Hi guys! This post has been in my blog list for quite sometime now but didn't have time and the enthusiasm to finish blogging it. So, finally, with the exams over, HERE IT IS! Note that this post was written starting 1st of May and I finished it today! LOL More posts coming your way!
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You know when you start to think about the highlights of the year every December, there's always this feeling towards a certain event or day of the year that lifts your saggy freckled cheeks up and out comes a grin, wide and long. And then when you get the excitement to describe that particular day on paper or blogpost, you come to a pause, trying to churn out the perfect words that best describes the feeling.
Being the self-proclaimed psychic that I am, my instincts and gut tells me that last Saturday will be one of those days where I will have a really hard time describing as it will seem like every adjective that will come to mind will be just an understatement. Because, it WAS and IS one of those days words seem to fail to perfectly describe its awesomeness and no measuring medium has enough units to measure the level of fun I had. Seriously.
You get the point.
Initially planned to go for the Titanic Exhibition with Nay a couple months back but it didn't quite work out as work bombarded our free time and she is saving every penny she can for her tentative all-American trip next year which I'm totally supportive of! As for Wicked, wanted to catch it with Jess during the March holidays but things just didn't work out as she didn't have a sem break then.
So, last Saturday, the plan was that I take a bus to Singapore alone and go for Titanic and then meet up with Gup for the 1.30pm show of Wicked! I swear the night before I was pretty intimidated by the fact that I was going to Singapore alone as it was my first time going overseas alone! To get myself into the travelling-alone-is-and adventure mode, I spiked myself with full-blown traveling-alone articles until I felt like I was some confident, adventure-lovin' world traveler! Haha yeah yeah, laugh away.
Had a quite big breakfast with my momsy before she dropped me off at the bus station where I paid RM4 for the bus ticket to Jurong East, Singapore. The customs were not as crazy as I expected it to be. People were running to the counters to get their passports stamped quickly like they were late for something. Probably they're just 'kiasu' Singaporeans. hahaha (no offence, Singaporeans, you do have a reputation for being that, you know?)
I hopped down the bus at Jurong East Interchange and bought my MRT ticket to Marina Bay Sands (MBS). One lesson I learnt, chillax and make sure you buy the shortest route to your destination or be ready to have the longest MRT ride of your life. I was kinda rushing through getting my ticket and so, I didn't really cared which route the computerised ticketer gave me (which was the longest) and just paid. Clever me. I had to settle for an hour's ride from the Jurong East Station to the MBS station through the North-South Line. Well, I got myself amused by taking random pictures of people's feet. So, it wasn't THAT bad.
Reached the MBS station at around 11.00am and had to walk quite a distance to MBS itself. If I were to stop at the Bayfront station, it would have led me straight into The Shoppes but nevertheless, I was glad 'cause I got to see the view of the bay on my way.
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| A World United by Huang Lifan |
This sculpture actually is an illustration of the united spirit of peace and sport through a stylised and dynamic depiction of sportsmen engaging in the 26 sports of the inaugural Youth Olympics Games which was hosted by Singapore last year. Pretty cool huh?
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| Spot the miniscule Merlion and the Esplanade :) |
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| Inside the Shoppes |
The Titanic Artifact Exhibition was held in the ArtScience Museum which was right next to the Shoppes. So, it was extremely easy to find. I was mesmerized by the architecture and the built of the lotus-like museum. Not sure what inspired the architecture but it absolutely left a good impression of Singapore in my books, that's for sure! Check the 'lotus pond' under the museum. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Lotus flower has got to be the inspiration behind the architecture.
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| Depiction of paper titanic boats were floating on the water surface. |
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| One of my favourite shots of the day. |
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| See that futuristic bridge at the back? It's the Helix bridge which connects Marina Centre and Marina South. |
After getting my ticket, worth S$24 for non-Singaporeans, I went through the black hole in the picture above with my 'Titanic Boarding Pass' in hand! I felt like as if I was really a passenger boarding the Titanic! haha As I walked into the entrance, there was this huge 3D replica of the front deck of Titanic, when Jack and Rose did the infamous love pose in the movie and as expected, there were two photographers there to get our picture taken in hopes that we buy them in the end of the tour. So, it was awkward when the guy told me to pose like how Rose did in the film. I was like: "This is pathetic, I don't have a Jack! " Of course, I did it anyway 'cause I'm quirky like that. LOL
I was walking around the whole exhibition with a notebook in hand, so I won't forget every detail. I thought it was kind of cool looking all like an indie hippie journalist - with my new tortoise-shell frames! (yay!)
There were a lot of artifacts displayed and there was of course, really nice British Ludor decor to go with it. There was a replica of a 1st-class cabin bedroom which included a queen-sized bed with red velvet sheets, lace-embroidered pillow cases, a day bed, a study table with a pair of binoculars and a table lamp on top of it. It was written on the info board that a room like that then costed a total of $2500 which is equivalent to a whopping $5700 now. As a comparison, there was also a 3rd-class cabin bedroom replica and there was a lot of difference. Instead of a queen-sized bed with luxe pillows, there were two bunk beds and a fold-out tray-table-thingy to cater for either four people or a family. That was all. And imagine sleeping on the top bunk with the ceiling extremely low and almost touching the tip of your nose! And that costed $40 then which is equivalent to $900 now.
Another replica of the real decor of the real Titanic was the Promenade Deck which was as if I just walked out from the cabins and onto the deck, with just railings between me and the sea! Black cloth draped over the wall of the hall, depicting the night sky of the Atlantic and with little lights as sparkly stars. And when you arch down to look at the 'sea', the light effects literally 'made waves'. Got a little shiver, like as if I was really on the ship, minutes away from sinking.
Among the many artifacts found, some of the displayed ones were a decorative marble ledge, a hot water tap, a copper bathtub stopper which was rusted (duh!), a leather pouch with two rings, a frame section of a verandah which was overlooking the smoking-area, a chamber pot (used for seasickness), teaspoons, US Legal Tender Notes which were as big as envelopes, a steward's jacket with the word 'BROOME' imprinted on the collar with a permanent marker pen, and a whole lot more which I didn't have enough space to jot down. haha!
The whole exhibitions tells the story of the whole journey from Britain, making the ship, the passengers, the captains, the crew, the iceberg warnings from other ships, the big iceberg hit, the condition of the ship after the hit, the passengers' rescue process, the number of passengers died according the class, the aftermath and etc. There was this huge fake iceberg where we could put our hands on it and feel the temperature of the iceberg. The ice temperature at 28F' where salt water freezes.
At the end of the exhibition, I left the hall with a lot of what if questions. There were so many possible things that could have happened that would have brought to a different ending. Capt. J. Smith was 68 of age and was about to retire until a fellow friend asked him to make Titanic his last voyage. He didn't survive. What if he declined the offer and retired? Before the incident, there were three ice warnings, particularly at 1.45pm by Amerika, 9.30pm by X and the last warning at 10.55pm by Californian. All three which were ignored. Titanic started sinking at 2.20am. what if they got the warnings and decided to turn around? What if they used another route? What if they used a detour?
Nevertheless, Titanic did happened and the sinking, though was never anticipated, did happened. All we can do now is just to look back at the greatness of the Titanic and its unfortunate incident. Maybe after that, cabin crews would start acknowledging any signals of a warning. haha! They better!
After the very fruitful and informative exhibition, I met up with Gup, Gup's sister and my new friend, Leni! in front of the theaters of MBS for WICKED! We were all extremely excited and have been talking and having epic fangirl moments about it months before! Can't believe I finally have friends who enjoys and appreciates theater and stage shows as much as I do. So, i was really happy and jumping around like a fish out of water!
We went for the matinee show as I don't think our mums would allow us to be out in another country so late at night. LOL Oh well, anything for catching the show! The set was amazing, just like the one in Glee where Kurt and Rachel sang 'For Good'. I was in awe and couldn't believe that I was finally there!
The show started with a bang and I literally choked when dancers started coming out for 'No One Mourns The Wicked'. We weren't allowed to video-tape or take pictures. So, as a law-abiding citizen, well, lemme rephrase that, as a goody-goody-scared-of-anything-that-may-result-me-getting-into-jail-citizen, I didn't take any pictures. So, here are some pictures from the the net.
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| 'One Short Day' set. |
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| 'What Is This Feeling' set |
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| 'Popular' set |
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| 'Defying Gravity' |
The show was split into two acts with a intermission of 15 minutes in between. They ended Act One with Elphaba singing 'Defying Gravity' and instantly I was teary-eyed. As all you Wicked fans would know, this was when Elphaba 'flies' up on her broom and defies gravity at the last chorus. I was literally crying like that little girl on American Idol when Sanjaya Malakar was performing. My tears smeared my eyeliner and it went into my eyes which led to more crying with that burning sensation! To add oil to the fire, I didn't want to close my eyes 'cause I didn't want to miss anything, so I cried with my eyes burning as there were curry powder in my eye sockets. It was madness. Funny thing was I was still tearing up during intermission.
I was THAT overwhelmed, folks.
I really thought I was going to continue my brawling when they ended Act Two with the last song - 'For Good' 'cause that is by far, my favourite song of the whole musical! Thankfully, I didn't. Phew! But it was equally great as Defying Gravity, trust me.
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| The cast, ensemble and orchestra were awesome! |
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| Will remember this forever. |
The Australian cast were fantastic! Although we didn't get to see Jemma Rix preform as Elphaba, but Zoe Jarrett was great! When she screamed "FIYEROOOO!!" right at the starting of 'No Good Deed', it gave me shivers. Suzie Mathers as Glinda was perfect. David Harris who played Fiyero was looking incredibly handsome with his strawberry blonde floppy hair and his tight cream pants. Mmmm. Kirat was going crazy at his firm arse. Hahahaha I particularly like Elisa Colla as Nessarose. Her innocent clear voice was unforgettable. And who could forget the amazing ensemble! Gosh, the whole show was amazing!
It was good to finally see another musical after really long. The last one I saw was probably 10 years ago. It was Annie in Genting Highlands. I still didn't know how we got front row tickets but it was a great experience. That probably sparked my love for musical theater, perhaps! and of course a whole lot of movies/musicals like The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and Chicago. Oh and Glee. Duh.
Anyway, that weekend was awesome (understatement!) and I was really glad I got to spend it with like-minded peeps! :D
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