It was the first time I’ve seen something like that and it stopped me in my tracks. First of all, you don’t see many people selling knick-knacks or playing music in the street in Singapore because there are strict rules governing these activities.



And, if you do happen to see street vendors or street performers, they are usually in the town centre and not near a bus stop in a relatively middle class neighbourbood like this. I’ve also never seen white people doing that.



We find it extremely strange to ask other people for money to help you travel. Selling things in the street or begging isn’t considered respectable. People who do so are really in need: they beg in order to buy food, pay their children’s school fees or pay off debts. But not in order to do something seen as a luxury!



These young people don’t seem to be in dire need, however — they own expensive equipment such as an amplifier. Maisarah Abu Samah, a young Singaporean, was startled by the strange scene and stopped to take these photos, which she published on her Twitter account Other wannabe travellers go online to do their own version of “beg-packing” by starting crowdfunding projects in the hopes of raising money for big trips. This culture seems to go hand-in-hand with the explosion of so-called " travel porn ", where social media accounts and travel blogs post endless images of faraway destinations, in the aim of inspiring wanderlust in readers.Backpackers are often viewed as the antithesis of organised trips and mass tourism. But even the romantic image of adventurers on the hunt for new horizons has transformed in recent years. Now, many see backpackers as Westerners who want to travel on the cheap — to the point of exploiting the locals.