Woman claims her 14-km walk home in Singapore at night was not only safe but therapeutic

SINGAPORE: The Little Red Dot has a reputation for being one of the safest, if not the safest, cities around the globe, and one young woman put that to the test by taking a 14-kilometre walk home in the early hours of the morning.

TL; DR, it worked.

Not that we would advise anyone else to do it, especially not alone late at night, but the woman, content creator Denise Yueheng (@de_knees__) said that her long trek home ended up “being way more therapeutic” than she expected.

In an episode of her Detour with Denise series, she said she had taken the four-hour-long walk to save the S$50.80 she would have spent on Grab for her ride home. 

She wrote in a recent Instagram post that it was something she had wanted to do for a long time now, and spontaneously decided to take the plunge.

At 12:30 am one early morning, when she learned how much her ride home would cost, she chose to walk home from Boat Quay instead.

“I just wanted to see what Singapore felt like after midnight,” she wrote.

She added that she felt safe the whole way home and felt really thankful that she could have this experience. Walking from 12:30 to 4:20 am, she noticed how peaceful everything was.

Denise admitted that there were scary points along the way; one was when she passed by the Japanese cemetery.

She also underlined that she stayed aware during the whole time she walked. As a woman, she knows that just because she felt safe, it did not mean there were no risks at all.

The fact that she could always stop or book a Grab when she needed to was also reassuring.

Because it was a spur-of-the-moment choice, Denise was wearing a pair of S$15 Mary Janes instead of more comfortable footwear. She definitely advises others not to follow this example, but to wear the right shoes for a long walk.

Walkers should also play their music instead of using their headphones, and keep their phones within reach. Denise added that they should stick to well-lit areas too.

“Most importantly, if you ever stop feeling comfortable, stop. Finishing 14 km was never more important than getting home safely.”

In the caption to her post, she advised would-be late-night walkers to inform their family and friends about what they’re doing, turn on live locations, and to bring a power bank to ensure their phones don’t run out of juice.

The journey, she added, was definitely worth it, because it gave her four hours of uninterrupted time of “walking, thinking, and experiencing Singapore in a way I normally never would. It was unexpectedly therapeutic.”

Admitting that this is probably not something she would so elsewhere in the world, Denise said the walk home made her appreciate safety in Singapore, which is something she never wants to take for granted.

However, the point of her post was also to encourage people to try something new, in a way that seems right and safe for them.

“Be curious. Do something different. Take the detour,” she wrote. /TISG

Read also: Woman travelling solo asks if it’s safe to wander around SG at night