In the days leading up to my departure for the rtw trip, I had accumulated so many horror stories from travels (of people who are NOT travelling alone), it was not funny. The general idea was to:
1. dissuade me from travelling
2. dissuade me from travelling alone
3. dissuade me from travelling to certain places
Fortunately, in my earlier travel experiences, I have not encountered anything nastier than unfriendly sales staff who did not really want to serve me. I hope the trend will continue (which means no texting whilst walking, no leaving bag on a chair next to mine, no staying out late if I am not sure of how to get back safely - what supportive CWK would summarise as 'be street smart and vigilant' - common sensical but tiring.)
Anyway, these are the gists of some of the horror stories I have collected:
In country S, someone's brother and his family was on a metro when they found 2 women behaving suspiciously near them. They then realised one of their wallets are missing and confronted the women. The younger woman fled and brother gave chase. The rest of the family members surrounded the older woman who was too old to run away. The older woman flashed her boobs at them in her bid to escape. The younger woman was finally caught. Moral of the story: beware of pickpockets in country S.
In country M, husband and wife were travelling with a tour group. In one of the street markets, wife was walking some 10 metres behind husband. When husband turned to look at wife, he realised there were a group of men closing in on wife. He waved to wife, wife waved back and the men dispersed. Moral of the story: Who knows what will happen to wife if husband has not turned and wave. Woman should not travel alone in country M.
In another country S, one does not go to a pick-up point to join a tour. Instead, the tour bus will go pick you up. "Don't walk outside, we lock ourselves indoors. Even when one drives, look out for hijackers. Don't go to townships, they rape tourists there." Moral of the story: country S is dangerous.
Someone saw this on television - tourists went on a safari trip and witnessed a lion chasing zebra. One of the tourists was so excited that he went out of the vehicle. Lions travel in packs when they hunt and the tourists were attacked as a result. Moral of the story: safari tours are not safe too, especially if your fellow tourists are stupid.
On a bus trip from town A to town S, I met 2 Indians who lived in Singapore for 3 years (he taught Entrepreneurship in TP and she did her PhD in NUS). When they heard that I was travelling to city M, she immediately told me to be careful. She said someone approached them, claimed to be from the police and wanted to inspect her bag. She obliged and all €500 in her bag was stolen. They went to make a police report and apparently robbery is so 'normal' that there is someone walking into the police station every 5 minutes to make a report.
Whoever told me the stories meant well. I heard the stories but I was not quite listening. I was nervous enough. I know I have been fortunate to have grown up in one of the safest cities in the world, where crime rate is low. However, as the crime prevention programme slogan goes "Low crime doesn't mean no crime', one has to be aware of his surroundings, be it in Singapore or in city X.
In any case, I digged out my whistle to bring along for the trip and also bought a personal alarm in case I get trapped and has no energy to blow the whistle:
To be sure that the whistle is loud enough, I brought it to work (before I left). As there are normally only 3 of us in the office at 7am, I could practise to my heart's content without being annoying/ giving others a scare. That was when I found out that the hole in the whistle has to face the ground in order to give a loud enough shrill. Otherwise it makes a very feeble sound (lao4 hong1).
The personal alarm costs S$15 and comes with a LED light which is handy for inserting keys to doors or cars. The alarm is of 115 decibel and will activate when the chain is pulled. I tried activiting the alarm under the the pillow and found it too soft. I then pulled the alarm in front of me and the alarm was so shrill that my ears were ringing for the next 10 minutes.
Some articles on the internet compare 115 db to noise from a rock concert (is that what have I subjected myself to all these while?). If I am trapped under some debris/ in a crevasse and have to rely on this personal alarm to get rescued, I probably would be deaf by then. Neither have I figured out if I were to meet a robber, do I throw the activated personal alarm at him and run (and risk the alarm being left behind and nobody noticing that something is amiss) OR do I hold on to the alarm and run and hope to attract attention (and risk being deaf)???
Some articles on the internet compare 115 db to noise from a rock concert (is that what have I subjected myself to all these while?). If I am trapped under some debris/ in a crevasse and have to rely on this personal alarm to get rescued, I probably would be deaf by then. Neither have I figured out if I were to meet a robber, do I throw the activated personal alarm at him and run (and risk the alarm being left behind and nobody noticing that something is amiss) OR do I hold on to the alarm and run and hope to attract attention (and risk being deaf)???
Let's hope I will never come to make that decision.
