Note: This post is rated NC13 - Parental guidance advised for children below 13-year old.
I know that this post is almost 2 months late but it is always better late than never.
I was around Chinatown just after Chinese New Year (CNY) to soak in the CNY atmosphere. Like Chun See, I also didn't like crowded places. Chinatown post-CNY was like a ghost town - most of the shops were closed for about a week, which suited me just fine:
While looking through the closed shops' windows, I spotted this shop:
A sex shop right in the heart of Chinatown? It was a business I least expected to find in an area so full of history, culture and heritage. (By the way, this shop was located quite far away from Keong Saik Road, one of few 'officially sanctioned' red-light districts in Singapore.) I could understand if similar shops like 1836 Fantasy or Secret Affair popped up in vicinity of Geylang, another 'officially recognised' red-light district. But in the last few years, such shops are being set up in places such as swanky Orchard Road, heritage-rich Chinatown and even HDB heartlands such as Woodlands.
It is a well-known fact that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. It certainly has been around in Singapore even before Sir Stamford Raffles founded the country. So in that sense, it can be considered as part of our heritage too, although I am sure that it is not one that we love to shout about. In any case, the proliferation of such shops here is proof that our society is becoming less conservative, which is not necessarily a bad thing depending on how you look at it.
However, when I searched the 2005/06 edition of the Buying Guide aka Yellow Pages, I was surprised that I could not find any listing on Sex Shops. In fact, there wasn't any listing under Sex. It was as if sex didn't exist at all in Singapore. (Ahh... perhaps I should have looked in the C or Commercial Guide instead and not the B or Buying Guide since this type of sex is supposed to be commercial in nature, hehe.)
I may be advanced in years but I am a lot less conservative than you may think. Therefore I actually do not disapprove of the establishment of such shops in appropriate locations. However in my humble opinion, Chinatown is not an appropriate location for such shops.
And as I found out, one positive side of such shops is that the products that they sell can be quite saucily humourous too:
Note: The above photos have been deliberately blurred for those who are conservative or for those below 13 who are reading this post anyway, without parental guidance.
Chun See, bet you didn't know about the sex shops, just like you didn't know who started the 360° revolution?
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10 comments:
Sorry to inform you that Chinatown Boy @ Bullockcart Water has alreadly blogged about This Place.
Do you think it is a good idea to put your name in all those 'educational' photos?
Chun See, I think it's no shame to put my name on the photos. (Told you I am not conservative.)In any case, if I endorse their products, it means that I am still virile.
Visited Bullockcartwater's similar post here. (You've forgotten how to do a link again? Tsk, tsk, tsk.) I consider my post as complimentary to his. Hmm... so that's where you got all your information on this topic eh? :)
Woa... when did u put this up? Blogspot is quite problematic these days. I tried to respond yesterday but it said their server encountered problem and that their engineers were looking into it.
Anyway, back to your "hum sum" post. Hee!
Prostituion as part of our heritage? Woa... tell that to the "chickens" and they would be so proud. As to your comment on the lack of listing for sexual products (I'm sure you also meant services?) in the yellow pages. Pse lah. Why do you think we Singaporeans rank 2nd lowest in terms of love-making (the less conservative you would have used the term "having sex") frequency in an international survey? That survey seems to be at odd with what's happening every weekend at Batam involving our ah peks and ah kongs. So maybe, those responded to the survey weren't really truthful. How often does a man of 50 does it per week ha? Tell us leh. Just to see if that survey is accurate. ROTFL. BTW, it makes me wonder why you looked it up in the yellow pages in the first place .... hehehe..
Not every Sinaporeans are like you Victor, so liberal when it comes to sex... I mean sexual products. We're really a bunch of prudes! No playboy or penthouse. Even those "toys" sold at the sex shops you mentioned are pretty lame. Who do forbidden always friuts taste so sweet?
Hey Victor, I suppose u did not have a problems with the shop owner for taking those fotos? Maybe he even offered u some free samples knowing that u are a celebrity blogger? I shd remind u that civil serpents have to declare all gifts.
On a more serious note. I once saw a documentary on Channel U about prostitution by Chinese women in the Peoples Park area. Pretty serious. And they target Ah Peks. Better avoid that area.
Aiyah Chun See, you obviously didn't read my post properly. You were speed reading like Evan, weren't you?
Most shops, including this educational outlet, were closed for the post CNY holidays. So the shopowner wasn't there to bother me. Neither were the infamous Chinese 'women of the day'. I think they went back to China for a CNY break too. In any case, I think that I am too young to get them interested - I haven't collected my CPF yet.
Hi, Victor didn't you notice other sex shops - you know, those massage shops or health centres or whatever they are called....
Hee..hee.. it would nice if you show us some pics here...maybe with the girls sitting outside...
Hey Frannxis, so I see that you are a lot less conservative than I thought too.
In fact just last Sunday night, I was passing by Lor 19 Geylang. (I was visiting the OCBC self-service branch there lah, what were you thinking?) That's where I saw 'Secret Affair', another sex shop. This one lagi better - got 42-inch plasma TV at it's entrance showing suggestive trailers. A group of hum sup laudies was crowding there to gawk at the screen. I quickly passed by, lest I appear in the photo of another blog.
Next, I passed by a narrow staircase leading up to a sleazy-looking 'karaoke' lounge. There were some young, attractive and fair-complexion women on the staircase looking back at me invitingly. They were seductively dressed and had lighted cigarettes in their hands (or mouths). It looked like the karaoke lounge had much more to offer than just song singing. However, although I am not conservative, I am also not that open. So I quickly walked on by.
I was really tempted... to snap a photo of them (what were you thinking again?). But I was afraid that the Club Street incident might repeat itself.
Don't worry what we thinking leh. No need to feel 'shy' going to Lor 19. Were you in disguise or wat? I'm thinking of you in dark glasses, cap, moustache...Hee..he..heee..
Frannxis, you seem unabashed about visiting Geylang and quite familiar with the appropriate attire to visit such places hor. You go there often is it?
Wear dark glasses at night? People will think that I am either crazy or blind.
Since childhood I lived at Lorong 17, Geylang and I went to the then Katong-Bedok Bus Terminus to take bus to school for 6 years. Later I moved to Macpherson which is near Geylang.
So you see.
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