that was the Las Vegas reciprocation. I would not recommend this experience. It was a ton of work, a large amount of expense, lots of eye candy, but extreme frustration. On the other hand if anybody were to want to do this for ME, well, you'd be my instant friend!

Rejecting a Mistress

I had a recent experience with a civilian mistress, a woman who was looking for a "patron." She was not a provider in the traditional sense. She claimed to have spent the past few years as the mistress of a wealthy and married-with-children Fortune 100 executive in New York City. She was a "kept woman", that is, exclusive to this man, who in turn provided her with a monthly stipend, gifts, and travel expenses.

Recently his wife became gravely ill, needing care, and so they mutually agreed to terminate the relationship.

At the time I met her, she was seeking a new patron. A fellow hobbyist (who wishes to remain anonymous) had "sampled" her and found the quality to be excellent but the expense to be high, so he referred her to me. I can only imagine that it was my experience with Anne-Marie, the ten thousand dollar escort, that made him think that I'd be interested in an expensive mistress. I have always claimed Anne Marie represented my "young and stupid" days, but still I was curious as to what kind of woman could have been a mistress to a successful business executive who, like me, could have elected to be a hobbyist instead.

With my interest piqued, I spent two months both meeting and communicating with her, a "try before you buy" trial period. That trial period is now over, and last week in Asia I decided to forego the "mistress experience."

If you know me, you know that I keep trying long-term experiences. Rather than one hour meetings, I prefer an event, or even a shared vacation sometimes going as long as a week. My experiences have been mixed, but when I connect with a wonderful provider, I really like to STAY plugged in... (get your mind out of the gutter!) Sometimes it leads to trouble, other times it's great.

So I first met "T" at Jillian's, a pool hall and bar in Seattle, where we talked over drinks.

"T" is an attractive, dark haired, late-20's woman with striking eyes and a lithe body. She was recruited into a gifted children program when young and remains smart and informed. She is very well educated, has real-world work experience in politics and journalism (in Washington, D.C.), and is very presentable and stylish. She exudes class.

I would feel quite comfortable having her at a sit-down dinner with business associates, which is something I could not say about most US providers (or girlfriends) I have met. It's because she's used to it, having spent a lot of time with businessmen and politicians in social settings. She carries an excellent coversation, and has a good mixture of being head strong and accomodating.

T is sexy and smart, with a wicked sense of humor. She can also be comfortable and casual, in jeans and a t-shirt, or lounging in sweats. And T is sufficiently organized and tasteful that she can plan and schedule an outing or vacation herself, which relieves me of those chores.

Best of all, despite being masterfully urbane and polished in public, she is an absolute tiger in private. She is particularly good at creating mind-blowing scenarios with her exceptional intelligence; using her head in more ways than one, so to speak. Probably the only place she falls short of my ideal is that she is not bisexual.

But rather than bore you with details of a set of essentially civilian encounters, let me instead talk about why I elected NOT to do it.

1. A mistress is an odd kind of monogamy. On the positive, She is available 24x7 for you. On the other hand, she's expensive enough that you can't really play the field as much if you have her. Or if you do, you're spending a lot of money. I think the mistress system makes a lot more sense for somebody in the "married with children" situation than for me.

2. T is like a drug: expensive and addictive. Bad combination. She would be a great girlfriend if she hadn't picked up those expensive habits and liked her own freedom so much. She was willing to be my mistress for about half the price of her previous deal, but it was STILL expensive.

3. Worst: the hobbyist-provider boundary isn't there. Or it isn't as clear. Which is pretty damned dangerous. I could easily see losing the detachment needed to stay sane in this business. And, as I have written elsewhere, I can't seem to convert a paid relationship into a healthy girlfriend relationship.

But oddly, I was still on the fence and thinking about signing up for a year. I even had the tax and business structure worked out. I had gone back and forth, and forth and back on it for a few weeks...

Until my experience in Asia.

And that was what tipped the balance.

Who needs a regular provider? I'm just in the wrong country!

Asia -- Drinks are on Me (long)

I took a trip to Asia.

Quite unlike Southeast Asia, North Asia is expensive. The economic disparity is large: Japanese frequently journey southward in search of more genuine and less expensive women, not unlike Californians wandering into Baja, except far more organized. But even within North Asia, there are tremendous differences between countries.

Japan is the most civilized and advanced country in the world that does NOT have a Christian or Catholic-influenced history. As such, its morals are quite different from those of the West. In fact, the differences can be deceptive and surprising, as the Japanese exist behind a shell painted with Western business culture, Western high technology, and Western two piece suits. Behind this is a no-holds-barred open-minded sex culture. Most Americans are, in fact, offended by the Japanese sex culture, whereas some Japanese view the American offense as merely an odd cultural repression (with the globalization of media, however, everything is becoming homogenized, and ultimately I believe the Western morals will prevail.)

Now if Japan were the Canada of North America, and Thailand the Mexico, then South Korea would be the United States. Christianity is the leading religion in Korea, and although the roots of that culture are not deep, there is an uneasy peace between Western and Eastern morals. The moral tone is West of Japan, but still far East of the USA: for example, in Korea there aren't hands-free bars scattered around town as in Japan (and by "hands-free," I'm talking about a different kind of oral/microphone experience than in cell phones or karaoke!), but you can find a hand release in Seoul about as often as you find a barber shop. In the same place, in fact, and on virtually every city block.

Asian cultures are historically very hierarchical. The hierarchies have changed in the past millenia, from monarchy to feudal systems to imperial systems, and recently to business conglomerates. It is incorrect to assume that Western business weakened the hierarchy: each Korean or Japanese conglomerate is more powerful than any previous king could have dreamt, and certainly are more stable than the elected governments. Samsung is the most valuable company in Asia, and alone produces more than 20% of the GDP of Korea.

In fact, lacking a vibrant startup and small business community, Asian cultures usually see more than half of their GDP produced by a small number of companies, 70-80% of their population hired into a relatively low-paid service job, and an expected lifetime of a political party of less than 20 years (China excepted). The consequent lack of robust dynamics in their economy makes for interesting boom-bust cycles, and, as in any monarchy, a huge importance in strong leadership.

A side effect of the hierarchy is the sex trade. It caters to the businessman, the current version of the feudal warrior or sponsored tradesman. Because the money flows down this way, the service industry understands very well that their bread is buttered by the knives of the corporations.

Another side effect is the fraternity of business. Much like the warrior king culture, the businessmen congregate in social groups with interesting cultural idioms, mimicking their superiors, yet knowing the likelihood that they will ever achieve greatness is limited by who they know. This is reflected in an existential attitude in their literature, which is nothing if like reading Camus or Dostoevsky (in fact, their literature is often translated into French and Russian before English.) And these fraternities are very close. It's not uncommon for businessmen to go out drinking with their buddies EVERY night until midnight. They see more of these guys socially than their wife or kids.

Now make no mistake: there is a sex trade that caters to people outside the fraternity. But it's different. Hence the difficulty in getting the top sex services in Northern Asia if you are a tourist. Or not well-connected with a native "guide." Is it racist? Certainly some part of it is a race issue. But most of it, IMO, is their history of catering to the "lords" and "the fraternity." If you are outside, you don't get to play.

So what happens when you mix the focus on business with the fraternal hierarchies and the non-Western morals? Interesting forms of group sex! There is, as noted above, a different sex trade for individuals and people outside the fraternities, but by far the larger proportion of spending goes to group sex. But it's not quite what you think.

Now I'll confess up front: I have never been interested in group sex, unless I'm the only guy. Performing in front of a fraternity of friends never did anything for me, yes, even when... especially when! I was in a large college fraternity. I just don't want to be distracted by the vision of a bunch of naked guys, vastly preferring the pulchritude of women. Maybe in porn I could indentify with a male character (except, perhaps a member the size of a watermelon), but live action with other guys? Not for me.

But I'll also confess... I tried it out on this trip. And despite the dangers of talking about this (c.f. my earlier post on Singapore and some of the responses,) what the hell...

Let's start with the tamer of the two experiences: Korea.

KOREA

I have a few people in Korea who I have known for decades. I knew them when they were studying and raising kids in the USA, and I knew them for the decades while they and their generation rose to power in Korea. So I'm connected to conglomerate executives, government ministry officials, and university administrators and academics (the latter being more respected and powerful in Asia than here.) Most of my evenings in Korea, scratch that, ALL of my evenings in Korea consisted of drinking with such contacts.

The ones who don't know me as well will show me a tame night. Some drinking and talking at a lounge. The best thing is the conversation. The worst thing is the pervasive cigarette smoke.

Those who know me better, and know that I am open minded, will take me to a somewhat wilder place. Usually it starts with dinner, then some warm-up drinks, and then to a private bar room or karaoke room with bar girls or kieseng (the Korean version of geisha) depending on the quality of the place. What I'm calling a "bar girl" is less well-educated: she must know how to carry a conversation, sing, feed you, and drink with you (at about a 1:2 to 1:4 ratio of drinks because she'll have up to four customers in an evening). A true kieseng is better educated: she should know more languages, can write calligraphy and recite and compose poetry and music.

The drink is mostly to give you an excuse to be on bad behavior. It's also the same kind of trust-bonding that getting drunk with your fraternity brothers serves.

The girls themselves are arranged in hierarchies. At the top is the bar manager, usually a girl in her late thirties or early forties. At the bottom is the youngest girl (the youngest I met was 19), who is "in training." Younger girls call the older girls "older sister" (it's one word in Korean) and defer to them. The younger girls have fewer stories, usually act more shy, and are generally less popular.

The girls are beautiful. Yes, even before you get a couple of liters of whisky in your system. The 19 year old was very cute, with a fantastic singing voice, and a sweet disposition. She was called in for me because she spoke the best English (majoring in it in college, in fact), but it took a while for her to warm up to it. The other girl with me had been educated in Turkey. She was 26, was charming and riotiously funny, and had a cosmopolitan attitude rare in US providers. I could fall in love. But then I'd be the topic of only one of the zillions of poems about businessmen falling in love with these women.

The evening was a lot of fun. It was dominated by talking, joking, and singing. There was at least one girl for every guy.

Sometimes private parties will merge or split. Each girl is completely focused on one guy. You will be fed, your glass will never empty, and you singing is always considered great. Somehow the girls are very good at keeping the party lively and the conversation going at the right times, and giving you some private time at the right time. They get flattered, they take care of it, you detox a little, and then... more partying. Repeat until nearly unconscious, or until four or eight or twelve hours have passed.

Now keep this in context: these gals have to entertain you, without use of a movie, theater, or a distracting event, for all that time. Conversation is key.

So where's the sex? In the group setting in Korea it doesn't get past heavy petting. If you go past that, you are encouraged to "get a room," which is usually pretty conveniently located, sometimes right upstairs. You can also take them to a spa, which is a nice way to detoxify with alternating hot and cold (or oxygen-laden) rooms, and eating, sleeping and television areas above. This definitely worked for Sigmund.

And how was the sex? Awesome if they are pros (not all are!) Pros are trained. But other girls are not, eschewing the sex part of the trade for whatever reason.

The professional journeyman - apprentice system has a lot merits in my book. The fact that these gals are TRAINED, and continue to train when they are doing "doubles"... it's definitely an amazing thing. I mean, I have experienced some great civilian or professional duos, but nothing like this. They say timing is everything, and I now realize that the duos I've had in the States do not coordinate their timing. Nor do they seem to zero in on your biorhythms and CONTROL you... and the internal muscle control of the older gal was fantastic. There was a few minutes when she was trying to teach this to the younger gal, and I was a very willing subject. They had these all these patterns and rhythms, and I almost passed out from the novelty of it. The older gal would watch me carefully, stroke me on my leg or arm or whatever, and then based on my breathing would ask the younger one, mounted on me, to change the pattern or hold her hand and tell her to squeeze me in time with her hand. There were a few times I really felt like begging for release.

I am not easy to please, but these gals seemed to have little trouble with me.

Summary of my experience there: each and every girl was completely into ME. But even better in some ways. It wasn't just sex, or those looks, or a teasing dinner: it was being bathed, cuddled in a sauna, meals prepared and fed to me, and never even having to pour a drink for myself. Oh yeah, and the sex was better. But, heck, that was a short part of the long nearly twenty-four hour experience.

Decadent? oh yeah.

I was worried that one of my friends had driven his car to this place. Many execs have drivers, but for whatever reason his driver was off that evening. But, no fear, there is a service where a driver showed up and drove his car to his house (dropping the rest of us off as needed.)

By the way, an anti-hangover remedy is required. There is this vile concoction that is trendy: mixing beer and whisky (called an Atomic or Nuclear Bomb, depending on the ratio of beer to whisky), and beer, whisky and wine (called a Vampire, for it's frothy blood-like consistency). I call it gastric suicide, especially after the insanely spicy meals they like to eat. I read that Korea has the second highest annual per capita consumption of alcohol (14.4 liters of pure alcohol per adult) next to Slovenia (15.1 liters). Now I believe it.

Now I do need to insert a disclaimer. I have no idea if the night out is typical. I just haven't been to Korea enough. And I do know that the people I was with can spend money, but I didn't see it. So it was all free for me, and I don't know how much it cost. I know the imported booze is NOT cheap. So I'm guessing it was several thousand dollars.

An obligatory note: there are a zillion massage parlors everywhere, mostly hidden in spas, barbershops and ads. Everybody knows they exist, and there is no stigma to it. Many of these gals are amazingly good at a handjob or oral sex, in the sense that they can wave the wand and magically that's about all it takes. There are also glassfront hookers, not unlike Amsterdam. The neighborhood isn't that great, but it's worth seeing, just to see all these gals in mod getups and these grandmother types trying to hustle you in for a quickie. So even if you aren't in the fraternity of business, there are services. I have no real experience here, but FYI.

Next stop: Japan.

JAPAN

Japan is more sexually open minded, or perverted, depending upon your point of view, than Korea.

The Korean kisaeng aren't at the quality of a Japanese geisha. This is because of the Korean rebellion against the Japanese colonial system and their use of Korean women as "comfort women" (prostitutes for the military) and as the destination of sex tourism in the 1960's. As a consequence, the Korean government strongly separated the kisaeng into two: a lower class kisaeng that was part of the sex services, and a higher class one that was government sponsored, considered an art resource (much of the historical literature and music was composed by kisaeng), and was NOT to have sex.

Consequently, the Korean kisaeng I met, although well-educated when compared to a typical US provider, was nothing like top Japanese geisha.

Now when I talk about education here, I'm talking about cultural education. These are not PhDs in physics or computer science. These are artists, musicians, and even satirists.

In Japan I also know a few people for a long time. Like Korea, I've known them as they have climbed their (mostly predestined) path to power. Through that long investment, there is sufficient trust for them to take me into the innards of the Japanese experience.

It is said that there are three lives in Japan, and Asia more generally. There is your private life you share with your family; there is the public life, a face you wear in society; and there is the fraternal life, which includes a variety of stress-relieving activities including sex and drinking. These three lives are kept independent, and until quite recently, by social contract each stays quite independent with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

So let's talk about two experiences in Japan. I'll divide it into the low track and the high track.

LOW TRACK

The low track night started with four guys and an early dinner, and then what we'd call a progressive bar night. Migrating from tiny bar to tiny bar, where "everybody knows your name." The bars are TINY. I was introduced at each place, and several toasts ensued.

Then to the districts with larger bars with sexual services, such as "hands-free" (or "no hands") bars. This is where you sit at a bar and receive oral service under the table. There are also version of this where you can go to a booth. HJ, BJ, and FS are available. The girls are usually imported from China or Southeast Asia. Every now and then you can overpay for a blonde, but the service is usually far worse. The point at these places is that you have the zipless fVck. Virtually no interaction. In some places you can hold a conversation, for example with a bar girl, while the action is going on underneath with another girl. See if you can keep a straight face. It's like Monkey's military cadet fantasy in Portnoy's Complaint. You can also engage in a variety of interesting games: who can hold out the longest, and so on.

Recall this is a social outing, so I'm here playing a variety of truly mind-twisting drinking-plus-sex games with these guys. Frankly, if it weren't for the drinks beforehand, I'm sure I would have backed away from the whole thing. Talk about performance anxiety!

After that was another bout of drinking. My hosts weren't as used to holding large quantities of hard liquor: the Japanese per capita alcohol consumption is half that of Korea, although they drink nearly twice as much beer (by volume.)

Then to a private room bar, much like the Korea experience. The girls weren't quite as pretty, nor quite as friendly. They were attentive and had perfect protocol, but I liked the more down to earth friendliness I found in the Korean room. Food and drink were available, as was a karaoke system that magically swung out of the wall. The games here did not have a limit at the heavy petting stage, as in Korea, and could easily have developed into group sex in the middle of the floor. The room configuration was traditional, so rather than chairs and a table, there was a very low table and cushions. It turns out this is very amenable to activities other than eating, without moving furniture.

After the "run around in a circle nearly naked acting like chickens" game, I elected to retire to another room rather than play the "who gets to cVm inside the hostess with the mostest" game. It started to get too weird for me, I tell ya.

The sexual experience here wasn't as good as in Korea. Perhaps it's that we didn't connect as well. Or my mind was too fVcked up with the weird games. My friends were drunk off their asses, but had a great time. When we hooked up afterwards, it was traditional to share detailed experiences, much like being in a fraternity. Lots of joking ensued, followed by sleeping in the cab.

I wasn't really that into it.

HIGH TRACK

Well, after the crazy games I played on the low track, I was academically interested in what the high track would hold. Only academically, mind you.

I went with a group of three other people, one of which was the clear "senior" person. He was very well-known and very wealthy. He had a private club he preferred, and arranged the evening there.

We were driven to a rather non-descript frontage in Tokyo, where the ubiquitous doorman guided us into a small foyer then down a narrow corridor and into an elevator. The elevator opened up into a HUGE room with beautiful wood carvings, statues, and even a water fountain and sand garden. A duo of lovely ladies in uniform greeted us. Out of hidden doors a set of traditionally-garbed ladies emerged, helped us remove our shoes, and guided us individually into dressing rooms, where I was shown how to put on a kind of toga diaper. I was shown downstairs into the baths, where I was cleaned most delightfully by two pretty girls who joined me in the hot and cold tubs.

I was sad to see them leave, their having caused certain reactions in my physical state, but I was then shown into another room where I had an excellent massage from several women. At some points there was only one girl, at others there were three, one working on my head, and the other two on my body. I nearly fell asleep.

I was then taken to a larger bath where my companions were. We hung out talking a little there, relaxing and loosening up, and then were taken to a room for dinner. There were two women taking care of the room including the room "mother," and one geisha for each man. The food had many courses, each of which was fed to us. My geisha spoke English with a delightfully cute accent, and gave me a short language lesson on each food item (immediately forgotten), its preparation and its history. I am quite inquisitive, but she was excellent at addressing my many questions.

I was the subject of many good-natured jokes (at least the ones I could understand!) and my friends and I discussed politics, the economic outlook, and business. The girls contributed from time to time, and would have little entertainment breaks between "courses" where they would sing or dance. At one point my girl and one other brought out a kind of flip chart thing and did competitive five-minute classic-style paintings, an Asian version of that PBS painter, Bob Ross, except competitive and in a different style. My girl "won" the contest. In fact, due to my status as guest, my girl won a disproportionate fraction of the contests, which through some strange system I still haven't mastered, meant that I also consumed a disproportionate fraction of the drinks.

There were many sexual jokes, and a lot teasing. Many references were to the food and sex, especially the nearly live food.

At one point toward the end of the meal, we played a stripping game with a fan dance. I remember thinking it was very interesting, and particularly fun how the girls were able to keep themselves and their partners covered strategically with fans.

In any case, this eventually degenerated into a drunken groping session. But it did not go all the way, so to speak, in that room. My geisha, who was very charming and made excellent eye contact, made it quite clear that if we wanted to continue, there were rooms available. Indeed I was interested. Now one of the room sets available was a kind of voyeur room, where you could see others going at it. It was pretty interesting, although not for me. There were other themes, including a rope room, but I was never that good with knots. I asked some questions about that, and I think I was just about to understand the aesthetic, but the girl's pert bosom kept distracting me. So we went to a more traditional private room with a mat, and she set up some incense and, well, we went at it.

She was quite good. Again, timing appeared to be the key, as well as well-coordinated stroking of different places on my body. Some good breathing techniques and her attention to me kept me on edge for a long time, making the release quite impressive and, alas, pretty final also. But I found the combination of her MIND, her conversation, and her technique to be quite stimulating.

Unlike the Korea experience, this was not a day-long cyclical experience. It did take six hours, but the spa experience and the multicourse meal and entertainment meant that this was dessert, not an intermission before more partying. But a heavenly dessert it was.

In the ensuing "pillow talk," my geisha told me that there is extensive training, and some regular customers can help "break in" new girls, which involves training them with a more senior geisha. Sound familiar?

Now I know what I had was not a typical experience. I was relating some of it to a friend of mine, who commented that it was probably a night that cost the senior guy "maybe $10,000."

I sent him a thank you note.

END NOTES

So that's my excessively long post on Asia. The short version?

Korea was fantastic: a room full of very pretty girls with superb, mind-altering skill and a wider range of "I'm focused on you" talents. So good, it's a drug.

Japan was also great. The low track was nothing if interesting although some of it was too strange for me. The high track was an amazing experience: entertainment, conversation, and sex all in one. But unbelievably expensive.

Overall, my most interesting experience was the level of sexual skill I experienced. It blew my mind. I usually only get one shot in an evening, so it makes sense that the journey is most of the reward. And I now see that the journey can be made pretty darn good.

I wonder if providers in the US are not very skillful, and that the skill level may even decrease with the rise of independents. Who will train them? The notion of a culture where they train each other is quite fascinating. And of course, this was a decadent experience. Not in the same way as my travels with "J", but still... decadent.

I offered my friend in Korea to pick up the tab the next time, if he'll make the arrangements!

Now if only they could get rid of all that cigarette smoke, and cut down on the drinking a bit...