"Thank you for supporting my music for nearly.... (she walked towards the piano) nearly... three decades. (she pretended to stumble). Most of you may not even be born when I started." - Celion Dion, 3 July 2018, Singapore
But I only knew about her for two decades. It's been twenty-one years since the day my aunt introduced My Heart Will Go On and I fell in love the first time I heard it. I was seven. I remembered the days that I always waited in front of the TV for MTV to play her music videos or the radio to play her songs. At the time, there was neither YouTube nor Spotify for me to stream whenever I wanted to listen to her. There was no internet. Regardless, it didn't stop me from discovering more of her music. It became an item in my bucket list to watch her live performance after seeing videos on YouTube. I missed the opportunity to watch her in KL back in 2008 and thought I would never have the chance anymore until my friend told me that she is going to perform in Singapore this year, in conjunction with Celine Dion Live 2018. Since then, I have been checking on the site on the update of ticket sales. It was on the 17th May, 2018 at 1003 hours that I managed to get the ticket, 3 minutes after the tickets went on sale to public. The concert dated 3 July 2018, one and a half month to go.
Since the concert was held on a Tuesday, I took the chance to explore more of the little island. My visit spanned for 3 days and 3 nights as I ought to take days off from office anyway. I would consider the trip more like a gastronomical hunt as I have been to the country before. I stayed at The Bohemian which was located in the vicinity of Chinatown, served by Downtown (blue) and North East (purple) Line. Chinatown is equidistant from Orchard Road and Marina Bay which made it quite a strategic location. If you are a budget traveller, the blue line connects you to Changi Airport which is a plus point too. 27 dollars for 3 nights, the hostel was a decent stay that came with simple breakfast, in which I skipped as I decided to have my tummy filled elsewhere first thing in the morning. The lobby setup was quite cozy though there was nothing much to shout about the room. After checking in, I had a pot of frog porridge at Tiong Shian which was walkable from my hostel. The frogs were meaty and the portion was satisfying enough to suppress my hunger till supper.
As the night started to fall, I met up with my friend to have a stroll around Gardens By The Bay. My previous visits have excluded this place and I finally made it this time around. All these while I thought the garden is limited to Supertree. Was rather amazed by the scale of this park and the trees only constituted small part of it.
Counting down to her concert
Few days before the trip, I was told by my friend there is going to be a special night event at Singapore Zoo, Rainforest Lumina. As it coincided with the day I arrived at Singapore, I decided to go for it. The entrance fee was 22 dollars and can be covered in an hour. The lighting shows were rather incredible though there weren't much animals to be seen at night. Singapore Zoo was reachable by public bus. I just found out that you can check the status of public transport via mobile app.
For my second day in Singapore, I spent most of my day at Orchard Road doing some shopping. Apparently it was Great Singapore Sales (GSS) season so I spend more that I initially budgeted. I needed to add new items to my wardrobe anyway. My actual plan for breakfast/brunch was to try the coffee place my friend recommended at Chinatown Complex. However, it was closed on Monday. There were a lot of stalls around and it caught my attention when there was a group of people queueing. As I went on, it turned out to be the famous Uncle Chan Chicken Rice, rated 1-star Michelin restaurant. My friend has strongly discouraged me to try this. At that point of time, there were no other stalls that were enticing enough and I decided to betray my friend and gave it a go, since it was only 2 dollars. It was decent or it was just not my preference.
A decent brunch
Headed over to Hong Lim complex for lunch which was just next to Chinatown Point. I found myself keep on queueing on this day and I waited for 45 minutes for Outram (pronounced as ou-tram) Park Fried Kueh Teow. The serving was rather sweet compared to kueh teowI usually had. Could have saved a little space for Tai Wah Pork Noodle as I found myself stuffed.
Tai Wah Pork Noodle and Outram Park Fried Kueh Teow
Thankfully for dinner, we were at the eatery early enough as we were seated almost immediately when we arrived. I ordered the signature ramen at the shop. The ramen was good but the broth was too salty for my liking. It was compensated by a fine green tea right after at Hvala Tea House and ended the night at Merlion Park, enjoying the night view of Singapore city.
General serving of ramen with a-bit-too-salty broth
Tea session at Hvala. You can observe the workers preparing the tea for you
Mixed of Hojicha and Macha Latte
Enjoying the night view of Singapore City
I think this is the first time I visited Merlion at night
Finally I have the chance to try the coffee next day at 1950's. I kicked off with a simple brunch with toasts and eggs. The coffee was really good and can compete with Nam Heong White Coffee that in Ipoh. I tried the Ming Fa Fishball Noodles which was just next stall on the last day before leaving Singapore.
Brunch at 1950's: milked coffee, toast and soft boiled eggs. Simple meal, simple life.
Ming Fa Fishball Noodles
On the 3rd of July itself, I headed to the concert place early to check out the place after my brunch. When I arrived at Marina Bay Sands, the signages of Celine Dion Live 2018 in Singapore were up. I noticed there was "Meet and Greet" under Celine Dion Concert on the event list projected on the LCD screen. I checked with a lady at the concierge at the expo and she mentioned to me there was one at 3pm and meant for public. Subsequently, I headed back to my hostel and change as I decided to stay till the night after the session, or so I thought. As the time came, the ticketing booth was already up and I went over if there was a need to reprint my ticket and concurrently to ask about the meet and greet event. Surprisingly, the persons behind the counter told me there was none scheduled. Confused, I went ahead and double checked with the event concierge at another level (the first lady I approached was not around at the time) and the guy told me it may be only open for VVIP tickets holders. Started to get disappointed (as I was excited at first) as the information I received from the last three persons were conflicting one another. My last resort was to reconfirm with the information counter and it seconded "there was none scheduled". 5 hours ahead of the concert time, I spent the rest of my evening at The Shoppes.
The ticketing booth of Celine Dion concert
As my watch showed 6.30pm, I found my way to enter the concert hall. As I was super early, there was no line at all to go through the security check. Found my seat and patiently waited for the show to start. Though, before I go on, I would think the seats arrangement could be better, for the price I paid for that is. The chairs were arranged on the same level for the same zone which caused the the views from second row onwards were rather obstructed. My seat was at the forth row and thankfully the persons in front of me didn't grow any taller.
Early bird and patiently waited for the show to start
When I thought the show would start promptly at eight, there were still no action on stage. It was about fifteen minutes later the hall went dark and someone started singing. The audience were started to get excited and just to find out it was just an opening gimmick by Veronic DiCaire. It was entertaining regardless as she impersonated a number of singers which include Mariah Carey, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Adele, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Shakira and so on. The opening act lasted for about thirty minutes before another short break.
Once again, the lights were off and a familiar voice started to fill the hall, singing "The Power of Love". We could see a silhouette of a lady in the middle of stage before revealing herself with a spotlight on her when it came to the line "cause I'm Your Lady". There she was, standing with her gold outfit while people started cheering as Celine Dion, the real her, is now on the stage singing. I may not be able to get see up close but the thought to hear her live instead from any audio device was mesmerising. She went on and sang "That's The Way It Is", which I would consider my second favourite song from her during my childhood.
There she went to express her gratitude towards her fans and how she was amazed about coming to Singapore for very first time. She continued with "I'm Alive" and she ended with "We're Alive". "Because You Loved Me" was sung to end the first set.
The piano opening for the second set indicated the next song in the set list is "It's All Coming Back To Me Now". She went on duet with one of her backup singers to sing the theme song of "Beauty and The Beast" before the soundtrack of Deadpool, "Ashes". I wasn't that familiar with her earlier songs when she started to sing "Think Twice" and "Falling Into You". The songs that follow were "The Reason", "Pour que Tu N'Aimes Encore", "Recovering" and "All By Myself".
She started her third set with a beautiful black dress and sang acoustic version of medley of "Seventeen", "A New Day Has Come" and "Unison". As the other band members left the stage and the violin player stayed behind playing the familiar intro, it gave chills to my spine as I knew what's coming, "To Love You More". Songs of the final set include "Love Can Move Mountain" and covered song such as "Kiss" and "Purple Rain" which originally sang by Prince and "River Deep Mountain High" by Tina Turner.
She bade good night and the stage lights went off. A mother with her daughter to my left started to leave the hall. While the rest was chanting "We want more", I knew what's coming. It was all coming to this final, final song. There is no way she would leave the hall without her signature song. After a moment of silence, the instrumental soundtrack of Titanic started to play and one of the fans shouted "Celineeeee, we love you so much", coincidentally, intro of "My Heart Will Go On" played and I cannot contain my excitement which can be heard evidently in the video. She reappeared on the stage with a pink gown to end the marvellous night.
As I left the ballroom, I can't help to get myself her concert merchandise T-shirt as my memorabilia of this glorious night. Headed back to my hostel listening back to these recordings and it still seemed so surreal that I have actually attended Celine Dion's concert. Till these days, I have been watching these videos, including those uploaded by her fans around the region. I still cannot move on.
Last photo of the day signified the end of my date with this wonderful songstress
This trip may have come an end but memories with Celine Dion shall continue to live on in my mind for as long as I'm still breathing. If there is another opportunity to see her perform again, I won't mind grab it once more. Miss you, Celine!
After travelling for nearly 800 km, finally I came to the last pit stop of this Khmer adventure. Booked bus ticket through Mekong Express for 5 dollars, the pick up point was just few shops away from the hostel I was staying. Arriving at Siem Reap around lunch hour, I checked in at Oasis Capsules Hotel. 18 dollars for 4 nights, the hostel is strategically located near to the famous pub street for food and drinks. Convenience stores, street markets and shops were just within walking distance. The hostel is run by friendly Indian couple in which the husband used to be working in oil and gas industry. It's rare to come across someone who knows about my hometown when I'm travelling where people usually knows no more than Kuala Lumpur when talking about Malaysia.
I have been eating local food for my daily meals for the past days in Cambodia and I decided to go for fast food for my first lunch in the city as I spotted Burger King was just right opposite of my hostel.
First meal in Siem Reap
I paid 18 dollars for floating village of Kampong Plouk and Tonle Sap tour, which inclusive of transport and entrance fee for the afternoon. Along the way, tour guide who hailed from the village in which we were heading to explained the livelihood there. The village was about one hour away from the city. Due to the dry season, the village wasn't really floating as the stilts supporting the houses up high above the ground were very visible. The boatman took additional precaution to navigate our boat along the shallow muddy river.
I didn't know the word "kampong" also applies in Cambodia
The boats by the river. The tour mentioned to us that it will be more crowded during rainy season, when the water level is higher
The local municipal office and school in sight
This scenery reminds me lots of my own village by the river
The villagers who just came back from fishing. Noticed their catch on the boat
The villagers work on their boats (and the lady may notice my lens was aiming at them)
Our tour guide brought us to his house to have a lookout. The scenes at the place reminded me a lot of my own longhouse experience. We were told that there were around 800 families living at the village with population of 4000, where majority are Buddhists with small groups of Christians.
During rainy season, this road will turn into a river and the stalls will be converted to floating market. Most of these houses are rebuilt due to fire some years ago. The houses were marked with blue colour to signify their gratitude to their King on his contribution
In case anyone would like to experience floating village experience, you can contact the person on this banner (this is the house of my tour guide)
There was a class on going during my visit there
The original house of the floating village which survived the fire, which is mostly made up of bamboos
Can you guess the use of these barrels?
After strolling around the village, we got back to the boat and headed towards the middle of Tonle Sap for sunset. There was no floating village for my visit but at least there is floating restaurant. The fishes in this lake are diminishing due to extensive fishing activities over the years. There were few other boats slowly joining in.
Another cloudy day in Cambodia for sunset
By the time I got back to the hostel it was already dinner time. I went to the nearby night market and settled my dinner with another round of Tom Yum. The crowd in Siem Reap was so much bigger than the last four places I visited. Called it a day earlier as I signed up for sunrise tour for 13 dollars on the next day.
Dinner at the night market. This tom yum tasted... different
Woke up as early as 4 am, I refreshed myself and picked up by the tour bus around 5am. After fetching remaining tourists from other hostels, we were brought to the ticketing counter, which is a standalone building outside Angkor Archaeological Park. I decided to go for 3 days pass which cost me 62 dollars. The bus dropped us at the first site and this first stop didn't need further introduction. As we walked across the lake through the temporary floatables that linked the main road to the site as the main bridge is under maintenance, the outline of the grand structure slowly came to site and there it was, stood mightily right in front of eyes. The place was already crowded with tourists.
Angkor Wat
The wonder of the world is beyond this gate
Sunrise at Angkor Wat (emoji with two hearts on both eyes).
It was a challenge to minimize tourists to be in this shot
Couldn't help to take photos of the structure continuously as I was always in awe even after looking it for second, forth, eighth time, you do the math. As the sun finally got beyond the horizon and above the small tower on the side, we started to walk towards the temple and explore around.
Entering the wonder
The structure that survived through the test of time that still holds the whole place together since 12th Century
These are the stairs that once were used to get to the top which is now restricted. Alternatively, another stairs are built for the visitors in which one should queue to get up there as they limit the number of visitors at one time
The view of the tower from the side
View of main entrance from the top
The carvings on the wall
A shot with the wat without any tourist in it!
Admiring the wat for very last time before leaving for next stop
It took around 2 hours to cover Angkor Wat. The temple is not as big as I thought it would be, however I wasn't less disappointed. The thought that the people could build the grand stone structure back in the 12th century keeping me mesmerised. The next site for this small circuit is Ta Phrom which is famous for the setting of Jolie's Tomb Raider movie. The scale was much smaller but there were more ruins due to mother nature taking its course slowly engulfing the site.
Ta Phrom
Didn't realise there is another visitor in the photo
The beauty of imperfetion
There are lots of big trees growing through the walls at this site
The ruins at Ta Phrom
You need to queue for this shot
Bayon Temple
Our last stop is the Bayon Temple which was then built as Buddhist Temples before being converted to Hindus Temples. Known as Temples of Many Faces, the smiling stone faces remind me of the face from the reality show I watched when I was a kid, Legend of Hidden Temples.
Nose to nose with one of the faces
Last shot of the day
As it was around noon as the tour ended, the heat started to get to me and I rested when reaching the hostel. Only to wake up for dinner and chilling at the lounge of the hostel.
Another fast food for dinner
As I had the 3-day pass, I went for grand circuit tour for next day via "tuk tuk" to explore the temples that are located further from the major ones. Started with Banteay Srei and ended at Pre Rup for the sunset. The tour cost 25 dollars though the driver was no more than just driver to bring me from one temple to another.
Banteay Srei
Unlike other temples in the park, this site was built of red sandstone and rather smaller in scale. The carvings were so exquisite and intricate which were believed to be work of woman and hence the name translated to be "Citadel of the Women".
Entranee to the temple. Yes, this place was crowded albeit the distance as it was around 20km away from the small circuit
Carving of mystical creature, Kala
Peeking at this deity guarding the building
Preah Khan
I underestimated the size of this one as it seemed to be the upscale of Ta Phrom. Land area wise is also larger than that of Angkor Wat though the design was simplistic with the rectangular architecture.
The heads seem to be chopped off
A phoenix head?
Reminded me of Greek structure from this view
All these trees definitely make themselves comfortable around these places
One of the stupa
Neak Pean
A floating Buddhist temple on a lake
The walkway towards the temple
Though I wonder how did monk get to the centre of this temple
Ta Som
I would call this as mini Ta Phrom.
Saw these cats sleeping so soundly outside the temple
East Mebon
Elephants statue are located at each four corner at this temple
Banteay Samre
Does this remind you of anything?
Pre-Rup
Concluded my grand tour with Pre-Rup for sunset view. I would say I was officially temple fatigue at the end of the day. With the 3-day pass, I could return to the park for one last time though I decided to skip and spend more time in the city. Unless you have more days to spare in Siem Reap, I would suggest small circuit is adequate to cover the must sees in Angkor Archaeological Park with one-day pass.
Last glimpse of sunset from Pre Rup to end another day in Cambodia
This Cambodian soup was yummy to end my day
Spending my last day in Cambodia buying last minute souvenirs and to have last glimpse of Khmer urban civilisation before ending the 12-day adventure.
Kicked off with this hearty breakfast with pork noodle soup
A must visit for every country that I travelled to
Marinated pork ribs for lunch
The illuminated Pub Street at night. The street is short stretched with plentiful of eateries and pubs/clubs.
Angkor beer for my last night in Cambodia
Had steamboat all by myself. They include snake and crocodile meat in the menu in which I excluded from my order
Open air band performance at the end of Pub Street
I just need to take photo of this bar from the outside
After passing by the ice cream stalls for days, I decided to give in for the last night
I can now officially tick "Angkor Wat" off in my bucket list that became the ultimate driver of this whole trip. This visit has indirectly expanded my knowledge on Cambodian history especially on the Khmer Rouge. Regardless of the cruel regime, Khmer people remain friendly and generous with their smiles which made my trip memorable. Though I have to admit I am not really a big fan of their food, this is compensated by the wonders left by their ancestors in which I don't mind to revisit one day.
