Phoenix and I went to a screening of local short films at the museum. Two films in, he begged me to be released from the purgatory of bad filmmaking and went off in search of a Tiger beer while I soldiered on. We agreed to meet outside a 7 Eleven, where I was standing when a man beelined towards me and said, "Xiao jie..."

‘Xiao jie’ in Mandarin means literally 'little older sister', but is used as a substitute for ‘Miss’. Although sounding harmless enough, I've been told that it tends to be used in certain situations, perhaps with a bit of a sneer and slur - situations like these…

Horrified, I immediately put my hand up and said “no!” and then, for some inexplicable reason, I added “sorry”. Not one of my smartest moments, but I'm very Asian and polite.

This has never happened to me before. Not even when I was flatting on K Rd - a stone's throw from the sex shops, above Urge bar and the entrance to NZPC (where they would occasionally put up a sign that read 'Meeting. Enter from back door').

Everyone else seemed to have been propositioned once; even my friend Tom, the most unlikely-looking of potential streetwalkers, had a car door opened to him with the offer of $10 (personally I think he's worth more than that. He reckons he's worth at least $15).

But this wasn't the red light district. This was in town, near a mall, university campus and the National Museum. I was wearing a shirt, shorts and jandals - not what I assume to be a 'working outfit'. I've seen plenty of Singapore girls dressed like this to cope with the heat and humidity.

It was only later that I realised that a Hotel 81 was on the corner - a branch of the notorious hotel chain that charges hourly rates. I mentioned this to my friend Georgi when we cruised by the 24-hour coffee shop on the same street late one night after a movie. "Oh, this street has a lot of Filipino prostitutes" she said. "I did not realise this too, till someone pointed it out last week."

An American man walked past our table, flanked by two skinny Filipino women hanging off his shoulders and waist. He looked very pleased and they looked eager to please.

"But," I protested, "it doesn't make sense... I was wearing like, a shirt and shorts!"

Then I turned round to look at the trio as they walked in the direction of the hotel. Oh... the women were wearing shirts, shorts and jandals too.