Four Floors To Floor you

Singapore is a city where cleanliness is a mantra, where chewing gum is outlawed and not flushing a toilet in a public bathroom carries a fine. Here prostitution is legal but not pornography, and that too carries a hefty fine. I presumed that the government found that regulating the flesh trade was easier than trying to ban it. Although there are many places in Singapore where you "working girls" girls are available, the one-window place with the widest of choices is Orchard Towers.

Orchard Towers is, for tourists to Singapore and residents alike, a household name. For those who unfortunately have not visited Singapore might have heard about the place from friends lucky enough to have been here.

Orchard Towers is an 18-storey office building in Singapore on the corner of Claymore Road and Orchard Road. The first five floors are a combination of bars and retail outlets with the remainder leased as offices. During the day the building functions as a retail and office-style building but during the evening and night the colours change for the first four floors are the centre of Singapore’s red light district.

It reminded me of Delhi’s GB Road where a wholesale market of sanitaryware products thrives during the daytime while the night is reserved for aficionados of music, dance and the flesh trade.

The bars of Orchard Towers at night are the hunting ground for women of the night, giving it the nickname "Four Floors of Whores." The bars are all different from inside. Some small, some big, some with enchanting music, some with head-bashing numbers, some with really nice girls, others not. Exactly the sort of place where whores would be expected to make a living and where men would seek a bit of loving, even if temporarily. But the place is not sleazy if the fun-seeker is looking for strip shows, sex shows or peep shows.

The place is perfectly safe for couples to go and enjoy a good time. If a person visits the “Floor Floors” with his girl friend or wife, the whores do not bother the couple. There are a bars where couples can enjoy live music and watch the girls getting picked up by customers.

If a person goes only for a drink alone or accompanied by friends he too can have a nice time just drinking in the atmosphere. The girls do not go out of the way to draw attention and even if they do and are told that the visitors are only interested in the drinks, they do not mind and move on.

I had been warned beforehand by my friends about the main difference between Orchard Towers and GB Road. They had advised that if ever I was interested in picking up a girl, to make sure she was a girl and not a “hijra.”. Fifty percent of the bars in “Four Floors” have "lady-boys." After a few drinks it is very easy to get fooled as some of these “lady-boys” look more beautiful than the regular girls. Visit “Four Floors” if you wish. But don’t get floored by their looks.