Bibi came to Singapore for the first time as a tourist with friends in the late 70s, little knowing that this would become her permanent home later in life.
A native Dane but now a Singaporean, she has worked in the airline and tourist industry throughout her adult working life, first with Singapore Airlines in Copenhagen, which involved coming to Singapore for courses and holidays.
She immediately fell in love with this unique part of Asia with its mix of old and new, not to mention its efficiency and vibrancy.
Bibi met her Singaporean husband through work and has now lived in Singapore for 32 years and this is where her twins were born and attended local schools.
When she first came here all those years ago it was not so easy for a non Singaporean to get work, so she considered becoming a tour guide. But then she was offered a job with Lufthansa where she worked for 26 years, until a few years ago, when she left the airline and saw the opportunity to make her earlier dream of becoming a Singapore tour guide come true.
Architecture
WWII
History & Heritage
English licensed guide
German licensed guide
Danish licensed guide
Spoken Malay
Spoken Swedish
Spoken Norweigian
We highly recommend this WWII guided tour by Jane’s Tours. It is a fantastic experience for anyone (even Singaporeans!) who would like to know more about the history, impact and buildings of the war.
Bibi Karlsen was our tour guide for the WWII tour and she was an excellent, knowledgeable and friendly guide.
Kampong Glam and Bugis Architectural Highlights Tour
We had a great time on this tour with Bibi. She was very knowledgeable and friendly, giving us lots of ‘fun facts’ about the country we have called home for a long time. Jane’s Tours are a great way to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the lion city and proof that you can still be a tourist during a travel ban 🙂
I have completed a tour of the Joo Chiat area this morning with Bibi. Just wanted to feedback to say the tour was so interesting – I loved that Bibi gave us lots of information about singapore in general, not just the Joo Chiat area. She was friendly and accommodating – the pace of walking and talking was very well suited to us.
Thank you- we will book again
We just did a tour with Bibi this morning of the Shophouses, and Bibi was an absolute delight – so knowledgeable, interesting, answered so many questions, happy to go with the flow, so friendly and warm. Even facilitated is to go into a Shophouse for a look!!
Absolutely amazing, and I had the best time.
We did a Tour with Guide Bibi and it was just Perfect! We were interested in architecture and she gave us a good overview- starting from early ages/History to modern Singapore. She understood perfectly what we wanted and was able to ‘feel’ us.
Thank you Bibi for two wonderful days!
What a wonderful vibrant, colourful and fascinating tour of Little India we had with the lovely Bibi on Saturday night – perfect timing too with the run up to Diwali and the LIGHTSSSSSS!! She managed to keep my three children 9, 7 and 5 absoluely captivated for 2.5 hours, finding around the streets, shops and temples of the area. People were so welcoming to us and we really felt like we’d been catapulted into a different country. A great way to ‘escape’ Singapore when we can’t travel. Fabulous evening and we can’t wait to do Kampong Glam next!
Our family enjoyed a wonderful Saturday afternoon/evening exploring the sights and sounds of Little India.
Bibi was our guide, and she was filled with so much information about the area, constantly pointing out little details we had never noticed before. A warm and friendly guide, she made sure our two kids (9 and 11) were entertained the whole time.
Even though we have lived in Singapore for over 11 years, we enjoyed this tour as much as if we were only here on holidays.
Being Deepavali, the area was awash with colour and light, which made for a feast for the senses.
Superb “WWII: 75th Anniversary Japanese Surrender Tour” with Jane’s Tours guide Bibi. Bibi provided us with a detailed & informative history, compellingly told. Combination of walking and driving the tour flowed smoothly and really captured the history of Singapore during WWII – quite amazing how much ground we covered and saw in the 4hrs. Excellent communication pre-tour to ensure all good on meeting up for the tour and to address any queries. Post and during tour, we were provided with details & links to further quench our appetite to further enhance the historical information Bibi provided – great idea as you always get so much info on tours that it helps to be able to digest & reinforce it all later. Bibi was also excellent at taking pics & shooting these to us, to capture the day. These touches enhance the whole experience and made for a really fantastic way to spend a morning out and about, enjoying Singapore’s history & Bibi’s company. Highly recommend Jane’s Tours and this tour. Already signed up for another tour and will be doing many more for sure.
My sister and I went were guided by Bibi. Her narrations of the architectural history of the area proved to be meticulous and detailed. Not only was she able to provide a comprehensive survey of the history of the buildings in the area, she was also able to answer our questions on an entire range of tangential topics, such as the reasons for the relatively greater influence of Moorish design over other competing Islamic architectures in the Masjid Sultan’s facade. Finally, she was extremely friendly and approachable – conversation flowed naturally from the local architecture/history to her comparative appraisals of life in Europe and Singapore.
We are a registered Singapore travel and tour agency (Licence No TA03363N).
UEN: 201940714G EMAIL : info@janestours.sg PHONE : +65 97320706