Musings from Singapore: Red Light Special

Another interesting thing about my ‘hood: it has been brought to my attention that my neighborhood in Singapore is fairly near the “red light district”. And by “near”, of course I mean, “smack in the middle of.”

One night as The BF and I were wandering through the neighborhood, we walked down a street and realized that on either side of the sidewalk, there were beautiful women, dressed in short, tight, shiny dresses, wearing high heels, sparkly jewelry and lots of make up. They weren’t talking to each other. They weren’t really doing anything but standing there staring at people walking by. As we approached the end of the block, I leaned over to The BF and said “we just walked through a passel of prostitutes, didn’t we?”

Yep.

Since then, I’ve been paying more attention to the presence of prostitutes. They are more prevalent at the west end of my neighborhood (I live in the east end) and they are more prevalent on the streets on the south side of the main drag (I live on the north side). So I don’t see a ton of hookers in my everyday comings and goings. But they’re there.

The more western streets on the south side of the main drag are even numbered streets. One time, The BF was taking a taxi to my apt and the taxi driver got confused about my address and took The BF to a brothel. (I live at #10, Lorong 31. The taxi driver took The BF to Lorong 10. An even numbered street on the southwest end of the ‘hood.) As The BF was telling him “no…this isn’t the right place”, the taxi driver starts explaining the area: that the prostitutes you can get on the street are “Freelance” whereas the ones in the brothel are contract and more “high class”. You can tell if a building is a brothel (and open for business) when the address numbers are lit up red.

And this is where I’m living for the duration of my time in Singapore. A far cry from Lower Queen Anne. 

I'll try to get some pictures of women walking the sidewalk and we can take a vote on whether she's "Working or Not Working".

Musings from Singapore: my 'hood

The street next to mine, decked
out for Mid-Autumn Festival

My neighborhood is named Geylang. It is NOT a neighborhood that caters to ex-pats. There is no Swensen’s or Mexican restaurant. I’m pretty sure you’d be hard pressed to get a hamburger, a milkshake or a decent martini anywhere around here. But totally authentic, delicious Chinese food? Yes. Ditto for Malaysian food, Paranakan food and Thai food.

In fact, it’s so authentic, that one night The BF and I were wandering around my neighborhood checking things out and scoping dinner options. We wandered for about an hour and only found a handful of restaurants (not counting hawker centers) that had menus with English words. We then started looking for restaurants that had menus with pictures. Even if there’s no English, we can pick things by pictures.

Which is kind of a fun adventure.

The street next to mine, decked out for Mid-Autumn Festival

Most days I take the bus to and from work. It’s a quick ride (maybe 8-10 minutes) as my office is in the neighborhood just adjacent to where I live. However, this means that most days I am the ONLY white person on the bus. I’m also usually the tallest. Couple this with the fact that Singaporeans like to stare at people anyway and I pretty much get stared at a lot.*

Within one block of my apartment, there is a mosque, a Buddhist cultural center/temple, several chandelier stores (Other appliance stores, too, but MULTIPLE high-end, shiny, sparkly chandelier light fixture stores. Why does one neighborhood need more than one of those?) and a hawker center food court on EVERY corner. They advertise everything from fresh Fish Head Bee Hoon (this is the one nearest my apartment) to Hokkien Mee (popular Malaysian food) to Frog Porridge (no clue what this is or where it comes from. I'll check it out and report back.)

Hawker center food court with sidewalk tables

These little spots are always bustling and busy even late. With some indoor seating, but mostly sidewalk tables, the busy hawker center food stops make the neighborhood lively. The food is very good and fresh. So fresh, in fact, that the place advertising Fish Head Bee Hoon keeps a giant fish tank in the store and I have seen them scoop a fish from the tank and take it to the kitchen for cooking. I mean, that's fresh.

The view from my front gate. On the left side of the pic
is the hawker center that serves fresh fish head bee hoon.

It's a fun and lively little neighborhood. I love how close and convenient it is to work. And I love that I am getting an AUTHENTIC Asian experience and not living in ex-pat central. But it's VERY different than my 'hood in Seattle. Toto, we're not in Lower Queen Anne anymore.

*I mentioned to people at work that I got stared at on the bus and they said "oh yeah. of course. Singapore people like to stare. We just stare at people all the time. It's a thing."