First-hand experience of extraordinary and unusual eventsHere, the jinxed, the lucky, the foolish and the perseverant all tell us how it feels to experience the kind of stuff most of us only get to see on TV.
I got drugged
Drew, 35, producer
It happened: In Bangkok, during the Songkran celebrations. A friend of mine was managing a pub. I was hanging out with her, one of her former classmates, and a tour guide at a table outside where I shared a pitcher of beer with the two girls.
My next recollection came when I was inside, my elbows propped up on the bar with an Aussie mate. He was eyeing me strangely, which made me nervous, so I asked him, "WTF?" He turned to me with this grave look on his face and said, "You have no idea, do you?"
Me: "No idea about what?"
Him: "An hour ago you were passed out in the doorway of the bar. You were completely gone for two to three hours. We couldn't wake you and punters were walking over you, and you were getting splashed. Then all of a sudden you got up. I bought you a beer. And here we are."
It felt: Like he was pulling my leg. Even after others corroborated his account, it still didn't seem possible. I struggled to remember something, anything, from the period between beers on the patio and where I stood at the bar. My mind was completely blank. Not even a faint memory of being sleepy, drowsy, or waking up. It was really frustrating. It was also quite scary.
After that: The tour guide confessed to my manager friend that she put a sleeping pill in my beer - the one that has been referred to in media accounts as the "date rape" drug. "Why the hell did you do that?" my friend asked. Apparently she said she thought "it would be funny."
I won a game show
Terence Heng, 22, student
It happened: When I first heard about the brand new MediaCorp Channel 5 game show "We
Are Singaporeans" from my friend. I decided to sign up for it to raise funds for my overseas exchange trip. After a relatively simple written test and a self-introduction in front of a camera, I made it to the show!
I had to answer nine questions in the first round and be the top scorer in order to advance to the second round where I get to climb up the money tree! I stumbled upon a few questions, including one of me not knowing how to spell "lavender" (I wrote "lavandar") and another where I mistook local designer Ashley Isham as a "she," but I eventually made it to the top and answered my final question correctly to win $10,000!
It felt: Extremely surreal. I had a couple of lucky guesses in round one and I was pretty lucky to get relatively simple questions in round two. I didn't expect to win $10,000 at all, especially since none of the stuff I "studied for" surfaced during the show.
After that: People recognised me. Apparently with all the hype and promotion by Channel 5, my episode was quite highly-watched, and everyone was tweeting about me after the show. Most of them were laughing at my stupid mistakes - but well, I'll admit I really didn't know who Ashley Isham was at the time - and as for lavender, I really don't know what I was thinking then.
I survived a tsunami
Rungsuriya Tiyatonrongrodjana, 37, president of C&N Koh Khao Beach
It happened: When the tsunami hit in 2004 at my resort on Koh Kho Kao Island. I first heard a noise like something was exploding. When I turned to see the source of the noise, I saw a huge white foamy wave expanding across the entire horizon. The wave had spread as far as the eye could see. It was massive! I saw little dots - ships at sea sinking - so I called my employees and we piled into my car and drove off.
It felt: Like a movie. Everything happened so quickly. I just saw the wave in the distance, the unnaturally low tide, and started to run. While I was driving, I looked back and saw the white foam of the wave just behind us. One of my men said it was only 100 meters behind, chasing us. I wasn't thinking, just focusing on driving away. The wave died some 100 meters after running over the resort, but I still kept driving on.
After that: I stayed on the island two more days, without any connection to the outside world. When I returned to my resort, it had been completely destroyed by the wave and we had to rebuild everything. I was desperate because I had spent some 10 million baht and put a lot of hard work into it, and everything was gone in seconds. Today, my resort is rebuilt and we are doing ok.
I fell into a coma
Diyana, 25, undergraduate
It happened: I was in India for a short vacation with members of my extended family. Memories of the dreadful experience have been erased from my memory, but according to my family, a truck had hit our tour van while we were on our way to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
My cousin and younger sister were injured but I was the only one who fell unconscious. I think the truck driver died as a result of the collision.
It felt: Obviously, I felt nothing during my period of unconsciousness, but my family felt my pain. They conducted prayers for me at my grandma's house.
After that: The extreme feelings of dread only sank in when I realised I had been left behind in terms of my studies. The accident occurred when I was spending my first term at the Singapore Management University (SMU). After I regained consciousness, SMU kindly took me in again and made some allowances for me.
As a result of the traumatic brain injury to the left side of my brain, I have had difficulties trying to write quickly with my right hand. I still can't write as fast as everyone else, even with four to five years of practicing with my left hand, so my doctor wrote in to say that I should be allowed to type for my exams.
I really value the ability to write physically now. As the saying goes, "You are not aware of what you have till you lose it." Also, I've become more religious and live by a quote from Robert Frost, "In three words I can sum everything I've learned about life. It goes on."
I was stung by a stonefish
James Maskell, 32, freelance writer
It happened: On the tiny island of Pandan, Philippines. I was sitting at the edge of the water, and when I pushed down on the sand to stand up, I felt a sharp prick on the inside of my wrist.
Within seconds I was in a ridiculous amount of pain and ran to the nearby dive school for help. One of the instructors administered a vacuum pump on the entry point, and sucked out some of the poison before it had chance to enter my bloodstream. I could see it already spreading up my arm (apparently you're in real trouble if it moves beyond your limbs), and so they had me submerge my arm in extremely hot water for nearly an hour to neutralise the effect.
It felt: Laughably painful. And by that I mean that when each wave of agonising pain subsided, I would laugh deliriously at its sheer absence. It was as if my arm had been run over, and I'd have happily head-butted a wall to take my mind off it.
After that: None of the guests on the island went near the shoreline again that day. But the following day we all went in together, wearing shoes, shuffling our feet in the sand to disturb anything that might be lying in wait.
It hurt to flex my wrist for about six months after as there was some nerve damage, but a year on there's no trace of it.
I was thrown off a flight
Roland, 33, entrepreneur
It happened: A couple of weeks after ORDing from NS, I bought the cheapest plane ticket I could find to visit family in London. But cut-price meant there was a catch. I would have to stop via Bandar
Seri Begawan and Abu Dhabi on Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA).
I had a seven-hour layover at the former, and as I lounged about the terminal some uniformed guy approached me and asked to see my passport. He took it and disappeared!
Soon, boarding began and after seeking him out, he told me, "We've received word from Singapore that there are people travelling the region with fake Singaporean passports."
"So you just stop the first person with a Singapore passport and accuse him of carrying fake documents?" I said, "I just passed through Singapore immigration. Who are you to say this is fake?"
After much arguing, he let me on board with a caveat, "The captain will ‘hold your passport' until we sort it out. It should be sorted by the time we get to Abu Dhabi."
I spent the next seven hours slamming overhead cabins and arguing with the cabin crew. Upon landing, I was welcomed by a party of mustachioed men. "Are you Mr. XXX? We've been ordered to remove you from the flight. Come with us, please."
It felt: Like a big joke. I was escorted down to the tarmac where I had to pull my bags from the baggage hold. After that, they kept me in a small room and kept accusing me of having a fake passport. A Malaysian High Commission officer appeared six hours later looking unimpressed (Friday was his day off), looked at my passport, looked at my pink IC, exchanged some words in Singlish and declared "He's Singaporean." "Let him go."
After that: I found myself next to a nutty Arab 12-year-old in my flight out who kept mixing his chocolate milk with vodka. Inspired, I joined in and was trashed upon landing at Heathrow.
I climbed Mount Everest
David Lim, 45, professional mountaineer and motivational speaker
It happened: In 1998 on Mount Everest. I led the first Singaporean summit attempt expedition.
My team made it to the top even though I was unable to due to an injury on the final summit push. It was my obligation to make sure other team members got to the summit, even if I didn't make it myself.
It felt: Tremendous, once you actually start climbing. But the experience of climbing Everest is all about being patient. On the marches to and from the bottom of really big mountains that are 8,000 metres tall and higher, you spend a good half of the expedition sitting on your butt resting, waiting out long spells of bad weather.
The climb itself is not that exciting because it's not technically difficult. It doesn't require a high level of gymnastic ability. The thrill is in following in the footsteps of giants.
After that: I did find my time on Everest immensely enriching and rewarding although it won't give mountaineers the same experience that other mountains will give.
It should be about the quality of the experience rather than the actual number of summits.
I got drugged
Drew, 35, producer
It happened: In Bangkok, during the Songkran celebrations. A friend of mine was managing a pub. I was hanging out with her, one of her former classmates, and a tour guide at a table outside where I shared a pitcher of beer with the two girls.
My next recollection came when I was inside, my elbows propped up on the bar with an Aussie mate. He was eyeing me strangely, which made me nervous, so I asked him, "WTF?" He turned to me with this grave look on his face and said, "You have no idea, do you?"
Me: "No idea about what?"
Him: "An hour ago you were passed out in the doorway of the bar. You were completely gone for two to three hours. We couldn't wake you and punters were walking over you, and you were getting splashed. Then all of a sudden you got up. I bought you a beer. And here we are."
It felt: Like he was pulling my leg. Even after others corroborated his account, it still didn't seem possible. I struggled to remember something, anything, from the period between beers on the patio and where I stood at the bar. My mind was completely blank. Not even a faint memory of being sleepy, drowsy, or waking up. It was really frustrating. It was also quite scary.
After that: The tour guide confessed to my manager friend that she put a sleeping pill in my beer - the one that has been referred to in media accounts as the "date rape" drug. "Why the hell did you do that?" my friend asked. Apparently she said she thought "it would be funny."
I won a game show
Terence Heng, 22, student
It happened: When I first heard about the brand new MediaCorp Channel 5 game show "We
Are Singaporeans" from my friend. I decided to sign up for it to raise funds for my overseas exchange trip. After a relatively simple written test and a self-introduction in front of a camera, I made it to the show!
I had to answer nine questions in the first round and be the top scorer in order to advance to the second round where I get to climb up the money tree! I stumbled upon a few questions, including one of me not knowing how to spell "lavender" (I wrote "lavandar") and another where I mistook local designer Ashley Isham as a "she," but I eventually made it to the top and answered my final question correctly to win $10,000!
It felt: Extremely surreal. I had a couple of lucky guesses in round one and I was pretty lucky to get relatively simple questions in round two. I didn't expect to win $10,000 at all, especially since none of the stuff I "studied for" surfaced during the show.
After that: People recognised me. Apparently with all the hype and promotion by Channel 5, my episode was quite highly-watched, and everyone was tweeting about me after the show. Most of them were laughing at my stupid mistakes - but well, I'll admit I really didn't know who Ashley Isham was at the time - and as for lavender, I really don't know what I was thinking then.
I survived a tsunami
Rungsuriya Tiyatonrongrodjana, 37, president of C&N Koh Khao Beach
It happened: When the tsunami hit in 2004 at my resort on Koh Kho Kao Island. I first heard a noise like something was exploding. When I turned to see the source of the noise, I saw a huge white foamy wave expanding across the entire horizon. The wave had spread as far as the eye could see. It was massive! I saw little dots - ships at sea sinking - so I called my employees and we piled into my car and drove off.
It felt: Like a movie. Everything happened so quickly. I just saw the wave in the distance, the unnaturally low tide, and started to run. While I was driving, I looked back and saw the white foam of the wave just behind us. One of my men said it was only 100 meters behind, chasing us. I wasn't thinking, just focusing on driving away. The wave died some 100 meters after running over the resort, but I still kept driving on.
After that: I stayed on the island two more days, without any connection to the outside world. When I returned to my resort, it had been completely destroyed by the wave and we had to rebuild everything. I was desperate because I had spent some 10 million baht and put a lot of hard work into it, and everything was gone in seconds. Today, my resort is rebuilt and we are doing ok.
I fell into a coma
Diyana, 25, undergraduate
It happened: I was in India for a short vacation with members of my extended family. Memories of the dreadful experience have been erased from my memory, but according to my family, a truck had hit our tour van while we were on our way to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
My cousin and younger sister were injured but I was the only one who fell unconscious. I think the truck driver died as a result of the collision.
It felt: Obviously, I felt nothing during my period of unconsciousness, but my family felt my pain. They conducted prayers for me at my grandma's house.
After that: The extreme feelings of dread only sank in when I realised I had been left behind in terms of my studies. The accident occurred when I was spending my first term at the Singapore Management University (SMU). After I regained consciousness, SMU kindly took me in again and made some allowances for me.
As a result of the traumatic brain injury to the left side of my brain, I have had difficulties trying to write quickly with my right hand. I still can't write as fast as everyone else, even with four to five years of practicing with my left hand, so my doctor wrote in to say that I should be allowed to type for my exams.
I really value the ability to write physically now. As the saying goes, "You are not aware of what you have till you lose it." Also, I've become more religious and live by a quote from Robert Frost, "In three words I can sum everything I've learned about life. It goes on."
I was stung by a stonefish
James Maskell, 32, freelance writer
It happened: On the tiny island of Pandan, Philippines. I was sitting at the edge of the water, and when I pushed down on the sand to stand up, I felt a sharp prick on the inside of my wrist.
Within seconds I was in a ridiculous amount of pain and ran to the nearby dive school for help. One of the instructors administered a vacuum pump on the entry point, and sucked out some of the poison before it had chance to enter my bloodstream. I could see it already spreading up my arm (apparently you're in real trouble if it moves beyond your limbs), and so they had me submerge my arm in extremely hot water for nearly an hour to neutralise the effect.
It felt: Laughably painful. And by that I mean that when each wave of agonising pain subsided, I would laugh deliriously at its sheer absence. It was as if my arm had been run over, and I'd have happily head-butted a wall to take my mind off it.
After that: None of the guests on the island went near the shoreline again that day. But the following day we all went in together, wearing shoes, shuffling our feet in the sand to disturb anything that might be lying in wait.
It hurt to flex my wrist for about six months after as there was some nerve damage, but a year on there's no trace of it.
I was thrown off a flight
Roland, 33, entrepreneur
It happened: A couple of weeks after ORDing from NS, I bought the cheapest plane ticket I could find to visit family in London. But cut-price meant there was a catch. I would have to stop via Bandar
Seri Begawan and Abu Dhabi on Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA).
I had a seven-hour layover at the former, and as I lounged about the terminal some uniformed guy approached me and asked to see my passport. He took it and disappeared!
Soon, boarding began and after seeking him out, he told me, "We've received word from Singapore that there are people travelling the region with fake Singaporean passports."
"So you just stop the first person with a Singapore passport and accuse him of carrying fake documents?" I said, "I just passed through Singapore immigration. Who are you to say this is fake?"
After much arguing, he let me on board with a caveat, "The captain will ‘hold your passport' until we sort it out. It should be sorted by the time we get to Abu Dhabi."
I spent the next seven hours slamming overhead cabins and arguing with the cabin crew. Upon landing, I was welcomed by a party of mustachioed men. "Are you Mr. XXX? We've been ordered to remove you from the flight. Come with us, please."
It felt: Like a big joke. I was escorted down to the tarmac where I had to pull my bags from the baggage hold. After that, they kept me in a small room and kept accusing me of having a fake passport. A Malaysian High Commission officer appeared six hours later looking unimpressed (Friday was his day off), looked at my passport, looked at my pink IC, exchanged some words in Singlish and declared "He's Singaporean." "Let him go."
After that: I found myself next to a nutty Arab 12-year-old in my flight out who kept mixing his chocolate milk with vodka. Inspired, I joined in and was trashed upon landing at Heathrow.
I climbed Mount Everest
David Lim, 45, professional mountaineer and motivational speaker
It happened: In 1998 on Mount Everest. I led the first Singaporean summit attempt expedition.
My team made it to the top even though I was unable to due to an injury on the final summit push. It was my obligation to make sure other team members got to the summit, even if I didn't make it myself.
It felt: Tremendous, once you actually start climbing. But the experience of climbing Everest is all about being patient. On the marches to and from the bottom of really big mountains that are 8,000 metres tall and higher, you spend a good half of the expedition sitting on your butt resting, waiting out long spells of bad weather.
The climb itself is not that exciting because it's not technically difficult. It doesn't require a high level of gymnastic ability. The thrill is in following in the footsteps of giants.
After that: I did find my time on Everest immensely enriching and rewarding although it won't give mountaineers the same experience that other mountains will give.
It should be about the quality of the experience rather than the actual number of summits.
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