Tourists argue while queueing to take photos at Fort Canning, S'poreans do not get it
Seah Jun De
TNP
July 8, 2025
An altercation between a Chinese man and a Caucasian woman recently took place at a popular photo spot in Fort Canning over the long wait to snap shots.
A video uploaded to Xiaohongshu shows two groups of tourists arguing at the Fort Canning Tree Tunnel. The man swears at the woman, and the woman retaliates.
The man, who is squatting down with his camera, continues to take pictures of his companion afterwards.
He then turns back to the woman and says: "Shame on you."
The woman responds angrily, saying that the man should be ashamed of himself.
The Fort Canning Tree Tunnel leads to a spiral staircase with a circular light well and a yellow rain tree stretching across the opening.
Another Xiaohongshu post from June shows a snaking queue in the tunnel.
The user said that ill-mannered tourists used going up the stairs as an excuse to cut the queue and quickly snap a photo.
In another post complaining about the long queues, a commenter replied in Chinese: "Foreigners are really slow at taking photos - Chinese women are faster."
When Shin Min Daily News visited the photo spot at 5pm on Sunday (July 6), about 50 people were in line to take photos. Some had been waiting for half an hour.
The tourists in line were from Indonesia, Thailand, India, and China.
"I came here after seeing a recommendation on Xiaohongshu. I think this attraction is optional. If you think the wait is too long, you can choose not to take photos," said 35-year-old Ms Duan from China.
"The authorities should consider putting up a sign to recommend the time for each person to take photos," she added.
Ms Chen, 33, from Indonesia, who waited in line for about 30 minutes, said the shooting time per person should be limited between three and five minutes.
"If someone takes too long to take photos, it's really not very considerate and will cause the people behind to wait too long. There are also children running around, and their parents don't care, so that affects the experience of others."
In response, a Facebook user commented: "It's just Fort Canning… Is there treasure there?"
"Just use AI," another user quipped.
