Our guide Salma was born in India. At the age of 9, she moved to Singapore after her late dad was offered a job here.
Her father partnered with her future father in law to start a company as spice merchants. Salma owes much of her knowledge to her incredible childhood growing up with spice merchants.
Just like any young person in Singapore, Salma had a dream of being a doctor. Unfortunately for her, she was not able to pursue it. She got married before she finished her A-levels and she had no choice but to become a housewife as part of her culture.
When I asked her, what made her become a guide? Without hesitation, she told me she is a people person. Back when her daughters brought friends from overseas, she would guide them around for free. So she knew that she enjoyed being a guide, telling stories and creating trails of Singapore.
So back in the early 2000s, Salma started a small company with a few friends, creating walking trails, she got her Singapore Spice Girl title from one of her best trails, “The Spice Tour”.
She created the spice tour with the intention of providing an experience that is beyond what you can see. With the knowledge she had from her younger years, she brought guests through Singapore Spice trail and explained the history and culture from her perspective.
Salma has been doing trails since 1993. For 25 years being a guide in the industry, she enjoyed every bit of it. She’s been a guide to a lot of people from all over the world and enjoys telling stories. When asked what is so interesting about being a guide, she said with a smile, “I live through it”. It is her own personal experience that makes her trails authentic.
Salma has her own view on the unique culture of Singapore, she said, “Singapore is unique. Firstly, the word Singapura comes from India. Well, many are shocked but it really goes back to the Sanskrit. Our anthem is in Malay. Our majority population is Chinese. And we all speak English. How unique a culture is that?”
She went on to share her unforgettable experience conducting a spice tour. It was back to one of her early days as a guide, her guests were a VVIP Jewish couple from Las Vegas. She said, “the couple had a huge fight while they were on the tour over a small misunderstanding”.
Salma tried to help the couple reconcile, she felt like she was a tour Guide cum Marriage Counselor. Unfortunately, the situation did not resolve and the couple ended up separating ways before the tour finished. Although Salma was not able to resolve the situation, she felt the incident was unforgettable. How often do we meet couples that fight while on vacation right? Hmm…
