goes by the name veron (english) or wanting (chinese). a definitive leo born august 1, 1984. a solo traveler. loves cats, coffee, sensual music, yummy food and technology. when she's not at her job as an IS developer for the government, she's likely to be out dining, or visiting an interesting art gallery or event.
everytime i’m at raffles place MRT station, i would pass by this particular door. each time it makes me wonder. what is it for? you see, the door is built within a slab of protruding wall. so from the left, it looks like this:
from the right, it looks like this:
if you look at it carefully, you would see that the door makes no sense! there’s a more detailed diagram drawing of the area.
if anyone can provide a good logical explanation for the purpose of this door, i would totally appreciate it. this oddly situated door has baffled me for the longest time!
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well… i think there’s a rail shutter just next to the door… notice the gray metal column in the first pic???
so, just in case the shutter’s shut… people can still use the escape door in emergency situations.
View all comments by khangwei
thanks for the prompt reply! that’s what my friend told me too.
but what i don’t understand is this. why lower the shutter in the first place? sure, it would block access. but then there’s the door right next to it where people can still have access to the other side. isn’t the purpose of the shutter to block all access? View all comments by Veron
i guess they will close it at certain hours? after operating hours maybe? to prevent ‘terrorist attacks’?
i think the emergency door will only be unlocked in the event of an emergency. View all comments by khangwei
hi, i think hostels should generally be quite safe for solo female travelers, though of course discretion should be exercised when choosing a hostel–no different from choosing a hotel, really. some hostels are really quite professional. if you can find a hostel in a central area close to the city you should be fine. the most pressing concern is that your belongings aren’t stolen. many hostels have all-female dorms. of course, safety levels will also depend on which part of the world to which you are traveling. less developed cities may be more dodgy, but then price levels are also lower so you should be able to get a cheap hotel room instead. from personal experience as a female traveler both solo and accompanied, i can vouch that european hostels are generally safe, though not glamorous–just make sure you lock up your bags. View all comments by matilda wormwood
Is the shutter purely rail that still allows air to pass through or it is a whole vertical plane? View all comments by memoncheri
i see… yeah khangwei, that makes far more sense now. thanks! View all comments by Veron
hey matilda, it’s great to hear from a fellow female solo traveller here! thank you for the information. the few deciding factors in me choosing a particular hostel would be its location, and the number of positive reviews it has received. that would help me in judging whether the hostel is safe. when travelling, i would prefer to have a single room to myself rather than sharing a room with a few others. judging from your previous experiences, is this advisable? View all comments by Veron
memoncheri, i didn’t really pay attention to that. in fact i didn’t even notice the shutter until i viewed the photographs on my laptop! View all comments by Veron
backpack? meow meow going cambodia =D View all comments by meow?
seriously.. meow meow is eyeing bhutan now. But it seem really impossble to get there now =( see how thing goes ba… ROAR View all comments by meow
mummy, master ask u check email. *sleepy eye* View all comments by tender
the door is a secret passageway. By saying a chant n enter can bring u to carebear land…
dun tell other okie?.. :x View all comments by tender
kitty, are you going to laos and vietnam too? and myanmar? meow! View all comments by Veron
hey tenderheart, i thought it was a magical door too, not unlike the wardrobe that leads to narnia. now there’s finally a way to go to care-a-lot! View all comments by Veron
private rooms are more convenient as you don’t have to lock up every single item in your luggage before leaving the room (although you should still always take your valuables with you). so you don’t have to worry about someone walking off with your shampoo or slippers. some also come equipped with their own bathrooms. aside from the obvious added privacy, you also get a better rest–in dorms, if you sleep early you have to endure the lights being turned on and off when the other occupants go in and out, and if you return late you must take care not to disturb the others. also, beware of sharing dorm rooms with couples! one of my friends had a bad experience involving more than one exhibitionistic couple in the same room. on the other hand, if you stay in a shared dorm you can usually meet other solo travelers. although there are the occasional bad hats, fellow travelers are usually nice. also, if you travel during off-peak season there’s a chance you’ll be the only one in the dorm (this happened to me twice), so you get a whole room to yourself at a fraction of the cost. if you are not booking in advance, you could check out the rooms and the people staying in them upon arrival before deciding which type of room you want. View all comments by matilda wormwood
Speaking of travelling, I’m flying off this Thursday to Thailand for one particular job interview (and a few other hopefully). Going for about three weeks, I wonder if I’ll like it enough to stay.
And I got an e-mail from South Korea today also offering me a job in… Pusan? Whoa… never thought of working in S. Korea before either. This world is exciting, no doubt about it! View all comments by Kyo
perhaps.. the door.. exists… as a form of an art display… strangely.. i’ve never seen it in this lifetime…
let’s go HK lah… i know of a girl on campus who can take us around… otherwise… we should travel to the middle east… turkey and greece! View all comments by alwyn
The rail shutter, will during some "emergency" (fire or whatever), automatically close by itself.
Some libraries (eg Cheng San Library) have such shutters too. My mum witnessed it once, when an alarm suddenly sounded and the shutter came down automatically, and a girl was closed behind the shutters. Well, a door was there to allow her to go out from that place. View all comments by Jasmine
Thanks Jasmine for the information. I think we have all established the fact that the shutter comes down during emergencies and the escape door does what its name implies.
Although I figure in times of fire breakouts, the shutter would be more of a hindrance than providing safety. View all comments by Veron
hi matilda, your reply has made me feel safer about staying in hostels. i would definitely opt for single rooms as i am very particular about having my own privacy. now that my confidence level in hostels have increased, it is quite likely that i would stay in one for my next trip. i’m sure it would enhance the overall backpacking experience. View all comments by Veron
Congratulations Kyo, on scoring those interviews. Thailand and Korea? I foresee a language barrier coming along. Personally, I wouldn’t mind working in Thailand as my few previous trips to the country (both the city and smaller laid-back towns) have left me with a wonderful impression. It even spurred me to take on Thai as a third language!
This may have come late, but good luck in securing a dream job! View all comments by Veron
yo alwyn, you seem really enthusiastic about going overseas! i would have to pass on hong kong though; my previous trip there left me with a sour taste. only a detour to the more remote lantau island (part of hong kong but not the main island) and macau made the entire trip somewhat worthwhile.
the middle east, turkey and greece sound really appealing though. i aim to conquer these places one day! View all comments by Veron
Yup. Kind of weird huh? View all comments by Jasmine
should really do your best to travel and backpack… esp at this age… cos as we grow older it’ll get much harder… we are in the prime of our lives! yeah!
i did travel quite a bit in the past eight months… its been worth it… if not for coming back to sg.. I’d be somewhere in the middle east… well.. its up to you lah… i’m game for anything and anywhere… thailand? cambodia? Singapore is nice… and small… so its worthwhile to broaden our horizons.. especially in an age when air travel is so much cheaper…
oh well.. take care… and be really happy… =) View all comments by alwyn
so mummy won the blog award le? View all comments by tender
Hey u won Most Creative Blog!!! :) View all comments by steven
After just watching Lost, I’d have to concur that it’s a secret hatch. The blastdoors and metallic sheen seem all too familiar.
Get the dynamite, fellas! View all comments by harrison
lol good thing it doesn’t say QUARANTINED on the other side of the door. View all comments by Veron
You know, I’ve never really seen those Control Center people go outside the stations for their lunch or tea or brunch breaks…I’d bet there’s some sort of food storage…huge fridge of frozen sandwiches and tuna…or something.
Quarantine! Haha good one. Did you check the serial number on that door?
4 8 15 16 23 42 View all comments by harrison
have you seen season 2 of lost? if not i’d better not spoil it for you. View all comments by Veron
Lost fan + fanatical love + couch potato = d/lding every week
Trust me, you can’t be spoiling it for me. I’m just as informed (or clueless, in this aspect) as American viewers are at this point! View all comments by harrison
LOL this is great man. I’m surprised at how few of my friends actually watch Lost. At this moment, I’m really curious as to who Henry Gale is. View all comments by Veron
Henry Gale isn’t Henry Gale…weird but true. Haha, I’m stumped by his presence too. Somehow he seems to be so…creepily suspicious. He even manages to sound evil while eating cereal!
I’m more curious about why Sun is, you know, when Jin is, you know.
Or Michael has really gone the way of dear Boone or still frolicking with some hot Others we don’t know of…yet.
We’re torturing the devoted Channel 5 viewers of Lost…tell me, do you feel lucky? View all comments by harrison
I didn’t actually like Henry Gale until the previous episode. What he did for Locke really moved me. So far, the character that creeps me out the most is Ethan.
The island does interesting things to people. It probably fixed Jin in the way it fixed Locke of his handicap.
I don’t really care for Michael’s character. In fact, I didn’t miss him or Walt at all for most of this season. Wonder if the Lost producers would be killing off any more of the main characters. I was quite bumped when Shannon died. View all comments by Veron
Yeah, I sympathised with Henry Gale when he really helped Locke out of a terrifying situation: the prospect of him losing his ability to walk AGAIN was probably more scary than losing his life, or the hatch, or anything else at all.
Then Jack & Co barged in, guns a-blazing and revealed his secret. Oh well, he might be just another of the passengers "infected", or like Rousseau, a bit crazy after all this time. If he was a real Other, that’ll screw up the plot.
Neither do I miss Mike. Or Walt. All the actors on the set don’t even know their characters’ longevity! They are practically fighting to save their careers every episode. Shannon was booted because she was pretty uninteresting, too one-dimensional, plus after the 1st season the producers failed to get us to like or even connect with her. In that case, her death wasn’t that big an impact. It only laid the groundwork for that amazingly scripted Jack-AnaLucia meeting.
If they really want to freshen things up on Lost, kill off a main character. Oh wait, that’s like everyone on the set. Don’t intro another Artz and blow him up, though. We can’t relate to corpses. View all comments by harrison
Mrt stations will close its gates after the last train.
If you’re really interested, you can go really late to a nearby mrt station, and u’ll see that there’s this metal grill gate.
That is the emergency exit door, when the gate is down. View all comments by john
The door is what we call a fire shutter. When a fire alarm is activated, the shutter will close. To prevent the fire from spreading. The emergency door is to allow people to espace. Notice that the emergency door is indented into the wall and is fire proof. View all comments by dennis
Talk about coincidence!
Almost stuck on last train tonight…whew!
But there is no such thing as coincidence, only the illusion of coincidence. View all comments by harrison
Haha.. I walk on that walkway everyday but I’ve never noticed the existence of that interesting door. At a glance it looks very strange. View all comments by Chris
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