American artist reviews Singapore experience and Singaporeans love it

Singaporean and complaining at every turn?

An Asian-American crochet artist's glowing review of her recent trip to Singapore has made many Singaporeans beam with pride instead.

Houston native Cindy Wang, also known as The Geeky Hooker (not what you're thinking), visited last month before raving on Reddit about our idiosyncrasies such as Singlish, Mustafa Centre and salted egg.

Her post on the forum received over 1,400 upvotes, with the bulk probably cast by Singaporeans.

Commenters loved her obsession with chilli crab, kaya toast, salted egg chips/fish skin and mangosteens (MANGOSTEENS?!), as compared to durians (we understand).

"CHILLI CRAB. OH MY GOD I MISS IT ALREADY. So freakin' good. I bought packets of chilli crab sauce in hopes of using it on my food at home," the self-confessed food lover wrote.

On the king of fruits, Wang recalled, "It wasn't nearly as nasty as I remembered it to be! I'd eat it again if it were offered to me, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one myself.

"Mangosteens on the other hand. Holy s***. So f***ing cheap in Singapore (they're ridiculously expensive in the States and they're not even fresh). I may or may not have eaten an entire bag by myself in my hotel room."

Okay can.

Wang also made space for the polarising salted egg flavour and Irvin's, the snack brand that was unfortunately associated with lizards not long before she came to Singapore.

"SALTED EGG CHIPS. THE OBSESSION IS REAL, And the fish skins were even better! Definitely bought a bunch of bags of Irvin's from the airport."

Reddit being Reddit, Lhc987 responded, "Right. No one told him (her) about it, let him (her) enjoy those in peace."

Like many foreign observers, Wang praised Singapore's public transport and multiculturalism, reserving her only criticism for our high alcohol prices.

Here's her post in full:

She sounds like she had a once-in-a-lifetime experience on an island some of us may have been taking for granted, so it resonated well.

Here are some comments:

Letterboxmind: "I'm amazed at how much you learnt about Singapore in such a short span of time. You should be an honorary travel ambassador or something!"

PM_ME_GINGER_KITTENS: "Such a positive post, thank you for taking the time to write such nice things about our country! I must admit I don't really see the appeal of Singapore as a tourist destination but I know that's just me being an ungrateful citizen, so your post is a good reminder that I should be more thankful for my tiny humid red dot of an island home."

KimJiHoon: "With a post like this, I sometimes forget that Singapore is a wonderful city (because there's too much negativity ha)."

Bumps: "You really appreciated everything I would want a tourist visiting Singapore to appreciate!"

Even those based elsewhere chipped in.

Snoopychick8 wrote: "OMG, I loved Singapore and am currently trying to figure out when I can go back, namely trying to figure out a time when it won't be so stinking hot. I loved everything about the country."

Humanitarians: "This read was so wholesome. I miss Singapore so much."

One redditor also managed to make the connection to another foreigner who loves Singapore.

"That's one minute, see you tomorrow", wrote Aimismyname, a comment that drew much laughter.

Wang later replied to a question on why she picked Singapore to visit, again highlighting our multiculturalism and food, but also the general safety and lingua franca.

The thread somehow spun off into lengthy discussions on Singlish and the weather, but we'll leave you to scour through those yourself.

If you are wondering about the "little crocheted characters to scatter around for strangers to find" that Wang mentioned, she crochets for hobby and has published the book Literary Yarns: Crochet Projects Inspired by Classic Books.

Since 2011, she has had a habit of dropping these critters in different places for strangers to "adopt".

Sorry folks, all four in Singapore have been found.

[embed]https://twitter.com/GeekyHooker/status/1088122644254228480[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/GeekyHooker/status/1086508895252684801[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/GeekyHooker/status/1086163524273860608[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/GeekyHooker/status/1085750562417602564[/embed]

We will leave you with how Wang would sum up her trip in four photos:

tanthiampeng@asiaone.com