Friday, Feb 17, 2012
SINGAPORE - Landing in Singapore with nothing but his smartphone and the clothes on his back, Martin Pasquier was bombarded by many Singaporeans offering to help via social media.
Armed with three Chinese phrases, the Frenchman was in Singapore from February 9 to 15 as part of a cross-city experiment created to test the goodwill of people through social media.
Mr Pasquier was one of two participants involved in the "Can Man Live on Social Media Alone?" experiment.
Intrigued by the notion of surviving on social media alone and curious about Singapore, he volunteered for the experiment.
He was tasked with relying on the goodness of Singaporeans throughout his one week stay. His counterpart, Singaporean Daphne Chui, was to survive under the same requirements in London.
Over the seven days Mr Pasquier was in town, his Facebook page, Can Man Live on Social Media Alone? (#CanManLondon), was filled with accommodation offers, invitations for lunch, and for dinner.
Many of his fans on Facebook admired his bravery at taking up the experiment while others simply wanted to meet up for a chat.
"Hi Martin! Ur real brave doing this! My friend and I can provide you dinner in Orchard Road tomorrow around 8:30-8:45pm. Facebook message me if you need dinner!", wrote Dianne Choo.
Mr Pasquier, 28, was so impressed by Singaporeans generosity, graciousness and willingness to help he has changed his view on travelling, and connecting with foreigners.
In an interview with AsiaOne, he said: "Here (Singapore), people are very kind and I have no reason to be paranoid. When they offer something it was genuine and not in any way a scam.
"I met like 4 or 5 really great people with whom I could interact with for hours without feeling like a total stranger," he revealed.
He added that he felt inspired to show the same graciousness and openness to foreigners when he travels back to France.
Amongst those who offered the lone traveller help is Jed Senthil K Jivaraju - a budding actor. Mr Jivaraju, who is also a public servant, said he was eager to help Mr Pasquier out.
Mr Pasquier stayed in Mr Jivaraju's four-room HDB flat in Potong Pasir for one night, after which they went out to have a local breakfast consisting of toast and half-boiled eggs at a coffee shop.
"My intentions were simple. If I were to be in London I would hope people would be kind to me and I wanted to do the same," he said.
"I wanted to be a good host in Singapore," he added.
In addition to ensuring they have food and lodging each day, Mr Pasquier was given daily challenges, which were posted on their Facebook walls. The tasks were mainly charitable in nature and designed to help raise awareness around specific causes within the cities.
One task included helping non-government organisation, The Soup Kitchen, prepare and distribute food to needy families living in Little India.
Describing it as one of the highlights of his trip, Mr Pasquier said it gave him an opportunity to see a different side of Singapore.
"I was allowed to see the poorest conditions in Singapore, which I would not have seen if it was not for the challenge."
At the end of the three-hour task, he commented on his Facebook profile page: "Industrial Soup Kitchen! 3h, 15 good people from as many countries, 100 meals!"
Promising to return to Singapore, Mr Pasquier wrapped up his trip, bade farewell to his 737 Facebook fans and left Singapore Thursday night after a jam-packed week.
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