SINGAPORE - A Canadian woman who was visiting Singapore for the first time turned to online forum Reddit to ask for a tour guide for a day - and was taken around the island in a week-long trip that she called "mind-blowing".
Ms Michelle Christine, a 30-year-old comedian, told The Straits Times on Tuesday (Jan 23) that she was dropping off in Singapore for a week en route to Australia "to see the sights and do a comedy show".
"I thought I would like a tour guide for a day, so I posted on Reddit, and to my surprise I got a bunch of students saying they would help," said Ms Christine.
She posted on Reddit on Jan 13, and landed in Singapore on Wednesday (Jan 17).
She met up with a local university student, who took her to see Marina Bay Sands, Gardens By The Bay and to a hawker centre where they had chicken rice. They were joined midday by another person from Reddit.
Ms Christine met about 100 people through Reddit, most of whom turned up for her two free comedy shows - called 50% Canadian, 100% Crazy, Let's Laugh! - held over the weekend at The Merry Lion comedy club in Circular Road.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to meet another girl from Reddit at 11am for brunch," said Ms Christine, who has done comedy for 5½ years. "I've never done a tour guide for a day. But I'd heard such amazing things about Singapore, that it's really clean and safe, so I tried it!"
The Canadian is leaving Singapore on Wednesday after what she said was an amazing time.
"I would say it exceeded my expectations. People here are so nice," she said.
She had decided to come to Singapore as she was on her way to Australia for comedy festivals there, and wanted to see if people in Asia "liked my brand of comedy".
"And they did!" She said.
Ms Christine said her favourite bit in her trip here was seeing Gardens By The Bay, which she had seen in BBC documentary Planet Earth 2.
"The supertrees were absolutely stunning," she said. "I would totally come back. Singapore blew my mind. I was so impressed. The food, the people, the nature, the architecture, the friendliness, the open-mindedness, the ability to help a stranger from Canada see their city out of the kindness of their heart."
