Choo Koon Lip

Haha.. I asked this question because of two interesting encounters over the past week touring the east coast of the States.

First, I was in National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC last Wednesday. I joined a mini tour guide within the lavish museum. And the lady tour guide asked where i’m from. When I said ‘Singapore’, she mentioned that America is a young nation as compared. I was like ‘huh’ especially National Day was like last Monday (and we’re officially 45th).

Then on the way back from DC to New York, I met my younger brother in Philly for a half day trip. While we walked from 30th Street Station all the way to the Front Street (i.e. around 30 streets), we walked back to somewhere in between to have dinner in Chinatown.

It came to a time that we’re afraid that we will miss our bus back to Manhattan, we took a cab. The driver asked where we came from. When we said ‘Singapore’, he said our country is so much bigger and apparently towards the end, he thought that Singapore is Shanghai!!

At these 2 instances, I knew they ddn’t know where is Singapore. And like most people said, they must be thinking that we are part of China.