So ladies and gentlemen from the sublime, (which I suppose I should call the 5* hotel we're staying in at the moment with the world's highest infinity pool) to the riddiculous.... to the red light district of Singapore!!! But Singapore being Singapore it's about as spicy as East Sheen. Well, perhaps not East Sheen, but having lived in Brixton and Peckham Geylang is not going to offer me anything I can't take.
The sublime (just to brag a little)
To the ridiculous (except to me this is the sublime)
Now if you squint a bit you'll notice that in that second picture the date on the building in 1929. And that's just around the corner from where we're going to live. That's practically Roman in Singaporean terms where the 8 year old condo we're going to move into is considered old.
When I first arrived I had shopping centre whiplash and skyscraper sickness. I worried how I would cope in a place that seemed to have no character. Or to me no character after the curves of Paris and the rugged old/new richness of London.
The estate agent we'd been recommended showed me two places on the first afternoon we went out together, which was a little disappointing when what we'd been told was that I'd be shown a head whirling amount, at the very least 6, possibly more that 10. But I'd only called her the day before (Monday) so I thought, fair enough. When she only showed me another two on Thursday morning I started to get really worried.
In Singapore the etiquette is that you work with one agent who shows you lots of properties and then earns a commission when the flat is let from the owner's agent. Unlike in England where you see lots of properties through different agents. So when the estate agent had only managed to show me 4 properties in nearly a week and two of them not in the area that I'd said we'd like to live I started to get worried and the DFP got really worried and so I contacted a couple of other agents and sounded them out.
However after I made it clear that I was very worried and needed to be shown a lot more properties Friday's outing was a lot more successful. On Thursday I sent her a shortlist of selected properties and named specific areas I was interested in. I got this email back from her:
" If you don't mind me sharing this info, Geylang area is our local red light district area where lots of "activities" in that area. I have not once recommend any of my clients to that location at all as we consider not a safe place. They're ladies from all over South East asia staying at that location.
Let me know if you're still keen in seeing Geylang area."
To which I replied that I was and that neither of us had any problem in sharing the area with ladies from all over South East Asia.
Though the area might be a little spicy the flat, or condo as they call them here, is very much in the usual line of things. The rooms are a good size for places here, there's a pool, barbeque pits and to the DFP's delight a sort of outdoor gym with bars he can pull himself up on and encourage me to do the same.
And within five minutes of the pool are beautiful old buildings and amazing restaurants including the beautifully named 'no sign seafood' restaurant. Which oddly does have a big neon sign. We also saw the equally well named 'Lucky Thai Massage'. I can only imagine what kind of luck is in store for it's clients.
All going well we should be in by next Wednesday. Now I just have to find a bed.
The sublime (just to brag a little)
To the ridiculous (except to me this is the sublime)
Now if you squint a bit you'll notice that in that second picture the date on the building in 1929. And that's just around the corner from where we're going to live. That's practically Roman in Singaporean terms where the 8 year old condo we're going to move into is considered old.
When I first arrived I had shopping centre whiplash and skyscraper sickness. I worried how I would cope in a place that seemed to have no character. Or to me no character after the curves of Paris and the rugged old/new richness of London.
The estate agent we'd been recommended showed me two places on the first afternoon we went out together, which was a little disappointing when what we'd been told was that I'd be shown a head whirling amount, at the very least 6, possibly more that 10. But I'd only called her the day before (Monday) so I thought, fair enough. When she only showed me another two on Thursday morning I started to get really worried.
In Singapore the etiquette is that you work with one agent who shows you lots of properties and then earns a commission when the flat is let from the owner's agent. Unlike in England where you see lots of properties through different agents. So when the estate agent had only managed to show me 4 properties in nearly a week and two of them not in the area that I'd said we'd like to live I started to get worried and the DFP got really worried and so I contacted a couple of other agents and sounded them out.
However after I made it clear that I was very worried and needed to be shown a lot more properties Friday's outing was a lot more successful. On Thursday I sent her a shortlist of selected properties and named specific areas I was interested in. I got this email back from her:
" If you don't mind me sharing this info, Geylang area is our local red light district area where lots of "activities" in that area. I have not once recommend any of my clients to that location at all as we consider not a safe place. They're ladies from all over South East asia staying at that location.
Let me know if you're still keen in seeing Geylang area."
To which I replied that I was and that neither of us had any problem in sharing the area with ladies from all over South East Asia.
Though the area might be a little spicy the flat, or condo as they call them here, is very much in the usual line of things. The rooms are a good size for places here, there's a pool, barbeque pits and to the DFP's delight a sort of outdoor gym with bars he can pull himself up on and encourage me to do the same.
And within five minutes of the pool are beautiful old buildings and amazing restaurants including the beautifully named 'no sign seafood' restaurant. Which oddly does have a big neon sign. We also saw the equally well named 'Lucky Thai Massage'. I can only imagine what kind of luck is in store for it's clients.
All going well we should be in by next Wednesday. Now I just have to find a bed.
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