EuroTrip - Night 26

Sex and the City

Sex sells in Amsterdam. And it sells big-time. And there is a tax on it as it is a legal profession. You can not look down upon it. If you do not agree to what I have said above, you might want to refrain from reading rest of the post as I can not guarntee to be politically correct today.

Our train journey to Amsterdam was a quick one. Board the train, take a seat, sleep, get up and then get down. Voila!! You are in Amsterdam. I am getting used to sleep in trains. Any time of the day, does not matter if I am tired or not. The novelty of the beautiful countryside is also not sufficient to keep us awake now. After a limit, it's all the same - lush green fields, old-style buildings, smooth roads and jazzy cars. :)

Bansi was to join us in Amsterdam for our trip to Benelux. And so she did. We are super 5 again. It was time for another reunion of sort. Paka was to be host for the night. I last met him almost two year back in Bangalore. And now its through his twitter that I keep updates of his life. So I was pretty excited to say the least. We waited at the station itself and were getting ourself ready for our trip to the Red Light District (RLD). Paka had offered to give us a 'guided tour' to RLD and from what I know of him, I had to believe that it was an offer we could not refuse.

So we waited. For the rains to subside. And me and paka exchanged more news and updates and recalled the old times at RV. It took good one hour or so for rains to settle down and then we started our walk to RLD. We were 6 now. 4 of us from Paris, Bansi (yes, we went to Amsterdam with a girl. How cool na? ) and Paka.

RLD is situated just across the road from the Centraal station and is spread amongst the maze of canals that give a charming feel to this city. Amsterdam legalized prostitution almost a decade back. Historically too the attitude of Dutch people towards sex trade has been very liberal. The legalization helped in regulating the trade and reducing the criminal activities that take place in disguise of prostitution. The prostitutes pay taxes and they have their union too. This brought security in their business as well as for their future. Almost 95% of prostitutes are registered and they conduct their business from the 'windows' that are spread in RLD. Road side solicitation is illegal and so is pimping (this is still present to a certain extent). The girls rent these windows at around Euro 40 per shift. The rates are fixed by the union and currently stand at Euro 50 for a quicky. In general there is no bargaining. The windows are open, girls stand there fully dressed up to attract the customer. Whoever interested can knock or gesture and gate opens. People do tend to bargain but that is against the union rules. The girls have a panic button in their room which gets them quick help in case of need.

So much of general gyan on RLD (you could have got this from LP too. My source include LP and Paka). So what did we see? Windows that stretch across the narrow lanes. Big window with red lights near the top. Girls generally stand close to the door making some calls or trying to entice the customers. They are all smiling. Their attire changes from window to window. Most of them are in their lingerie. The blue lights (UV) gives a shining glow that adds on to their beauty. I can tell you the girls here were more beautiful than those we saw in Oslo. There are some lanes where the girls are more beautiful than others - young and tender. At others there are some old ones. There are also windows that are known for their services - whatever fetish you have, you might find one window. There are no charges to see, but photography is strictly banned.

How did I feel? That the girls were beautiful. Their confidence is remarkable. Personally I did not like the exhibition part as I really felt that they were standing like those statues that stand in clothing shops. But then one need to realize it that is required as part of their business. Beauty can not be told about, one has to see it to believe it. Sex trade could not have been glorious.

RLD also has many strip clubs and sex joints. Various shows and performances keep the people entertained. Paka gave a good descriptions of things to expect if we enter any of those. But ofcourse that was not our intention. Roaming on those streets with a girl with you is an experience in itself. And I guess, none of us had any other plans. So it was a perfect trip - full with stories and lot of beauty. Big thanks to Paka.

Night had not ended yet (please ignore the title of the blog). Our talks continued on a cup of nice and hot "red label" tea. We did not realize that it was almost 3am. As they day was to be longer tomorrow, we had to finally catch some sleep. And thus we decided to sleep.
Finally it was EOD.