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![[Watch] Tourist Fined More Than RM600 For Eating Durian In Hotel, Warns Others: Don't Make The Same Mistake](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.therakyatpost.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F05%2FUntitled16-9.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
![[Watch] Tourist Fined More Than RM600 For Eating Durian In Hotel, Warns Others: Don't Make The Same Mistake](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ftherakyatpost.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Rakyat Post
a day ago
- Rakyat Post
[Watch] Tourist Fined More Than RM600 For Eating Durian In Hotel, Warns Others: Don't Make The Same Mistake
Subscribe to our FREE A Chinese tourist visiting Singapore was fined SGD200 (approximately RM658) in cleaning fees for eating durian in her hotel room. She shared her experience on Xiaohongshu to warn others against making the same mistake. Here's what happened: She was staying at a four-star hotel on Orchard Road in Singapore. The next day, she bought a box of durian and fruits from the market. Since there was nowhere to eat at the market, she and her friend brought it back to the hotel. She said, 'The durian was well-packed when we bought it, and even the taxi driver didn't say anything.' When Durian Meets Hotel AC After eating, they stored the leftover durian in the hotel refrigerator. To their surprise, when they returned to their room, a letter was at the door stating a fine of 200 Singapore dollars because the room had a durian smell and required deep cleaning. (Pix: ) The woman was extremely shocked and immediately searched online to see if others had experienced similar situations. She discovered that many people had, with some hotels even charging up to SGD500! She immediately called the hotel to apologise, explaining that it was her first time in Singapore and she wasn't aware of this rule, hoping for some leniency. However, the hotel responded: 'The durian smell travels through the air conditioning system to other rooms, making them unusable for several days, so we must charge a cleaning fee.' (Video: Social Media Divided Over Tourist's Durian Dilemma She ended up paying the fine and asked the hotel to dispose of the remaining durian. Not everyone in China regularly eats durian, so I really didn't know the smell would be so strong. Her video of this experience went viral on social media, sparking heated discussions. Some defended her, saying, 'The hotel didn't clearly display the rules; where did this regulation come from?' Others warned, 'Most Southeast Asian hotels ban durian, and you can't even bring it on the MRT or buses!' and 'You really need to do your research before travelling abroad!' In similar cases from 2023, That same year, (Pix: Malaysia's Hotels Echo Singapore's Strict Durian Policies While this incident occurred in Singapore, it is a crucial reminder for both Malaysians and tourists visiting Malaysia, as similar rules apply throughout both countries. Most Malaysian hotels, like their Singaporean counterparts, strictly prohibit the consumption of durian on their premises, although the fines for doing so may vary. This is particularly relevant now, as we approach the peak durian season in Malaysia. Dilarang bawa masuk ke hotel, tp durian Monthong terlalu menggoda.. Udah sih makan d balik slimut we 😂 — yes, I am that (@ScorpioGuyyyy) Many hotels in popular tourist destinations, such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Melaka, have clear 'No Durian' policies, often displayed alongside other prohibited items, including smoking and pets. It's important to note that durian isn't the only fruit prohibited. As commonly shown in hotel signage, several other aromatic fruits are also banned: Jackfruit – Known for its strong, sweet aroma Cempedak – A close relative of jackfruit with an equally potent smell Mangosteen – Though less pungent, its purple rind can stain hotel furnishings Parts of this story have been sourced from . Share your thoughts with us via TRP's . Get more stories like this to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
GMA Network
a day ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
DOTR chief: Lining up at MRT stations down to minutes from an hour
The time spent lining up in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-3 stations has been reduced to at least seven minutes from what used to be 30 minutes to one hour, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said Friday.. 'In North Avenue station, this is one of the most congested MRT-3 stations tuwing rush hour of 6 am to 9 am. Makikita po natin, napakalaking diperensiya 'no. Dati po, umaabot ng halos isang oras ang pila diyan, minsan lampas pa ng isang oras. Pero dahil po sa mga ginawa natin base sa direktiba ng ating Pangulo, ngayon po ay minuto na lang po ang binibilang ng mga kababayan natin sa mga istasyon sa MRT,' Dizon said during a Palace press briefing.. (There has been a huge difference. People used to line up as long as an hour there, even longer than that. But because of the changes we made, people are now only counting minutes when lining up.) Dizon said the deployment of additional MRT-3 trains and removal of x-ray machines while maintaining security with deployment of K9 dogs as well as personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard have made a difference. 'Can you imagine, the commuters are already able to save two hours of commuting time. That is a huge lift for our commuters and their families, and this makes them more productive at work,' he said. Dizon said when he went to MRT-3 Taft Station three months ago, it took him 30 minutes to finally ride a train. 'Because of the interventions that have been done, I was only in line for five to seven minutes. Nagulat talaga ako eh (I was really surprised). So that really is the change we want for our people on a daily basis,' he said. Dizon, however, clarified that the reduced queuing time in train stations is not enough. 'Tuloy-tuloy tayo dito, hindi tayo titigil, hindi tayo makukuntento dito sa nakikita ninyo ngayon. Kung puwede pa nating pabilisin iyan, kung puwede pa nating mawala na totally ang pilang iyan, iyon po ang gagawin natin,' Dizon added. (We'll keep at this. We won't be content with what we have right now. If we can even make it better and remove the time spent for queuing, then that is what we are going to do.) —AOL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
4 days ago
- GMA Network
Over 21K cops deployed to tighten security in Metro Manila — NCRPO
More than 21,000 cops were deployed to Metro Manila in a bid to boost police visibility in the capital region, especially in crowded areas. On Tuesday, National Capital Region Police Office Police spokesperson Major Hazel Asilo said that 21,213 police personnel were deployed to populous places such as transportation terminals, malls, among others. 'Ito po yung mga areas na mas kailangan natin na magkaroon ng visibility, makita yung presence ng kapulisan, para po magkaroon sila ng mabilis na access po doon sa kanilang assistance na pwedeng ibigay kung kinakailangan po nila,' Asilo said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing. (These are the areas where we need more visibility, to see the presence of the police, so that the public can have quick access for assistance if they need it.) The deployed policemen were divided into various assignments, some are assigned checkpoints, others are in beat patrols, and the rest can be found in outposts. 'Kasama din sa 21,000 is yung ating mga nagma-man ng checkpoints, yung nasa border control points. Sa beat patrols, yung nagbabantay sa ating mga terminal, MRT, LRT, at yung nasa mga fixed post po o yung mga makikita natin sa outposts po, sila yung mga kaagaran na pwede niyong lapitan kung kailangan niyo ng police assistance,' said Asilo. (Also included in the 21,000 are those who man checkpoints, those at border control points. In beat patrols, they guard our terminals, MRT, LRT; and those at fixed posts or those we see at outposts, they are the ones you can immediately approach if you need police assistance.) The NCRPO added that there are also cops assigned for administrative duties in the headquarters. The NCRPO earlier reported that the index crime went down by 23.13% in Metro Manila in the past six months compared to the same period last year. 'From November 23, 2024 to May 23, 2025, the NCRPO recorded a staggering 23.13% drop in the total number of Focus Crimes compared to the same period the previous year,' the NCRPO said. 'This translates to 779 fewer incidents of murder, homicide, physical injuries, rape, robbery, theft, and carnapping,' it added. Further, the Metro Manila police said the strengthened police visibility is here to stay. 'Wala po itong duration, nagsimula ito kahapon, at tuloy-tuloy na po yung ating gagawing police visibility,' said Asilo, noting that the cops will be on the ground starting 4 a.m. (This has no duration, it started yesterday, and our police visibility will continue.) — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
The Star
6 days ago
- Health
- The Star
How a Singaporean managed his agoraphobia without hospital treatment
SINGAPORE: After working from home as a call centre operator for four months during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, Mohamed Rashath Mohamed Riyad stepped out of his family's Housing Board flat to go to his workplace, and found himself breaking out in a cold sweat. The sweating continued as he took the lift to the void deck and walked to the nearby MRT station. It left the young man, who is now 24, slightly confused as it was not a warm day. While waiting for the train, he felt a little woozy. And the train, when it came, was packed. 'I was near the door and then, everything became blurry. I couldn't quite breathe,' he said. He scrambled to get off at the next stop. His heart was racing, and he felt like he would pass out. Rashath, an only child, called his mother. They went to the polyclinic near their home in Kallang, thinking it might be long Covid, as he had had a recent bout of Covid-19. The doctor there gave him flu medication and told him to monitor his symptoms. The next day, he took a cab to work, only to find the symptoms returning once he stepped out of the vehicle. His company consented to him working from home, but it did not solve his problem. The rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and cold sweat would return each time he tried to leave his home. It left him more and more unsettled and in low spirits. 'I love to drive, but I couldn't drive. I couldn't exercise, go out, bowl, cycle.' After two months, he sought help again and was referred for a heart scan. When that came back clear, the polyclinic referred him to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). In April 2022, about five months after his symptoms first surfaced, an IMH psychiatrist diagnosed him with agoraphobia, a disorder characterised by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe, with no easy way to escape. 'When I was first diagnosed with it, I was super depressed, I had no mood to do anything, no appetite. I didn't eat anything for two days,' he said. 'I was thinking: Why is life so difficult? What's going to happen to me? It took me a while to accept it as agoraphobia,' he said, adding that his mother, 59, an operations assistant, was 'shell-shocked'. His father, 55, a supervisor, could not understand how his son was so affected. But Rashath was determined to do something about his condition. He stopped working to focus on his recovery. IMH referred him to Viriya Community Services, a social service agency with a centre located in Potong Pasir, where he met Dr Timothy Singham, a clinical psychologist, in June 2022. Over the next eight months or so, Dr Singham treated him using cognitive behavioural therapy – a proven type of psychotherapy that helps individuals manage their mental health difficulties through changing their thoughts and behaviour. Their sessions took place mostly outdoors – in the HDB neighbourhood near Viriya's centre in Potong Pasir, at Potong Pasir MRT station, and at the bowling alley that Rashath used to frequent. At these outdoor therapy sessions, Dr Singham helped Rashath understand why he experienced certain symptoms, and how exposing himself to situations that trigger fear would help him overcome them. He found the therapy so helpful that he was able to stop taking the antidepressant medication he had been prescribed by IMH. Dr Singham said agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder that is often best treated in the spaces where the individual experiences feelings of being trapped, helpless or embarrassed. But there is a shortage of trained clinical psychologists who can work with patients in the community using such evidence-based treatment methods, said Dr Singham, who had prior experience treating individuals with agoraphobia in Britain, where he was clinically trained. That could change, as Singapore focuses efforts on improving community support for people with mental health issues. The pandemic shone a spotlight on mental health as an area that needed more attention. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is expanding the community-based mental health support teams – Community Intervention Teams, and Community Resource, Engagement and Support Teams. Social service agencies are also looking at new ways to help. One of them, Touch, has launched a suicide intervention app through which it engages clients to keep them safe. It also now offers marriage intervention for couples in marital difficulties or post-divorce. And, in an unusual move for a social service agency, Touch is looking to hire a psychiatrist to help its clients, given the several months' wait at public institutions, as well as the high cost of private-sector services. It is also looking to hire two more clinical psychologists to add to its current team of three, said Andrea Chan, group head of Touch Counselling and Psychological Services and deputy director of Touch Mental Wellness. Chan said community agencies have been getting funding to build up mental health services, and a national mental health strategy has established a structure that helps alleviate the hospital load. However, she said, a central system needs to be created to link hospitals, primary care and social service agencies to make sure that patients get the care they need in a timely fashion. A spokesperson for MOH told The Straits Times on May 13 that the ministry will continue to work with the Agency for Integrated Care, polyclinics, general practitioners and community mental health partners to expand and enhance mental health services in the community. It wants people to be able to seek help early and receive it close to home. In Rashath's case, receiving treatment close to home was a godsend, as he would have found it unnerving to travel to IMH. It was night and day, he said. 'Going into IMH, I knew I was walking into a hospital that can treat severely ill mental health patients.' In contrast, Viriya's Potong Pasir centre, located at an HDB void deck, offered a calming, normal and familiar environment, he added. As Rashath learnt more about his phobia, he became more adept at confronting his fears. After about six months, he decided to return to driving, which he had always enjoyed before. He said his condition arose because he had developed an irregular heart rhythm during a Covid-19 episode. 'The heart healed, but the mind still thinks the heart can't handle it,' he said. 'When you go out, and you walk or climb stairs, your heartbeat goes up, and the mind kept trying to prevent the heart issue from worsening, lest a heart attack happened.' Agoraphobia can develop as a complication of panic attacks. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, leading them to worry about having another attack. 'He (Dr Singham) taught me about this hill of anxiety... Every time you conquer something, you can go down the hill and your anxiety will go down. This anxiety won't last forever.' Rashath rejoined the workforce in March 2023, after his treatment ended, and is now working as an operations manager for a medical equipment company. If he had left his agoraphobia untreated, it could have badly affected his quality of life. Dr Singham said that some individuals with untreated agoraphobia remain unemployed and unable to leave the house for decades. 'Often, such conditions are strongly associated with shame, perhaps particularly so in our Asian culture, and therefore, greater efforts are needed to reduce the stigma, and increase the awareness and the accessibility to psychological interventions for such conditions,' he said. For Rashath, it has been a journey of recovery and understanding himself better. Should some form of anxiety return one day, he will be aware of the symptoms and know how to manage them. He tells himself a phrase that he often repeated during his recovery. 'Failure isn't fatal, and it isn't final,' he said. Success in life can be achieved, and if you never try, you will never know, he added. - The Straits Times/ANN
AsiaOne
6 days ago
- General
- AsiaOne
Built different: 60 everyday street smarts that make Singaporeans… Singaporean, Lifestyle News
Our Lion City turns 60 this year — and while we're celebrating the big milestones and flashy headlines, let's not forget the little things that make us uniquely Singaporean. We're talking about the real skills — like knowing how to 'chope' a hawker table and dumping all sorts of valuables on it, navigating ERP timings with the accuracy of a sniper, and ordering your cai png with precision and no judgement. These aren't taught in school, but if you grew up here, chances are you've unlocked most of them without even realising it. Here are 60 everyday skills that Singaporeans have silently perfected — because behind every kopi order is a generation fluent in unspoken street smarts. Hawker and food court survival 1. Ordering economic bee hoon in the right sequence 2. Snaking through a hawker centre carrying a tray of hot soup without spilling anything 3. Scouting out the best chicken rice 4. Bringing your own tissue for wet hawker tables 5. Knowing which food stalls are worth the queue 6. Ordering cai png without holding up the queue 7. Ascertaining which stall is best based on the length of its queue Public transport hacks 8. Timing your travel to avoid ERP charges 9. Knowing exactly where MRT doors will open out into an escalator or lift 10. Using bus stop codes to check bus arrivals 11. Zigzag walking through crowded MRT stations 12. Entering, and exiting from the least crowded MRT door 13. Navigating Raffles Place MRT station's many exits without the help of signs 14. Sleeping on the bus, only to wake up right in time for your stop 15. Navigating the underground walkways of Orchard 16. Walking through Promenade MRT, City Hall, and Funan without going outside Choping and queuing culture 17. 'Choping' a table with tissue or umbrella 18. Joining queues without knowing what it's for (then Googling) 19. Tactically cutting queues at stalls with pre-orders 20. Eyeing a person finishing his or her last bites at a table for a fast 'chope' 21. Leaving a valuable item (like a laptop or phone) to 'chope' but still keeping an eye on it from afar Smart shopping and promo skills 22. Using FairPrice app to 'Scan & Go' for a hassle-free shopping experience 23. Checking vouchers on Shopee and Lazada before any big buy 24. Planning meals based on supermarket promo timings (FairPrice or Don Don Donki late night deals) 25. Maximising credit card cashback promos 26. Getting info about warehouse sales like a veteran 27. Knowing the best way spend CDC vouchers 28. Knowing whether to use GrabPay, Shopback, Favepay, etc for the best deal Everyday street smarts 29. Walking under HDB void decks during rain to get to your destination 30. Dodging flyer distributors like a ninja 31. Avoiding bird poop zones near trees 32. Wearing a jacket in 30 degree Celcius weather without sweating 33. Selling off your vintage items on Carousell 34. Eating chicken wings with one hand or with chopsticks 35. Avoiding eye contact with insurance agents outside the MRT 36. Running for the bus but making it look natural 37. Returning unopened wet tissue at a restaurant to avoid paying for it 38. Proudly wearing slippers in Orchard 39. Acting like you're too tired to stand for 10 mins on the MRT, yet being able to queue three hours for Hello Kitty at McDonald's 40. Knowing exactly when to drive in and out of Woodlands Checkpoint to beat the jam Language and cultural know-how 41. Knowing when to call someone 'aunty' vs "ma'am" 42. Using Singlish to diffuse tension 43. Switching between four languages in one sentence 44. Understanding 'bo jio ' etiquette 45. Mastering all lah , lor, leh combinations 46. Explaining Singlish terms to tourists with pride 47. Navigating wedding dinner ang bao rates 48. Differentiating between kopi and teh variations like a barista 49. Recognising Singaporeans overseas before they even open their mouths 50. Complain about everything from the heat to the MRT, but still come to Singapore's defence whenever non-Singaporeans criticise her 51. Saying "see first" or "see how" to avoid overtly rejecting invites 52. Couples turning admin tee and PT shorts into couple outfit 53. (For males) Breaking the ice with complete strangers by talking about National Service 54. Consoling people by saying " shag bro" 55. Becoming an expert in politics every time it's election season Housing and estate life 56. Picking the best shaded lots for unsheltered carparks 57. Timing entering the lift alone to avoid neighbour gossip 58. Dodging MP walkabout handshake traps 59. Finding the fastest way through maze-like HDBs 60. Knowing when void deck weddings end (for sleep) [[nid:717785]] This article was first published in
