A Singaporean content creator set out to prove that hitchhiking across the island was possible — and ended up discovering that strangers were more willing to help than he expected.
Ng Yi Hui, 27, documented his attempt to travel from Changi Village in the east to Tuas in the west without relying on conventional transport. His three-part TikTok series, posted from Sept. 19, has collectively attracted more than 124,000 views.
The challenge began at about 11.30am. Ng eventually reached Tuas at around 4.25pm, completing the journey in roughly five hours.
Ng said the idea came after Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao challenged him to try hitchhiking across Singapore. Although he had previously hitchhiked in countries including China and Thailand, he was initially doubtful that the same approach would work at home.
He expected Singaporeans might be more reserved about picking up a stranger, and even worried that he could be judged differently because he was a local rather than a tourist.
But the experience turned out differently.
During the journey, Ng managed to secure rides from several people, including a foreign worker, an elderly couple and a father. Others who could not take him in the direction he needed still encouraged him to continue the challenge.
Ng said he was particularly surprised that people who turned him down were often friendly about it, rather than simply ignoring him.
The experience also changed his perception of Singapore. He said he normally seeks out unfamiliar people and cultures when travelling overseas, but found the people he encountered during the challenge at home just as interesting.
The journey was part of Ng’s wider effort to push himself into new experiences. He has been creating travel content since graduating with a master’s degree in engineering in 2025, often focusing on budget travel and unusual challenges.
His hitchhiking experiment comes after other Singaporeans have attempted to cross the island in unusual ways. In 2024, a group of friends walked about 64km from Tuas to Changi, taking around 15 hours to complete the journey.
For Ng, however, the biggest takeaway was not simply getting from one end of Singapore to the other. It was being proven wrong about how strangers might respond when he asked for help.
What began as a challenge to test whether hitchhiking could work in Singapore ultimately became an unexpected experiment in trust, curiosity and everyday encounters between strangers.
