Posted on 06/12/2004 9:33:22 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
They target older men with CPF money at Geylang coffee shop
KOPI, teh or China lady?
A kopitiam in Geylang's Lorong 23 has gained notoriety for being a 'no-frills, no-aircon' and low-cost version of a karaoke lounge where women from China accost grey-haired Ah Peks.
For men whose CPF pensions can't support exquisite Gong Li-lookalikes and $350-a-bottle Chivas Regal at swanky lounges like Tiananmen, Star Station 23 Cafe Restaurant is perfect.
Some businesses in the area, such as brothels and restaurants, resent its presence. Others say the colourful denizens of Star Station 23 have been good for business.
Green plastic tables dot the coffee shop where retirees nurse 80-cent Chinese tea or $6 Heineken for hours. Each time a woman enters the premises, they check her out from head to toe.
If they like what they see, they beckon her over. If not, their eyes flicker back to actress Phyllis Quek on the mounted TV screen, or to their copy of Shin Min.
The bolder women, meanwhile, zero in on prospects, unsolicited. Speaking in lilting accents, they flirt with their long hair and tease with their hands. If the chemistry - and the price - is right, they adjourn, with their trick, to a nearby hotel.
It's a community in there.
The friendly kopitiam cleaner came to wipe the table where I was seated with my female photographer colleague and asked in Mandarin: 'Just got here today?'
In three hours, my colleague and I were propositioned three times. Referring to me, one of the men told his companion at the next table in Hokkien: 'This one - new girl. Never seen before.'
Competition is tough. The women are here on 30-day social passes, and need to recoup the money they borrowed to pay for their air ticket.
Ms Huang arrived from Jiangsu province on June 3, on a 11,000 yuan (S$2,255) loan. She has had only one customer so far, who paid $80 for her services. She said: 'It's so hard. There are so many young pretty girls here. Who wants a 40-year-old like me?'
It was her first time prostituting herself, claimed the divorcee. The high-school graduate worked as an accountant until she was retrenched in 1997. 'My son is 18, and we need money for his university fees. It costs 1,000 yuan a month. I look down on myself for doing this but there's no choice,' she said tearfully.
A 60-something man, with thinning hair and a toothy grin, approached her and asked: 'Why so unhappy?' Some 45 minutes later, they were gone.
Ms Wang, 32, who arrived on Wednesday from Funan county in Anhui province, was luckier. Fair, sweet and doe-eyed, she landed a customer in his 60s, who gave her $300 for spending the whole night with him.
She had told her gambler husband that she was going to find work in Shenzhen. They have two children, aged seven and 10.
'I heard that these older men are better than the younger ones. They're not so cunning and they won't run off without paying. Anyway, I just close my eyes.'
Some of the men at the kopitiam claim they weren't there for sex, but just to talk to the girls for 'company'. Odd-job labourer Khoo, 55, claimed: 'I come here once every two weeks not for the girls, but because the kopi here is very sweet.'
The stallholders, meanwhile, said they 'don't know anything'.
Other businesses in the area say the China girls began coming around two or three years ago.
Hong Kee Noodle Restaurant, located across the road from Star Station 23, has seen its business drop 40 per cent since.
'The customers get scared off. These girls are here when I open shop at 9am, and they're here when I close at 9pm. Sometimes, they come in without ordering and we'll chase them out,' said its manager, 59, who wanted to be known only as Ms Chong.
Chinese construction worker Zhang, 35, who rents the unit on the third level of the building, said the women are so aggressive that he's 'scared to go down to buy food'. 'They will pull at our arms asking if we want to 'play' with them,' he said.
Not surprisingly, the legitimate brothels at Lorong 18 have been hit.
Mr Ong, who manages 11 Thai girls, said: 'These China girls are very clever. They know how to target these old men with the CPF money. They eat, drink and talk to them. They're like girlfriends. But it's dangerous because they don't go for medical checkups.'
His prostitutes charge $40 for a 20- to 25-minute session, and are not allowed to 'socialise' with the men outside the brothel. The Chinese streetwalkers, on the other hand, negotiate their own rates. Some may work with pimps.
Shop owners told The Sunday Times that police raid the area at least twice every two weeks.
But an hour later, the girls are always back, said Ms Chong.
Not everyone resents Star Station 23's presence. On San Woh Medical Hall, for example, has extended its opening hours from 8pm to 10.30pm after business went up by 10 to 20 per cent, fuelled by sales of condoms and Chinese medication.
Private enterprise at work. So what is CPF money? And given the shortage of women in China, why are they commuting to Singapore?
CPF = Central Provident Fund, it's Singapore's version of Social Security. A working girl can earn a lot more in Singapore than in China, even if her tricks are fixed-income retirees.
How much is a Singapore dollar in real money?
Just keep your "Hong Kee Noodle" out of the wrong Kopitaim, la?
58 cents US.
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