As life experiences gok9win, Alvin Chiong has amassed several from opposite ends of the spectrum. 

For one, the former gang member used to pride himself in knowing “which toilet cubicle is safe to take drugs”, but now harnesses this encyclopaedic memory of the country's hot spots in his day job: Being a tour guide.

The 53-year-old is part of the Triad Trails initiative – the first walking tour in Singapore led by former secret society members – supported by the Singapore Tourism Board and organised by social enterprise Architects of Life, which supports ex-offenders. 

Tours cover the wider Chinatown heritage area – including some of his old haunts. The popular roller-skating arena at the former Amara Shopping Centre, where the revamped Amara Hotel now stands a stone’s throw from Tanjong Pagar MRT, used to see frequent gang territorial fights in the 1980s, he recalled.

In a full-circle moment, Chiong is currently leading a walking tour for Amara’s in-house guests till end November, a specially curated route outside his usual Triad Trails programmes.

Understandablyk9win, tour participants often come armed with endless questions about his chequered past and time behind bars, but he never tires of talking about the “not nice” experiences or revisiting the places he used to hang out. He indulges their curiosity instead with a degree of self-assuredness only possible from having survived life’s highest highs and the lowest lows.

It's hard to miss Alvin Chiong in the crowd, with his penchant for vibrant shirts that complement his heavily-tattooed arms. (Photo: CNA/Joyee Koo)

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