Sex, spas, sleaze: what Orchard Road of Singapore hides in plain sight
Beneath the veneer of glitzy malls on the Lion City’s favourite shopping belt lies a thriving covert sex trade
It is evening on a sultry Sunday and a meandering crowd of families, tourists and food delivery riders jostle for space on the footpath outside Concorde Hotel. Yet all is still and silent inside the building’s shopping wing, except for two units offering massage and facial services.
In one of them, located beside the security desk, a middle-aged lady wearing a lime green halter top and beige miniskirt performs a series of jumping jacks in full view of passers-by.
Her eyes dart occasionally at male tourists, cajoling them to join her. For those who do stop by to chat, she gesticulates towards a partitioned room behind her and indicates that “it’s safer to talk inside” while pointing to the CCTV cameras near the unit.
On the floor above, a group of toddlers run amok at the lobby of Concorde Hotel while other hotel guests read, dine and natter.
Orchard Road, the barber’s pole of capitalism in Singapore, is a conglomeration of contemporary urban lifestyle clichés that is home to world-renowned hotels, Michelin-star restaurants and global brands such as Hermès, Cartier and Apple.
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