Which Mediacorp star was so scared of staying in hotels, she placed a chair against the door and made sure every possible way of entering the room was blocked

Mediacorp actor Herman Keh and YES 933 DJ Tan Qijia joined Zoe Tay and Guo Liang on the latest episode of The Zoe and Liang Show to discuss if good friends necessarily make good travel companions.

“I don’t think I’m a good travel companion,” admitted Qijia right away. “When I’m with a group I’m more sociable and easy going, but when [I’m] with someone close it’s easy to cross the line. I once went to Taiwan with my close friend, and I started to vent my emotions on them. Sometimes holidays can last up to 10 days, and during the last few days you get tired and don’t feel in the mood to talk nicely anymore, so you’re less mindful of your tone.”

Herman, on the other hand, loves going on holiday with friends.

“We’re good friends and choose to go overseas together, so I don’t see the need to quarrel or make things ugly. Unless you really do something that I can’t tolerate. I’ve never had any problems travelling with my friends so far,” said the actor, before joking: “Maybe I’m the problem.”

“When you put it that way, maybe I’m like that too,” responded Zoe. “Because I can share a [hotel] room with people that I’m close to and also people that I’m not close to.”

Guo Liang revealed that he barely has any experience travelling with friends, which led Zoe to tease him about not having any friends — an old topic that was brought up in a previous episode of the podcast.

Zoe shared that she likes going overseas with two of her female friends as they can share clothes and items such as skincare.

Herman added that a plus point of travelling together with his guy friends is that they can all share a bed to save money.

But he doesn’t like to sit on his bed if he hasn’t changed out of his dirty clothes or showered so he will tell his friends to avoid his 'section' of the bed if they haven’t washed up.

"Sorry ah, Lingling," says Zoe before telling everyone a hilarious anecdote about her pal

The group then talked about the downside of travelling with others.

“Once, when I shared a room with a friend, I offered to let her shower first. When she came out, the whole bathroom floor was wet. It was like there was a flood in there,” said Zoe.

Qijia shared that she is very sensitive to light, and is unable to fall asleep if the room is too bright. “Some of my friends get scared when they travel, and prefer to leave the lights on. I've learnt to always bring an eye mask along with me,” she said.

This led Zoe to share another story. “I once shared a room with a colleague when we were overseas for work,” said Ah Jie, who then chuckled to herself before revealing the colleague's identity.

“Sorry ah, Pan Lingling,” laughed Zoe.

“She was so weird back then. She asked to share a room with me and before she went to sleep, she placed a chair against the door, which was already locked and bolted. She also did the same to the windows. Basically every [possible way of entering the room] had to be blocked so no one could enter. She would also put her shoes against the door in a way that we would know if anyone tried to push the door open. She couldn’t sleep with a chair beside her too, because she was afraid someone would sit and stare at her in the middle of the night,” recalled Zoe.

Zoe said she was actually “totally okay” with sleeping in the room, but after hearing about Lingling’s exaggerated fears, she started to feel a little scared too.

Guo Liang reveals what makes him the most angry when it comes to travelling with other people. And no, he wasn't talking about Herman.

As comfortable as Zoe is travelling with friends, she has “banned” a close friend from her travel companion list.

“She needs her own bed, needs it to be quiet when she sleeps, and has to set out on time the next day. We have to leave at 6am, and leave certain places at specific timings, [she’s] like a tour guide,” she said.

“Actually I’m a bit like that,” revealed Guo Liang.

“I understand how [Zoe's rigid friend] thinks. Actually people like us, it’s not a must to [wake up] at 6am, we just take things more seriously. We already decided on a plan. For example, we decide to catch the sunrise the next morning, and have to wake up at 4.30am. They agree to it, but end up not being able to wake up the next day. Then when you get angry they will say things like ‘It’s just a holiday, it’s just the sunrise, relax’,” ranted Guo Liang, while adding that he gets “very angry” when such things happen.

“If they can’t wake up then so be it, I will just continue sleeping. I can’t possibly go alone or try to wake them up right,” said Herman, who again, showed how laidback he is when travelling.

Zoe agreed, adding: “If they can’t wake up, it’s okay they can sleep. I’ll go with the others.”

Qijia describing one particularly unpleasant holiday experience with friends

Qijia brought up an important point — communication.

“I cannot tolerate companions who suffer in silence. If you’re not happy, you should talk about it then we can solve it together. Travelling together is a test, if you pass it your relationship will improve, if you don’t, it may also ruin the relationship,” said the jock.

“Wah so serious ah?” asked Guo Liang.

Qijia then shared she had travelled to Thailand with a group of friends, which was made up of two couples and another guy. They had plans to celebrate New Year’s Eve together. However, the party they planned on going was too crowded, and they ended up at another place under a friend’s suggestion.

“When we arrived, we realised it was a big club. But me and my female friend weren’t fans of such clubs, so we felt uncomfortable. There were also many foreigners and many people drinking so the atmosphere was quite wild. We could feel the tension in the air, but no one wanted to speak about it,” she recalled.

The group then got their drinks and found a seat, only for Qijia to ask if they could leave.

“My friends were understanding and we left the place after finishing our drinks. But my then-boyfriend, who is now my husband, was unhappy and asked why I did that after all the trouble we went through to get to the club. He felt like we should be more accommodating to others when travelling together. I started to cry on the spot."

The group eventually resolved the situation by holding a “meeting” the next day to thrash things out and Qijia was able to come to an understanding with her boyfriend-turned-husband.

Guo Liang acting out his plastic bag anecdote 

The group then moved on to the topic of whether they are the “planners” or “followers” on trips.

“I’m the type to go with the flow and I decide where to go when we arrive, but some people [don’t like that],” said Herman.

Zoe then shifted the question to Guo Liang, asking: “I’m very curious, why can’t you travel with others?”

“Once, my travel companion spent two hours in the shower,” said Guo Liang, to everyone’s amusement. He added that while it did not “affect him in any way”, it also didn’t stop him from thinking that the person was “very strange”.

“Another time, I went overseas with a colleague. I think we have the same personality where we both try to be very considerate of the other party. But the funny thing is that we are both overly considerate,” said the host.

He went on to describe how said colleague and him tried their best to make sure they weren’t disturbing the other party. Eventually, Guo Liang ended up pretending to sleep, as his colleague tried his best to keep his belongings in plastic bags quietly.

“It’s so torturous. Do you know what it’s like to try to use plastic bags quietly?” laughed Guo Liang.

The colleague also turned down the lights because he didn’t want to disturb Guo Liang, but he would occasionally hear him bang into things around the room.

“I know he felt really bad, and I really wanted to let him know that it was okay ‘cos I was already asleep. I didn’t dare to turn over either, because I didn’t want him to feel like he was disturbing me. I had to pretend I was sound asleep,” he recounted.

According to Guo Liang, that’s why he always tries his best “to find ways to be alone while travelling”. “I don’t want to inconvenience others,” he concluded. 

Photos: meWATCH

To find out more about the stars split bills during holidays with friends, watch The Zoe and Liang Show on meWATCH, or catch it below.