A surprising contrast on Orchard Rd

Why hello! This story is 3 days old. But that doesn't matter.

So, Sunday afternoon I decided to go to the Orchard area because my favorite branch of Fitness First gym is located at the Paragon. As you may or may not know, the Paragon is 1 of about a million malls on Orchard Rd. This one is particularly glitzy- think: Jimmy Choo, Burberry, Versace, etc etc.

To address Fitness First gym... I usually go to Capital Tower, which is an 8 minute walk from my apartment, but it's closed on Sundays due to its CBD (central biz district) location. When closed, I opt for the nicer gyms... the Capital Tower one is ghetto, but as they say, location is everything!

I had decided earlier that morning that no matter what, I was going to paint my nails and that I would probably just do it myself, to save some money. The night prior, we threw an eighties party at S's apartment and about 2 hours before the party started, i swiped nail polish all over my chipped nails in attempt to make them look normal. BAD idea.

So there are millions of nail salons all over Singapore. But on Sundays, there is one special salon, nestled on the street right in between the Paragon Mall and Tangs Department Store. This is called the Filipino Maid Nail Salon. Actually, it's not called anything... I made that up. (Also note: I'm not trying to be politically correct). But literally, this is just on the sidewalk in open air... they set up shop, nothing permanent about it!

So the logic behind this mall goes as follows. There are LOTS of maids in Singapore. I rarely know anyone in my office who does not have a regular maid come in to clean their apartment once a week. This is because labor is cheap. There are many immigrants who come in from Malaysia and the Philippines and work for 10 SGD an hour. That's about 6-7 USD. Cheap, right? If it's going to be that cheap, why the hell would I do it myself? Do my laundry?! HAH! Clean the dishes? NO WAY! The dust under the couches? EW!

Okay, I am obviously exaggerating....(am i?) I actually do my own laundry and have a maid come in once every 3 weeks for about three hours to do the "dirty" work. Yes, I'm kinda spoiled. Anyways, there are also a lot of live-in maids in Singapore. This is for those Ex-pat or working wives who can't bother with cleaning, cooking, and sometimes even their kids.

The point is - Sundays are maids' days off. So what do they do? Socialize on Orchard of course, like every other Singaporean on the island. But they do this in their own way. They bring suitcases, yes suitcases, which include homemade food. They bring picnic mats, foldable chairs, and tarps. They gossip and laugh and joke. And most of all - they bring their pedicure kits. RIGHT ON THE STREET! I'm not sure if this is legal, but no one does anything to stop it. I mean, these girls do NOT have a license to do this! Hygenic guidelines? nope. And this happens every Sunday from 7 am - 7 pm. Would you have expected this in Singapore???? On one of the most glamorous streets of the island? I think not!

Anyways, the first time I saw this I was in SHOCK. But this particular weekend, I took one look at my nails, and said 'what the hell?' ... I sat on a foldable chair and she continued to open her towel full of alcohol, neon liquids, tools and toenails. I kinda freaked out, but fuck it. I enjoyed sitting on the street of Orchard watching all the shoppers walk by as the Filipino maids chatted and laughed.

Oh Singapore.