Instead of a Review of an Escort- Review of a City..

[+ tristanbaldwin]

(For Escorts and Clients alike; take this as you will...)

 

Since it seemed like the type of unusual place that not so many of the guys on this board visit, I thought I'd take a few moments to share some of my experiences here, and keep guys from either making an expensive mistake / going into something knowing what it will be and what it WON'T...so they can concentrate on having a vacation, etc.

 

First- getting here is not going to be one of the cheaper destinations you'll find. Expect to find it around 800-1300 USD, from most places in the US, economy. Had a ticket set up from BDL(Bradley field in Connecticut, our small little airport), for just over $1000 to Hong Kong...so I looked up how much it'd be to make it multi-city, and stop off in Singapore for a time- only increased the price by $160 and change. So I would NOT do this place as a 'standalone' destination, but rather as part of a larger Asia itinerary.

 

Second- Hotels. No offense to the clients from Singapore that might be on this page; but they are very picky about the location of hotels. If you grab a place down by Sentosa Island(the resort area), you'll be too far away...even though the Metro out in Singapore is phenomenal. It'd be like staying out in Oakland, while you advertise in San Francisco- there are going to be a majority of people who just can't or don't wanna swing the trip. Also, you might find a great deal on Orchard Road or in the Geylang area of town on a four star hotel- but believe it or not, some clients are gonna find those locations unsatisfactory as there is female prostitution going on nearby(Case and point- for one day of my trip I was staying at the 4.5 star[believe me, it was NICE] Orchard Hotel, on Orchard Road. Right next door is the infamous 3 star 'Orchard Towers', also known as 'Four Floors of Whores'- where there are probably 400 female or transgender prostitutes randomly rolling around.) Many clients didn't wanna be anywhere near that. Also...if you grab too 'boutique-y' of a hotel, security at the front desk is most certainly going to wonder what is going on, as almost every hotel had the dreaded keycard-activated elevators. You'll have to do alot of tapdancing to stay off the radar screen.

 

Transportation- As discussed above, the MTR is phenomenal and everything worth seeing is pretty much a few blocks off the line. For those of you fitness guys out there, a great way to see singapore is to wake up decently early- like 630/7AM, and go for a walk or a run, several miles each day- and divide the city center up into quadrants and really walk and run across it all. The hustle and bustle and crowds don't start till 9 / 10AM, so you'll be on pretty vacant streets.

 

Food- American food brands will be ultra expensive out here. For a mixed drink and a pizza at California Pizza Kitchen(on the final day of the trip I was craving a taste of home)- it was the equivalent of $42.00 US. (Frame of reference- roughly 1.4- 1.5 SGD for every 1 USD.). There aren't a ton of huge grocery stores(called 'Cold Storage') here, there will be lines even getting into small places like 7-11's. The majority of people in Singapore stock up once or twice a month, then eat out quite a great deal. There are places like 'Lau Pa Sat'- an open market with all sorts of food stalls where you'll get chicken, race, soup or a small salad/vegetables for literally 5 SGD- 4 bucks US. Portions are just a hair smaller then US portions so I found myself eating more meals a day. Probably a good thing in the long run.

 

OHHHHHHHHHH- very good piece of advice here from a west coast client/friend in San Francisco- bring Rolaids, Tums, or some other sodium bicarbonate or bismuth/antacids or whatever it's called, to nullify the effects of all the spicy foods and stuff you aren't used to. In addition- medicinal charcoal is available cheap in the pharmacies to help food poisoning, as is 'arsenicum', something available at health stores here in the US- it'll help get used to the food.

 

Alcohol- very expensive here, if you are a drinker...buy it at the duty free at the airport and bring it in with you, otherwise, you'll get SHELLED.

 

Clients- VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY(Did I say VERY?) Conservative. They won't even wanna be seen on an open street with you...for fear of getting spotted or labeled or judged. Most have never done this before or very infrequently, so it'll require a massive degree of patience to deal with them. Also, because of language barriers(even though English is the working language over there), you'll want to kind of identify how long you're going to be playing for, several times over. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a clock watcher- I always try and give tons of extra time...but alot of the younger clients here(another reason I don't prefer young clients; they don't understand the nature of this), seem to think they have you for the night. Perhaps that's because the female prostitution here is on that same level- by the night vs shorter session? I literally had a kid show up in my room and start unpacking clothes and opening my drawers and putting his stuff into them-(AT 6PM AT NIGHT MIND YOU), and I'm kinda like..."..Umm..what are you doing...?"- and his response in broken english(he was Indonesian vs. true Singaporean) was "I'm just making room so we have for space for our night together". LOL. Again, this is why I don't go for the young ones- they'd hard enough in the English culture let alone overseas.

 

Sights- Marina Bay Sands is an absolute MARVEL of construction. However, to see the full thing up top(A park, pools, mega beautiful...built like 65 stories up..), you have to be a guest there. Otherwise, it costs about $16 US to go up the elevators just to see the observation deck. In my opinion, kind of a waste- if I could get a room there for $250, I would have rather paid the 250 to see the entire thing, vs. just the 16 to see the observation deck. Problem is, thing was SOLD OUT. I kid you not, not even listing prices on Priceline; all three towers SOLD to the brim. Asian gamblers primarily from all over the Orient, with serious $.

 

Gay culture- About 4 gay bars in the entire fucking city, with none of them having nice terraces or anything outdoors to enjoy the temperate weather- all closed door cement ugliness to 'hide' what is within. A shame.

 

Just waking up and adjusting to the time change here on the East Coast, but I just thought I'd jot down some thoughts.

[mike carey]

Good summary Tristan, some great points for new visitors to Singapore. I haven't been there for years and years. You're right that eating at US branded restaurants will be expensive, people may find it cheaper to eat in local restaurants serving western cuisine so they don't pay for the cachet of a US brand. I always found street food to be cheap and delicious, but then I love Chinese and Nonya food (and Malay and Indian curries). Times I visited Penang in Malaysia on work trips (years ago) the consensus always was that if you were going to get a bait [food poisoning] it would be in a hotel restaurant and not at a street food market.

 

I can't speak to gay culture but homosexuality is illegal in Singapore and Malaysia, although the degree of enforcement of the law is variable.

 

Air fares are variable and if you are prepared to buy non-refundable tickets you can get good deals. Fares from Australia tend to be expensive. Clearly you pay more for refundable tickets. (I can't remember all the details but I paid about AUD3400 [uSD2300 at the time] for a fully flexible Canberra to DC and return ticket with a stopover in LA: I could have bought a roundtrip Sydney- LA non-refundable ticket for about AUD1100 [uSD750].)

[bigvalboy]

(For Escorts and Clients alike; take this as you will...)

 

Since it seemed like the type of unusual place that not so many of the guys on this board visit, I thought I'd take a few moments to share some of my experiences here, and keep guys from either making an expensive mistake / going into something knowing what it will be and what it WON'T...so they can concentrate on having a vacation, etc.

 

First- getting here is not going to be one of the cheaper destinations you'll find. Expect to find it around 800-1300 USD, from most places in the US, economy. Had a ticket set up from BDL(Bradley field in Connecticut, our small little airport), for just over $1000 to Hong Kong...so I looked up how much it'd be to make it multi-city, and stop off in Singapore for a time- only increased the price by $160 and change. So I would NOT do this place as a 'standalone' destination, but rather as part of a larger Asia itinerary.

 

Second- Hotels. No offense to the clients from Singapore that might be on this page; but they are very picky about the location of hotels. If you grab a place down by Sentosa Island(the resort area), you'll be too far away...even though the Metro out in Singapore is phenomenal. It'd be like staying out in Oakland, while you advertise in San Francisco- there are going to be a majority of people who just can't or don't wanna swing the trip. Also, you might find a great deal on Orchard Road or in the Geylang area of town on a four star hotel- but believe it or not, some clients are gonna find those locations unsatisfactory as there is female prostitution going on nearby(Case and point- for one day of my trip I was staying at the 4.5 star[believe me, it was NICE] Orchard Hotel, on Orchard Road. Right next door is the infamous 3 star 'Orchard Towers', also known as 'Four Floors of Whores'- where there are probably 400 female or transgender prostitutes randomly rolling around.) Many clients didn't wanna be anywhere near that. Also...if you grab too 'boutique-y' of a hotel, security at the front desk is most certainly going to wonder what is going on, as almost every hotel had the dreaded keycard-activated elevators. You'll have to do alot of tapdancing to stay off the radar screen.

 

Transportation- As discussed above, the MTR is phenomenal and everything worth seeing is pretty much a few blocks off the line. For those of you fitness guys out there, a great way to see singapore is to wake up decently early- like 630/7AM, and go for a walk or a run, several miles each day- and divide the city center up into quadrants and really walk and run across it all. The hustle and bustle and crowds don't start till 9 / 10AM, so you'll be on pretty vacant streets.

 

Food- American food brands will be ultra expensive out here. For a mixed drink and a pizza at California Pizza Kitchen(on the final day of the trip I was craving a taste of home)- it was the equivalent of $42.00 US. (Frame of reference- roughly 1.4- 1.5 SGD for every 1 USD.). There aren't a ton of huge grocery stores(called 'Cold Storage') here, there will be lines even getting into small places like 7-11's. The majority of people in Singapore stock up once or twice a month, then eat out quite a great deal. There are places like 'Lau Pa Sat'- an open market with all sorts of food stalls where you'll get chicken, race, soup or a small salad/vegetables for literally 5 SGD- 4 bucks US. Portions are just a hair smaller then US portions so I found myself eating more meals a day. Probably a good thing in the long run.

 

OHHHHHHHHHH- very good piece of advice here from a west coast client/friend in San Francisco- bring Rolaids, Tums, or some other sodium bicarbonate or bismuth/antacids or whatever it's called, to nullify the effects of all the spicy foods and stuff you aren't used to. In addition- medicinal charcoal is available cheap in the pharmacies to help food poisoning, as is 'arsenicum', something available at health stores here in the US- it'll help get used to the food.

 

Alcohol- very expensive here, if you are a drinker...buy it at the duty free at the airport and bring it in with you, otherwise, you'll get SHELLED.

 

Clients- VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY(Did I say VERY?) Conservative. They won't even wanna be seen on an open street with you...for fear of getting spotted or labeled or judged. Most have never done this before or very infrequently, so it'll require a massive degree of patience to deal with them. Also, because of language barriers(even though English is the working language over there), you'll want to kind of identify how long you're going to be playing for, several times over. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a clock watcher- I always try and give tons of extra time...but alot of the younger clients here(another reason I don't prefer young clients; they don't understand the nature of this), seem to think they have you for the night. Perhaps that's because the female prostitution here is on that same level- by the night vs shorter session? I literally had a kid show up in my room and start unpacking clothes and opening my drawers and putting his stuff into them-(AT 6PM AT NIGHT MIND YOU), and I'm kinda like..."..Umm..what are you doing...?"- and his response in broken english(he was Indonesian vs. true Singaporean) was "I'm just making room so we have for space for our night together". LOL. Again, this is why I don't go for the young ones- they'd hard enough in the English culture let alone overseas.

 

Sights- Marina Bay Sands is an absolute MARVEL of construction. However, to see the full thing up top(A park, pools, mega beautiful...built like 65 stories up..), you have to be a guest there. Otherwise, it costs about $16 US to go up the elevators just to see the observation deck. In my opinion, kind of a waste- if I could get a room there for $250, I would have rather paid the 250 to see the entire thing, vs. just the 16 to see the observation deck. Problem is, thing was SOLD OUT. I kid you not, not even listing prices on Priceline; all three towers SOLD to the brim. Asian gamblers primarily from all over the Orient, with serious $.

 

Gay culture- About 4 gay bars in the entire fucking city, with none of them having nice terraces or anything outdoors to enjoy the temperate weather- all closed door cement ugliness to 'hide' what is within. A shame.

 

Just waking up and adjusting to the time change here on the East Coast, but I just thought I'd jot down some thoughts.

 

Outstanding report Mr. Baldwin...Fascinating environment. Makes me sorta glad that I live in these United States. We take the good with the bad here, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. No emails please...just my humble opinion.

 

Safe travels my friend, and enjoy!!!

[trav05]

Living in Bangkok, I meet a lot of guys from Singapore that come here for the weekends. Then they can let their hair down an have some fun. A short flight, they all go home Sunday night.

I have a Thai friend that escorts. He went to Singapore a month ago and made a small fortune working off Hornet. He's headed back next month. As Tristen said, clients very conversative. Most will meet my friend at hotels, as they don't want friends or neighbors to see anyone coming or going.

[craigville beach]

thanks Tristan for your travel review. I think you could have another career to add to your busy resume.

[Mikegaite]

This type of thread is an extremely good idea. It's not easy to quickly and easily find information on the escorting scene in exotic destinations. Tristan, thank you so much for posting this.

[+ tristanbaldwin]

Not a problem, y'all. I'd be more in depth but my internal clock is still way off from the flights and time changes. And I definitely think threads like this by the escorts would be useful- for instance, I know you've encountered a bit of central Europe, Mike...poland, right? Would love to hear about that...I think perhaps we start a trend where guys that go 'off the beaten path' with really different destinations, share some feedback for the rest of us?

 

Trav- glad to hear your Thai friend did well in Singapore; perhaps there's different audiences for different types...and perhaps he charges different rates? There certainly were no shortage of people who pointed out that "I can receive XYZ local Thai or Indonesian escort for 150", to me. I never respond negatively to such people, I merely pointed out that my travel expenses were fairly large, and I was hosting them in a 2 Million dollar condo from AIRBNB(no exaggeration, I lucked out..), not some back alley place, so I felt that it was kinda warranted, to charge US level prices. (Truth be told, I even CAME DOWN off the US Prices, by just a hair, in order to have it be a rounder number in SGD.) Again, maybe it's cultural difference thing. I can usually put up an ad anywhere and make it work...and it was tougher than usual in Singapore.

[trav05]

Here in Bangkok, an overnight with a Thai boy will run about $60.00. My friend said in Singapore he was able to get $100.00 for a night. A little less for hourly. Considering the boys working the clubs make around $500. a month in Thailand, my friend made close to $2500.00 for a month in Singapore. That's a lot of money for these guys.

[mike carey]

Tristan, you're not competing with local escorts or anyone else in Singapore or whereever. You are your own thing when you are there, and men (particularly expats) will pay based on who you are not who anyone else is in that city. I'm sure I'm not the only person who would know who you are, recognise what you are worth and pay accordingly regardless of what the 'going rate' was in Singapore. Maybe I'm just smitten.

[+ ArVaGuy]

Tristan,

 

This is an excellent and informative post. I hope we see more of these type of threads from you and other members of the forum. This is helpful to the working guys and clients and may spur someone to visit a locale or avoid for that matter.

 

Thanks for inaugurating "Tristan's Travelogues".

[+ tristanbaldwin]

I leave my legacy somehow, someway....so I guess I'm content that this is it!

 

Had Airlines not done away with the effect of 'status rides' and 'mileage runs' by going to a completely revenue based rewards system, my legacy would be by attempting to accrue as many skymiles as possible but spending as little as possible in doing so. Cheap ass Tristan! =)~

 

(For the record, though...there are a few frequent flyer clients of mine who BLOW ME OUT OF THE WATER, when it comes to finding cheap tickets...just when I think I've found a gem, they find one even better...LOL)

[bigvalboy]

Here in Bangkok, an overnight with a Thai boy will run about $60.00. My friend said in Singapore he was able to get $100.00 for a night. A little less for hourly. Considering the boys working the clubs make around $500. a month in Thailand, my friend made close to $2500.00 for a month in Singapore. That's a lot of money for these guys.

 

 

All this talk of Bang-cock has got me remembering and smiling this morning....

 

[mike carey]

Had Airlines not done away with the effect of 'status rides' and 'mileage runs'

They are still a thing! Not that I fly enough to use them.

[+ Charlie]

If you like horse racing, you might enjoy going to Kranji Park. My spouse was one of the architects.

[marylander1940]

When I think of prostitution in SE Asia I remember this movie

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5vMwOn9rKY

[marylander1940]

 

Clients- VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY(Did I say VERY?) Conservative. They won't even wanna be seen on an open street with you...for fear of getting spotted or labeled or judged. Most have never done this before or very infrequently, so it'll require a massive degree of patience to deal with them. Also, because of language barriers(even though English is the working language over there), you'll want to kind of identify how long you're going to be playing for, several times over. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a clock watcher- I always try and give tons of extra time...but alot of the younger clients here(another reason I don't prefer young clients; they don't understand the nature of this), seem to think they have you for the night. Perhaps that's because the female prostitution here is on that same level- by the night vs shorter session? I literally had a kid show up in my room and start unpacking clothes and opening my drawers and putting his stuff into them-(AT 6PM AT NIGHT MIND YOU), and I'm kinda like..."..Umm..what are you doing...?"- and his response in broken english(he was Indonesian vs. true Singaporean) was "I'm just making room so we have for space for our night together". LOL. Again, this is why I don't go for the young ones- they'd hard enough in the English culture let alone overseas.

 

 

Wonderful review, very interesting part about things "lost in translation" from one culture to another.

 

We need more information about this subjects: May I suggest a "Gay travel" or "Travel forum"...?

[Becket]

Shane! Come back! Stay in the US Tristan. We need you here.

[+ WilliamM]

Clients- VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY(Did I say VERY?) Conservative. They won't even wanna be seen on an open street with you...for fear of getting spotted or labeled or judged. Most have never done this before or very infrequently, so it'll require a massive degree of patience to deal with them.

 

That what my very limited research of Singapore said. But, I am glad you took a chance and went anyway. Great observations, Tristan.. I hope others follow your lead and write similar posts (it would be difficult to do better than you though).

[whipped guy]

And I thought that there were not supposed to be reviews posted here. Leave it to Tristan to pull off such a feat!

 

Very informative to boot covering all the bases!

[Marlfox]

I'm currently in Singapore, so this thread is timely. I arrived on Thursday and leave Monday when I fly to see the temples at Siem Reap in Cambodia.

Tristan and I exchanged messages about possible accommodations when we were making our respective plans to come here. I note his concerns about hotels and privacy. I am staying at the Novotel at Clarke's Quay, which is great for a tourist, but would be a disaster for an escort. The reception is on the 7th floor and the rooms are above it to the 25th floor. There's no problem getting up to reception, but you need to cross in front of the reception counter to reach a separate bank of lifts to get up to the rooms. And you need a key card for the lifts.

I checked the utopia.com site for info on the gay scene here. There was nothing there that appealed to me and I am sure Tristan's description is correct. All the bars seem to be close together in China Town.

As far as the cost of things goes, the Australian dollar and the Singapore dollar are worth about the same and things cost about the same in both countries. I am staying in a tourist area and am paying the price. I suspect if you got away from the tourist traps you'd pay less for meals. Last night a radang curry combo (meat curry, vegetable curry, rice and 2 beers) cost S$46.

The weather is hot and humid. I've come from the Australian summer. I don't know how Tristan coped, coming from the northern winter.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Marlfox

[+ tristanbaldwin]

Wow Marl! Thanks for the backup and the additional intel on Singapore. My last night in Hong Kong(not Singapore), I had a Rendez-vous at a Novotel(my first time at this brand), and they were gorgeous- but just as you said...a disaster for escorts and discretion.

 

As far as the expensive meal- was this at a sit-down and table service Curry place, with actual waiters? I've noticed the mainstream restaurants with western style service were priced well above the norm; but the market style restaurants were dirt cheap..

 

Marl...I love that heat. Soak it in like a sponge! =)

 

Thanks for the second opinion on Singapore; I didn't get out to Clarke's Quay at all, but did get to Chinatown...

[american executive]

Hey Tristan:

 

I think you info on Singapore, and your expertise on traveling is great! For those of us lucky to travel frequently info such as yours would be a welcome feature.

[Marlfox]

Tristan, thanks for the kind words. I didn't eat at market restaurants, but I'm told the food is very good and cheaper than restaurants with waiters. I'm glad you like it hot because Singapore delivers!

 

I'm now in Siem Reap in Cambodia with 4 friends to visit Angkor Wat and the other temples here. It's terrific and much cheaper than Singapore.

[+ tristanbaldwin]

I've been dying to see Laos and Cambodia...be sure to post us some advice on your end on that spot as well!

 

-Jordan-

[marylander1940]

I have never been to DC. Curious what people like about it. I never was interested in living there being from nyc originally but still curious...

 

I noticed your profile says you live in New Jersey now. Why did you move there?

 

Folks live in different places because of different circumstances.