For four years, Geylang has been both home and workplace for Shandong native Wu Min.
He lives in a condo in Lorong 31 with his wife, also a Shandong native. She is a nurse at the Singapore General Hospital.
They met in Singapore four years ago through a friend when Mr Wu was studying for a degree at the Singapore Institute of Materials Management.
They registered their marriage here last year and have a four-month-old daughter, who lives with his parents in China.
He opened a provision shop here after he found the work at a logistics company, which he had joined after his studies, too stressful and the pay low.
The 29-year-old said he chose to do business in Geylang because of its large Chinese population, wide variety of food and convenience of travel.
He used to visit restaurants in the area on weekends.
Sited between Lorong 11 and 13, his provision shop sells local products and China imports. The minimart, called Ba Fang Guo Huo, has another outlet between Lorong 40 and Lorong 42.
The two outlets were set up with $100,000 borrowed from his parents. Every month, he pays about $6,000 in rent for each of his shops, and income is just enough to cover costs now.
About 60 per cent of his customers are China nationals.
'It's more like 'Chinatown' than the real Chinatown. You see Chinese here every day, not like in Chinatown, where perhaps the Chinese may visit on weekends,' said Mr Wu.
Given a choice, however, he said he would not want to live in Geylang. He is considering moving to Tampines, where he lived for about two years as a student.
'Geylang is a good place to run a business but it's not so ideal for a home,' he said, referring to the red-light district.
Source: Sunday Times, 13 Sep 2009
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