Citizen Adventures

25/04/2021

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/up-your-alley-geylang-red-light-district-singapore-food-culture-14633822

Geylang is a "misunderstood" neighbourhood, people who live and work here told us. We explored its back alleys and bustling eateries as part of ...

02/12/2020

For those who have been asking, some of our tours will be claimable via SingaporeRediscover Vouchers pending approvals! Please be patient and save some of your bookings for us too!

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“STB will continue to work with the tourism sector to roll out more attractive, value-for-money deals from now until June 30, 2021. There is no need to rush to redeem the vouchers, as more products will be made available in the next seven months,” the agency said.

SINGAPORE — Excited about taking her dementia-stricken husband to the Singapore Flyer for the first time, Madam Chin Lew Lee waited eagerly for the redemption counters to open on Tuesday morning (Dec 1) to redeem her S$100 SingapoRediscovers Voucher.

29/11/2020

Cya soon!

Explore Singapore, your neighbourhood and get to know your community! Uncover hidden stories and heritage gems with the ground-up My Community Festival.

Today we go behind the scenes at Singapore Post, enjoy a cuppa with social enterprise Foreword Coffee Roasters and check out our heartland communities with Citizen Adventures.

For more info & ticketing details visit: https://www.mycommunityfestival.sg/

Our Town on Weekend Life with Susan Ng. Saturdays and Sundays at noon & 11pm on .

06/10/2020

Baywatch Adventures, coming soon!

30/09/2020

[From Farm, to Table]

An underappreciated process and true labour of love, join us in learning all about some of the imminent issues concerning Singapore.

A sneak peek into some of the new experiences we're designing!

For citizens, from citizens.

02/08/2019

We've relaunched our website, check it out to book tours with us, collaborate or volunteer!

Citizen Adventures- Geylang Adventures/ Dakota-Cassia Adventures/ Backalleybarbers

We do tours in communities of Geylang and Dakota Crescent. To understand social issues around migrant workers, low income rental flat and elderly.

30/07/2019

None of us is a native of the place we call home. And none of us is a native to this moment in time. We are not native to the instant, already gone, when this sentence began to be written, nor to the instant, also gone, when it began to be read, nor even to this moment, now, which we enter for the first time and which slips away, has slipped away, is irrevocably lost, except from memory.

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Such are the dreams of a species defeated by nostalgia, at war with itself, with its migratory nature and the nature of its relationship to time, screaming in denial of the constant movement that is human life.

Perhaps thinking of us all as migrants offers us a way out of this looming dystopia. If we are all migrants, then possibly there is a kinship between the suffering of the woman who has never lived in another town and yet has come to feel foreign on her own street and the suffering of the man who has left his town and will never see it again. Maybe transience is our mutual enemy, not in the sense that the passage of time can be defeated but rather in the sense that we all suffer from the losses time inflicts.

A greater degree of compassion for ourselves might then become possible, and out of it, a greater degree of compassion for others. We might muster more courage as we swim through time, rather than giving in to fear. We might collectively be able to be brave enough to recognize that our individual endings are not the ending of everything and that beauty and hope remain possible even once we are gone.

Accepting our reality as a migratory species will not be easy. New art, new stories, and new ways of being will be needed. But the potential is great. A better world is possible, a more just and inclusive world, better for us and for our grandchildren, with better food and better music and less violence too.

The city nearest you was, two centuries ago, almost unimaginably different from that city today. Two centuries in the future it is likely to be at least as different again. Few citizens of almost any city now would prefer to live in their city of two centuries ago. We should have the confidence to imagine that the same will be true of the citizens of the world’s cities two centuries hence.

A species of migrants at last comfortable being a species of migrants. That, for me, is a destination worth wandering to. It is the central challenge and opportunity every migrant offers us: to see in him, in her, the reality of ourselves.

Humans are in motion across time as well as geography. Why must we be divided, the migrant versus the native?

26/06/2019

Nostalgia about the kampung does not mean that I romanticise about the past. I do write about smelly jambans. But the precious qualities of resilience and sense of community we shared in the kampung are qualities to emulate to build a strong, united nation.

No one was left to die in loneliness. We talked to neighbours and looked out for each other. Each weekend evening, we came together outdoors to chat, recite poetry, tell stories and sing songs.

This was kampong spirit at its best. I like the Malay term, gotong royong, which refers to a community coming together to do things in unison.

You can generate kampung spirit. It is a choice. Firstly, open your hearts. Don’t clam shut your feelings as if your neighbours do not matter at all.
Secondly, be proactive. Be the first to say hello and smile. It is rare for anyone to resist you forever. At some point your neighbour will smile back and say hello.

People do have an innate capacity to care and to want to know their neighbours. We don’t have to know everyone intimately but a neighbourly friendliness can make returning home so lovely.

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You see this happening in restaurants where the bodies of people are present at the table but their minds and hearts are not.

It is imperative that we reverse this cycle. Otherwise, we will become less human and more robotic, losing our propensity for compassion and graciousness.

That is why the essence of Singapore's kampung spirit is crucial and must be resurrected. It nurtures our well-being and our capacity to be a stronger society that reflects our values.

If you take just one lesson away about the kampung spirit, it is this: Don’t wait for others to start. Growing a kampung spirit begins with you.

Many Singaporeans long for the sense of community and resilience we shared in the kampung, says famed author Josephine Chia.

22/02/2019

It's all about perspective.

To peg someone's value by their occupation, status, nationality, income or career only allows one to see them for stereotypes.

We are a sum of our life's experiences and opportunities. The moment the people we stereotype find an environment that they thrive in, their limits of the stereotype is nudged away.

How may we help one another thrive?

34 inmates from Tanah Merah Prison School sat for A-Level examinations in 2018. Results out today.

Our top scorer got five As and one B!

5 inmates qualify to apply for full-time local university courses. 16 inmates qualify for polytechnic and private degree courses.

All winners. Results matter, but what matters more is their fantastic effort and never-say-die attitude.

I am very proud of our inmates - all 34 of them - for attempting A-Level examinations. It shows great spirit and character. Bravo!

Captains of Lives