Elton John and band in Singapore

The crowd had a great time last evening.  Elton John performed for close to 2 and a half hours, singing his greatest hits.  He was in fine form and the band was great.

Kevin Spacey was in the audience.

The opening act was 2 Cellos, who played pieces by rock artistes.  They were also part of the Elton John band. 

Affordable Art Fair

I was invited to the preview and I was initially more keen on seeing the F1 Pit Building.  I have to say that the art works on sale were interesting, though you may have seen them somewhere before.  The venue was spacious enough to ensure visitors' comfort.

Dust: A recollection by Vertical Submarine

Art collective Vertical Submarine put up its first theatre piece Dust: A recollection at 72-13, home of Theatre Works.  A play about memory and sense of lost.  It was a good effort by the group. The set reminded me of Riga Theatre's The Long Life.  The lines were recited by a narrator standing in front of the set and with the audience.

The scenes were repeated three times with add-on for the second time, and minus the narrator and actors in the last.  I was trying to comprehend the group's intention for the 3rd staging - the segment was also a bit long.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the performance and hope to see the collective's next theatre piece.

Kellie's Castle, and of course Ipoh food

From Gua Tempurung, we drove a short distance to Kellie's Castle, which was commissioned by an Englishman William Kellie Smith in 1915.  The castle was not completed as Smith passed away in 1926.   The caste was located 40 km south of Ipoh and there did not seem to have public transport connection.

Entry fee is RM5 for foreigner.



The castle is not a big building and thus an hour would be more than sufficient to go round the ground.  The facade was the most impressive as construction was completed:




The other parts of the castle were not completed...

Gua Tempurung, Perak, Malaysia

About an hour and a half's drive from Kuala Lumpur towards Ipoh is Gua Tempurung (Coconut Shell Cave 椰壳洞), which is a series of caves with stalagmites and stalactites.  From information provided, the cave is 1.9 km in length and 120 m in height.  This cave in Perak is the largest limestone cave in Peninsular Malaysia.

There were several visitors on private vehicles and tour buses on the Sunday that we visited. It seemed that it was not accessible by public transportation.



Due to time constraints and the fitness level of the group, we chose the Golden Flowstone ticket which was  a 40 minute tour to platform 3 (Golden Flowstone).  Ticket charge was RM 6.  Adventurous visitors could choose the catwalk and river adventures route (wet tour) which could last up tol 3.5 hours.

Sands of Time Heritage Exhibition

I was at Paris Ris Library the other day and there was an exhibition on Paris Ris Loyang done by Greenview Secondary School.  A good effort and informative exhibition.

Not sure if it is still on. 

k.d. lang and Siss Boom Bang in Singapore:concert review

k.d. lang celebrated her 50th birthday at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore on 2 Nov 2011.  I missed her visit few years back and so it was good to catch her perform with her new band Siss Boom Bang this time round.

The show started at 8:10 pm.  I have to admit that I do not follow her latter albums so most songs were unfamiliar to me.  But nonetheless, k.d. lang and her band quickly captivated us with their performance, and she was witty on stage.  Her rendition of Hallejulah brought the first biggest cheer of the evening.  I also liked Sing It Loud and Heaven (by Talking Heads)

It was a short performance, where she ended it with Constant Craving, which I did not really like the arrangement. Her band members later brought out a birthday cake for her.  She did 3 more songs before leaving the stage.

It was an enjoyable evening.  Credit should also be given to Siss Boom Bang.

Orlando Consort

The Orlando Consort and indian musicians would be staging Mantra - Musical Conversations across the Indian Ocean on Friday and Sat (4 - 5 Nov) at the National Museum of Singapore.  Tickets available at http://www.sistic.com.sg/