Indie Singapore

It really should have gone badly wrong.

I had just arrived the day before from Berlin, and was jetlagged. My friend had just flown into Singapore that very morning from Dubai, after having been up all day before getting on the night flight where she had no sleep.

Up until the day before, I’d been requesting changes after changes to our tour, even changing our meeting spot 15-minutes before our start time; my indecision, I’m sure, causing havoc in Indie Singapore’s offices. But they were patient and flexible and kind.

Of course, it was also pouring with rain. Our tour was a 4-hour exploration, on foot, of the heritage neighbourhoods of Singapore in search of murals.

All outdoors.

Did I mention on foot?

Naturally, we almost cancelled. But are relieved we did not.

Our guide, Wei, a 10-year veteran of the Singapore Navy, was all the things every tour company promises, but rarely ever deliver on. His depth of historical and cultural history exceeded by expectations, the programme he put together was thoughtful and covered everything I told him I was interested in and a little extra I did not know I wanted. He was personable, patient and charming.

But what struck me and made it an amazing afternoon was his ability to read the room.

His uncanny ability to tell when we’ve had enough historical context and seamless switched to more ‘human-centric’ stories helped pace the information download of the tour. He also correctly guessed when we needed to sit down for a drink or a snack, and just shoot the breeze. He anticipated when we might be getting too warm, and too wet, and ducked us into interesting shops and galleries. He did not have so large an ego that if my friend and I started to discuss random topics that had nothing to do with the theme of our walk, he’d be put out or force us back on track. Instead, he rolled with it, remaining totally engaged and added to our discussion with thoughtful perspective. We talked about issues from history to cultural development (the topic of the tour) and urban development, art, climate change, technology, LGBTQ issues, political philosophies and systems, and more. After our tour, he followed up with links to info on services that we had requested for, and some we did not but was pertinent to our discussion. He was truly listening.

Many old school tour companies don’t bother injecting anything different to their tours. Though these days most do make the effort to design interesting programmes. Indie Singapore belonged to this latter group - clearly putting thought into what they offer, while remaining adaptable to the client’s interests. But often that isn’t enough to make it stand out - the person delivering the experience makes or breaks it. Wei’s breadth of knowledge, his curiosity, ability to listen, genius at reading the situation and his unflappable kindness and flexibility made our experience special.

We started off exhausted and grumpy, and ended invigorated and inspired. What more could one ask from a tour company?