The Great Singapore Adventurer
Staging a Khoo
Eight years after scaling Mount Everest, Khoo Swee Chiow still faces controversy over his adventures
By Lee Sze Yong monday interview
KHOO Swee Chiow knows about obsessions. After all, he is obsessed with embarking on adventures. He is obsessed with breaking records. He is obsessed with attaching superlatives to his name - and namecard.
But he is no mere daydreamer.
In 1998, he scaled the peak of Mount Everest.
In 2002, he became the first Asian to complete Adventure Grand Slam by climbing the highest peaks on the seven continents and trekking to the North and South Poles.
In 2003, he cycled from Singapore to China.
In 2004, he swam across the 40km Malacca Strait in 22 hours.
And on Dec 25 last year, he spent 220 hours inside a tank filled with mineral water on a field in Tampines Central, breaking a Guinness World Record.
Ask him if he suffers from some obsessive compulsive need for an adrenaline rush and the 41-year-old admits that, yes, he does.
'If I go to a psychiatrist, he probably will come back with the same conclusion,' the Malaysian-born former system analyst says with a laugh.
He seeks out new challenges because he wants to do what few have done.
'It's the thrill, the challenge and the unknown outcome that inspire me. It's like creating something out of merely an idea.'
But is he running out of ideas?
It is one thing to scale Mount Everest, but doesn't his water-tank episode smack of a circus act?
I wonder aloud if he has lowered his standards just to meet his one-feat-a-year quota.
After all, he failed in his attempt to swim across the English Channel in August last year, so was the most recent adventure a last-minute stunt?
What was the big deal about staying in scuba gear for nine days anyway?
He retorts: 'I would gladly encourage anyone who said that, to try it and see if he can do the same thing.'
He adds with a shrug: 'Criticism has been around since Day One. Whatever I do, there will always be a supporting camp, there will always be an opposing camp.
'My answer to my detractors will be: 'Life is really short. What I am doing really is nothing more than dedicating my life to my passion, and trying to make a living out of it.' '
Career peak
EVER since his Mount Everest feat, Khoo has carved out a career as a professional adventurer.
In fact, his namecard lists, chronologically, the feats he has accomplished since 1998. The final line in his current card needs updating. It reads '2005 - ?'
But while his earlier accomplishments got him feted, there is now public fatigue with his feats.
The honeymoon, clearly, is over.
The water-tank stunt, in particular, riled some Singaporeans, who wondered if his exploits were mere self-glorification acts that served no purpose to society.
There was unhappiness that the Northeast Community Development Council had given him $10,000 from its Dare To Dream Fund for the feat.
But if you are expecting someone shaken by the controversy, Khoo proves you wrong.
He is a picture of confidence and calm when we meet last Wednesday at the SAF Yacht Club in Changi, where he trained for the scuba dive.
He has brought along his wife, Tok Wee Leng, 37, and two-year-old son Sheng Feng.
At 1.82m tall, he cuts a tall, lanky figure. He is casually dressed in a green T-shirt, bermudas and rubber slippers.
He is eloquent but not chatty. Perhaps bad press has made him cautious about what he says to reporters.
When we speak about the water-tank incident, he chooses his words carefully, stopping many times to take stock of what he wants to say.
He is not boastful and does not talk about his successes unless you ask him about them.
During the photo shoot, an onlooker recognises him and strikes up a conversation.
Khoo appears a little uncomfortable with the attention but nods politely in response.
He explains later: 'I'm not here to impress people. I'm not here to become famous. That's secondary.
'The reason I am in the media is because of sponsorship. And of course, there are a lot of people who are inspired by what I do. That's good enough for me.'
The water-tank experience left him with a few battle scars.
He got sores in his ears due to an infection. The skin on the top of his feet was torn and blistered after his crew pulled out his tight boots from his water-soaked legs.
He was placed in a re-compression chamber in Tan Tock Seng Hospital for two nights to remove any nitrogen build-up in his blood, which could be fatal.
He is now back on his feet, and planning his next adventure.
'It will be just as difficult as my previous achievements, if not more difficult.'
He does not want to reveal more, saying: 'Adventurers run like a business, you know. You don't want others to steal your ideas, and No. 2, you are looking for sponsors so you want to finalise the deals first before announcing anything.'
Courting controversy
HE FIRST made headlines as part of the first-ever Singapore team to attempt climbing Mount Everest. He and Outward Bound Singapore instructor Edwin Siew made it to the peak.
Questions were raised when it was revealed that both were in fact Singapore permanent residents, not citizens.
'I had not expected such a reaction then. Singapore, by then, was already my home,' says Khoo who took up citizenship in 1999.
In 2003, he got flak for leaving behind his pregnant wife to embark on a
73-day cycling trip from Singapore to China.
He clarifies: 'I carried a satellite phone so that we could keep in touch. But she can take care of herself.'
Lucky for him then that his wife is his biggest fan. Tok, a Singaporean, met her husband at rock-climbing sessions in Safra Tampines in 1995.
The former clerk sits quietly beside Khoo, preferring to let him do the talking.
When you ask her if she is tired of his adventure-seeking ways, she says simply: 'He has to like what he's doing, otherwise there's no point doing it, is there? This is his full-time job after all, and I support him fully.'
The couple say they have never quarrelled about his obsession.
The only peeve she cares to admit is that he has yet to make it up to her for spending the Christmas period in a water tank, instead of with the family.
'I'm still waiting for the heels he promised me,' she adds jokingly.
Khoo calls her a 'special and strong lady' and adds: 'It is not just important, but also fundamental that she understands what I'm setting out to achieve.'
He knows that critics carp at how he leaves his family behind while he sets off on his expeditions, but points out that his adventures help bring home the bacon.
He supports the family through product endorsements, such as a deal he currently has with watch brand Ball Watch, fees he gets from giving motivational speeches based on his adventures, and royalties from his 2003 book, Journeys To The Ends Of The World.
He says that he and his wife, who live in a five-room HDB flat in Punggol, are 'a different couple, not the average Singaporeans'.
'We are action people, high-risk takers. It is always with her blessings that I am doing this. People don't understand that. That's fine.'
In search of adventure
HE WAS born in the laidback town of Port Dickson in Malaysia, the youngest of eight children. His oldest sibling is 24 years older and the age gap between him and the seventh child is seven years.
Because of the age difference, he spent his youth with other children in his neighbourhood and they did a lot of fishing.
His father owned a provision shop and his mother was a housewife. They gave him a lot of freedom, he says.
As a child, he was intrigued by a black-and-white TV programme called In Search Of.
'It's about UFOs, ancient civilisations and the pyramids. I guess that was how I was made - always curious about what was around the corner.'
He went to Port Dickson Family School and Port Dickson High School. In
1984, his parents had saved enough to send him to Australia to study.
Photographs of his days as a computer science undergrad in the University of Melbourne show him with big, squarish glasses and a goofy grin.
You can't help pointing out the resemblance to American Idol reject William Hung, and he laughs at this.
'You are not the only one who pointed that to me,' he says. 'I guess I was quite geeky-looking back then.'
Singapore's then National Computer Board, which is now part of the Infocomm Development Authority, went to his university to recruit information system officers. He applied, got the job, and arrived in Singapore in 1987.
It was not an unfamiliar place as he had been here on family trips.
He stayed with relatives for a few years before getting his own apartment.
'A normal working life' is how he describes his early days but a 1989 holiday to Nepal sowed the seeds of what was to come.
Seeing Everest for the first time, he told himself that he would reach its peak one day.
'It was such a majestic sight. I asked myself, 'Can I climb it?' and I answered that question with my actions.'
The Mount Everest climb remains his proudest moment.
'That was the big one, you know. It really started the ball rolling.'
He had by then moved on to Singapore Airlines as an IT assistant manager, but quit to become a professional adventurer in 2001.
While his wife is a staunch supporter of his adventures, his family back in Malaysia does not share his passion for excitement.
He does not inform his parents and siblings whenever he attempts a new challenge.
Coincidentally during the interview, he gets a call on his mobile phone from a brother, a retired businessman in Kota Kinabalu, saying that he found out about the water-tank feat from Malaysian papers.
They chat for about 10 minutes, with Khoo relating how the dive went without going into details about how tough it was.
'No point worrying them for nothing,' he tells you after the call.
His days in between adventures appear enviably idyllic.
His mornings are spent having breakfast with the family and reading the newspapers. He works on his motivational speeches and online journals in the afternoons, and in the evenings, he does exercises like half-hour swims or 1.5km runs.
As we wind up the interview, his son Sheng Feng comes over and asks to be shown the fishes in a tank in the restaurant we are in. He is a tough boy, his skin bronzed from swimming classes.
Khoo says he hopes his son will take after him and be equally open to trying new things.
Children these days are 'growing up soft, playing computer games every day'. But the proliferation of adventure camps is a good sign as 'it gives them a holistic approach to life, toughen them a bit. There are things out there that cannot be learnt from textbooks'.
In the works is a long family trip to Africa to enjoy the natural landscape, but that is unlikely to happen soon as his wife is pregnant with their second child, due in June.
Meanwhile, Khoo will be visiting the printers soon to update his namecard.
The question mark beside the year 2005 will be replaced with his latest feat and will read '220-hour scuba dive'.
And, of course, the printers will be adding a new line: '2006 - ?'.
As he says: 'When I die, hopefully I can look back on my life and say, 'Hey, it's been fun. I managed to go without too many regrets'.'
'Chicken feet and all the innards. I may be an adventurer, but I am not very adventurous when it comes to food. Oh, and sea cucumber too'
-- On whether he fears anything
'The oldest Everest climber is 70 years old. I still have 30 more years to go'
-- On when he will quit going on adventures
szeyong@sph.com.sg
Eight years after scaling Mount Everest, Khoo Swee Chiow still faces controversy over his adventures
By Lee Sze Yong monday interview
KHOO Swee Chiow knows about obsessions. After all, he is obsessed with embarking on adventures. He is obsessed with breaking records. He is obsessed with attaching superlatives to his name - and namecard.
But he is no mere daydreamer.
In 1998, he scaled the peak of Mount Everest.
In 2002, he became the first Asian to complete Adventure Grand Slam by climbing the highest peaks on the seven continents and trekking to the North and South Poles.
In 2003, he cycled from Singapore to China.
In 2004, he swam across the 40km Malacca Strait in 22 hours.
And on Dec 25 last year, he spent 220 hours inside a tank filled with mineral water on a field in Tampines Central, breaking a Guinness World Record.
Ask him if he suffers from some obsessive compulsive need for an adrenaline rush and the 41-year-old admits that, yes, he does.
'If I go to a psychiatrist, he probably will come back with the same conclusion,' the Malaysian-born former system analyst says with a laugh.
He seeks out new challenges because he wants to do what few have done.
'It's the thrill, the challenge and the unknown outcome that inspire me. It's like creating something out of merely an idea.'
But is he running out of ideas?
It is one thing to scale Mount Everest, but doesn't his water-tank episode smack of a circus act?
I wonder aloud if he has lowered his standards just to meet his one-feat-a-year quota.
After all, he failed in his attempt to swim across the English Channel in August last year, so was the most recent adventure a last-minute stunt?
What was the big deal about staying in scuba gear for nine days anyway?
He retorts: 'I would gladly encourage anyone who said that, to try it and see if he can do the same thing.'
He adds with a shrug: 'Criticism has been around since Day One. Whatever I do, there will always be a supporting camp, there will always be an opposing camp.
'My answer to my detractors will be: 'Life is really short. What I am doing really is nothing more than dedicating my life to my passion, and trying to make a living out of it.' '
Career peak
EVER since his Mount Everest feat, Khoo has carved out a career as a professional adventurer.
In fact, his namecard lists, chronologically, the feats he has accomplished since 1998. The final line in his current card needs updating. It reads '2005 - ?'
But while his earlier accomplishments got him feted, there is now public fatigue with his feats.
The honeymoon, clearly, is over.
The water-tank stunt, in particular, riled some Singaporeans, who wondered if his exploits were mere self-glorification acts that served no purpose to society.
There was unhappiness that the Northeast Community Development Council had given him $10,000 from its Dare To Dream Fund for the feat.
But if you are expecting someone shaken by the controversy, Khoo proves you wrong.
He is a picture of confidence and calm when we meet last Wednesday at the SAF Yacht Club in Changi, where he trained for the scuba dive.
He has brought along his wife, Tok Wee Leng, 37, and two-year-old son Sheng Feng.
At 1.82m tall, he cuts a tall, lanky figure. He is casually dressed in a green T-shirt, bermudas and rubber slippers.
He is eloquent but not chatty. Perhaps bad press has made him cautious about what he says to reporters.
When we speak about the water-tank incident, he chooses his words carefully, stopping many times to take stock of what he wants to say.
He is not boastful and does not talk about his successes unless you ask him about them.
During the photo shoot, an onlooker recognises him and strikes up a conversation.
Khoo appears a little uncomfortable with the attention but nods politely in response.
He explains later: 'I'm not here to impress people. I'm not here to become famous. That's secondary.
'The reason I am in the media is because of sponsorship. And of course, there are a lot of people who are inspired by what I do. That's good enough for me.'
The water-tank experience left him with a few battle scars.
He got sores in his ears due to an infection. The skin on the top of his feet was torn and blistered after his crew pulled out his tight boots from his water-soaked legs.
He was placed in a re-compression chamber in Tan Tock Seng Hospital for two nights to remove any nitrogen build-up in his blood, which could be fatal.
He is now back on his feet, and planning his next adventure.
'It will be just as difficult as my previous achievements, if not more difficult.'
He does not want to reveal more, saying: 'Adventurers run like a business, you know. You don't want others to steal your ideas, and No. 2, you are looking for sponsors so you want to finalise the deals first before announcing anything.'
Courting controversy
HE FIRST made headlines as part of the first-ever Singapore team to attempt climbing Mount Everest. He and Outward Bound Singapore instructor Edwin Siew made it to the peak.
Questions were raised when it was revealed that both were in fact Singapore permanent residents, not citizens.
'I had not expected such a reaction then. Singapore, by then, was already my home,' says Khoo who took up citizenship in 1999.
In 2003, he got flak for leaving behind his pregnant wife to embark on a
73-day cycling trip from Singapore to China.
He clarifies: 'I carried a satellite phone so that we could keep in touch. But she can take care of herself.'
Lucky for him then that his wife is his biggest fan. Tok, a Singaporean, met her husband at rock-climbing sessions in Safra Tampines in 1995.
The former clerk sits quietly beside Khoo, preferring to let him do the talking.
When you ask her if she is tired of his adventure-seeking ways, she says simply: 'He has to like what he's doing, otherwise there's no point doing it, is there? This is his full-time job after all, and I support him fully.'
The couple say they have never quarrelled about his obsession.
The only peeve she cares to admit is that he has yet to make it up to her for spending the Christmas period in a water tank, instead of with the family.
'I'm still waiting for the heels he promised me,' she adds jokingly.
Khoo calls her a 'special and strong lady' and adds: 'It is not just important, but also fundamental that she understands what I'm setting out to achieve.'
He knows that critics carp at how he leaves his family behind while he sets off on his expeditions, but points out that his adventures help bring home the bacon.
He supports the family through product endorsements, such as a deal he currently has with watch brand Ball Watch, fees he gets from giving motivational speeches based on his adventures, and royalties from his 2003 book, Journeys To The Ends Of The World.
He says that he and his wife, who live in a five-room HDB flat in Punggol, are 'a different couple, not the average Singaporeans'.
'We are action people, high-risk takers. It is always with her blessings that I am doing this. People don't understand that. That's fine.'
In search of adventure
HE WAS born in the laidback town of Port Dickson in Malaysia, the youngest of eight children. His oldest sibling is 24 years older and the age gap between him and the seventh child is seven years.
Because of the age difference, he spent his youth with other children in his neighbourhood and they did a lot of fishing.
His father owned a provision shop and his mother was a housewife. They gave him a lot of freedom, he says.
As a child, he was intrigued by a black-and-white TV programme called In Search Of.
'It's about UFOs, ancient civilisations and the pyramids. I guess that was how I was made - always curious about what was around the corner.'
He went to Port Dickson Family School and Port Dickson High School. In
1984, his parents had saved enough to send him to Australia to study.
Photographs of his days as a computer science undergrad in the University of Melbourne show him with big, squarish glasses and a goofy grin.
You can't help pointing out the resemblance to American Idol reject William Hung, and he laughs at this.
'You are not the only one who pointed that to me,' he says. 'I guess I was quite geeky-looking back then.'
Singapore's then National Computer Board, which is now part of the Infocomm Development Authority, went to his university to recruit information system officers. He applied, got the job, and arrived in Singapore in 1987.
It was not an unfamiliar place as he had been here on family trips.
He stayed with relatives for a few years before getting his own apartment.
'A normal working life' is how he describes his early days but a 1989 holiday to Nepal sowed the seeds of what was to come.
Seeing Everest for the first time, he told himself that he would reach its peak one day.
'It was such a majestic sight. I asked myself, 'Can I climb it?' and I answered that question with my actions.'
The Mount Everest climb remains his proudest moment.
'That was the big one, you know. It really started the ball rolling.'
He had by then moved on to Singapore Airlines as an IT assistant manager, but quit to become a professional adventurer in 2001.
While his wife is a staunch supporter of his adventures, his family back in Malaysia does not share his passion for excitement.
He does not inform his parents and siblings whenever he attempts a new challenge.
Coincidentally during the interview, he gets a call on his mobile phone from a brother, a retired businessman in Kota Kinabalu, saying that he found out about the water-tank feat from Malaysian papers.
They chat for about 10 minutes, with Khoo relating how the dive went without going into details about how tough it was.
'No point worrying them for nothing,' he tells you after the call.
His days in between adventures appear enviably idyllic.
His mornings are spent having breakfast with the family and reading the newspapers. He works on his motivational speeches and online journals in the afternoons, and in the evenings, he does exercises like half-hour swims or 1.5km runs.
As we wind up the interview, his son Sheng Feng comes over and asks to be shown the fishes in a tank in the restaurant we are in. He is a tough boy, his skin bronzed from swimming classes.
Khoo says he hopes his son will take after him and be equally open to trying new things.
Children these days are 'growing up soft, playing computer games every day'. But the proliferation of adventure camps is a good sign as 'it gives them a holistic approach to life, toughen them a bit. There are things out there that cannot be learnt from textbooks'.
In the works is a long family trip to Africa to enjoy the natural landscape, but that is unlikely to happen soon as his wife is pregnant with their second child, due in June.
Meanwhile, Khoo will be visiting the printers soon to update his namecard.
The question mark beside the year 2005 will be replaced with his latest feat and will read '220-hour scuba dive'.
And, of course, the printers will be adding a new line: '2006 - ?'.
As he says: 'When I die, hopefully I can look back on my life and say, 'Hey, it's been fun. I managed to go without too many regrets'.'
'Chicken feet and all the innards. I may be an adventurer, but I am not very adventurous when it comes to food. Oh, and sea cucumber too'
-- On whether he fears anything
'The oldest Everest climber is 70 years old. I still have 30 more years to go'
-- On when he will quit going on adventures
szeyong@sph.com.sg
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