
Correction: I don’t like durian. But this ‘durian’ is by far, the best place I have ever been in Singapore. It is much more exciting and interesting than orchard road!

One of my favourite weekend getaways is to visit the esplanade. There is always so much to see. Inspiring art exhibitions, enchanting performances, savoury cuisine and lots more. Whenever I receive its monthly newsletter, I know I will be ‘broke’ again. I always end up marking more events and performances on my diary than I expected.
The theatre stage

The Romeo and Juliet ballet…

The management is very smart. Now and then, they have FREE performances ranging from symphony orchestra to lunchtime band performances open to public. If I work near to esplanade, I will surely pack my lunchbox there.
After my church service this afternoon, I spontaneously traveled to esplanade alone for a free Chinese orchestra performance – Songs of Spring. It is my first time attending a free performance at esplanade so I was quite excited about it.
As I looked around the audience, I noticed many of them wore shorts and slippers. Suddenly it struck me if I was overdressed (I wore a black top with pashmina and a pair of working pants). And again, FREE performance doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve the same respect and courtesy like other pricey one right?
The magnificient concert hall..

It started exactly at 3pm, which I like. The musicians were all dressed up smartly and I can’t tell how excited I was! Just as it started for less than a minute, a young lady next to me kept sniffing for every 2 seconds. Through her sniffs, I could almost feel that her mucus was about to flow out from her nostrils if she stopped sniffing for 2 seconds. It was THAT intense!
Durian at night..

When a music piece was ended, I reached for my tissue and pass it to her. She looked at me in her most shocking look. I tried my best to give her my ‘warmest’ smile but I think I have scared the poor little girl.
The funniest thing was, they let the latecomers entered the hall between the pieces…which was fine but the latecomers took so long to settle down. Even after they started playing the pieces, I still saw people walking slowly looking for seats right IN FRONT OF THE STAGE! I wasn’t sure if I should laugh out loud or what.
After 15 minutes, I started to smell something fishy. I looked around to search for the foul smell. And guess what I have found. The young lady beside me took off her shoes and placed her foot on the seat. Her bare foot was facing right beside my face. Man…That was what I needed to endure for the rest of the performance. Luckily it was shorter than it should be (less than 1 hour). Otherwise I would have gone into coma.
As the title was the songs of spring, the last song they played was one of the old Chinese spring (new year) song. The audience started to giggle and I didn’t know what it was so hilarious about. It wasn’t like the gong xi fa cai songs that we heard over and over again during Chinese new year. It was a soothing and traditional piece!
Nonetheless, it was still a very enjoyable and great performance.
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