For seven months I have been in Taiwan, which is the longest amount of time I have spent overseas away from good ole 'merica. One of the biggest differences is the night life of an average Taiwanese. When I ask students what they did over the weekend the most popular response is 'nothing special". Which leads to me coaxing them into talking by asking if they went out to eat with friends or watched a movie. If they do go out, a popular activity is to spend all night at a KTV.
A KTV is kind of like a hotel but for karaoke. Each room is equipped with a television, a couple of microphones, large couches, and a mega watt stereo. To maximize your karaoke enjoyment, food and drinks are served or can be brought in. In China, KTV's can also be undercover brothels. I once stayed in a Beijing hotel that had a KTV on the first floor. Two friends and myself walked in out of curiosity to see what a KTV was.
It was my first time in China and this was the first KTV I had walked into. We asked the host what people do here and he showed us a room and explained it to us. Our curiosity had been satisfied and we declined to rent a room. As we headed toward the exit he also informed us that they had a bar. We could just sit and have drinks if we liked. He then added that they had "very pretty girls" and waved his hand to point down a long, narrow corridor. One the right side of the hall was about 15 young women all put together very well and wearing evening dresses. In synchronicity, they all turned their head to look at us and most seemed a bit surprised to see that we were foreigners. Two white boys and one Iranian. My immediate reaction was, "ooohhhhhh, i gotta go" then thanked the gentleman for his time while we walked out the door with awkward chuckles. Curiosity sent us into the wrong KTV .
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