Before Kit Chan travelled to Turkey to film her first travelogue show Rail Life Story, her mother had been in poor health.
“She was very sick and we knew that she was going to go at some point. I was hoping that nothing would happen when I was there (in Turkey),” the 53-year-old Singaporean singer told AsiaOne during an interview recently while promoting the show at the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF).
While bearing this worry on her journey, Kit also managed to find some relief through Atacan, a young minstrel who used his late mother’s name as his stage name.
During the episode shown on Dec 11, Atacan remembered his mother fondly and dedicated all his works to her. He also spoke about how he had wanted to celebrate a boy’s birthday with the latter’s mother on the train ride they were on, to share her joy in presenting his song as a birthday gift to the boy.
Atacan’s dedication and love for his mother touched Kit deeply, and they were both in tears during their conversation.
Kit also revealed separately in the episode that her mother was in poor health and she was “mentally prepared” for the day her parents would leave her.
She added that she and her mum had a close relationship, and the latter understood her better than anyone and was the only person who knew how to handle her.
“Everything good about me, I owe it to her teachings,” she said.
Rail Life Story is an eight-part infotainment series that is co-commissioned by Mediacorp and Taiwanese broadcaster Public Television Service.
It features various celebrities as they travel across different railways, including Bangladesh, Turkey and Australia, to explore the stories of the people and places they visit.
ATF, held from Dec 3 to 5, is a part of Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Singapore Media Festival.
Kit’s mother died in May, about three months after she filmed the show. In September, she opened up about her mother’s struggle with dementia for eight years.
Kit shared with us: “I felt like this episode is a tribute to my mum… I am so glad for this programme, because it’s almost like a memory of that time about my mum, which my dad and my sisters can watch.”
She added: “I also realised that no matter how far-flung these places are or how we think we’re different, I think everyone is the same deep down, and our humanity and the human condition actually make us all the same.
“It doesn’t matter that we can’t speak each other’s language, but we can find a way to connect… Just like the minstrel, I think the connection was his love for his mother and we don’t need too many words, we just kind of get it.”
In addition, Kit also remembered fondly the deep bonds she had made with the production team — despite only filming in Turkey for eight days — because of the hardships they had gone through together during the journey.
While she is a perfectionist when it comes to work, she had to learn to let go and become spontaneous during this trip, because “trouble” started the moment they arrived.
She shared that the production crew consisted of Singaporeans, Taiwanese and Indian, and they were supposed to meet at the airport, but some of them were late and had lost their cameras.
“I pretty much hit the ground running immediately… And when we got in trouble at every turn, I just learned to let go because what can I do?” Kit said.
Kit and the team took a 32-hour train ride onboard Turkey’s Eastern Express from Ankara to Kars, where they almost had to starve.
She recalled: “Although they have a restaurant car, they were obviously unable to handle the capacity. So we had nothing to eat and drink that day and we were just dying for coffee. I had some 2-in-1 coffee sachets, and we shared them so preciously.
“We also bought some bread, just plain bread and we were all just eating that and nobody complained, we just wanted to get the work done.”
Luckily, they found a restaurant the next day. “Everyone was like these ‘hungry ghosts’ let out, and nobody talked and just ate silently because we were so hungry.”
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Kit also recounted how they were almost scammed while trying to film Jereed, a popular traditional equestrian sport, because the team they had liaised with previously asked for more money.
The production crew refused and later managed to find another Jereed team to film through connections.
Kit and the crew also got stuck in a snowstorm and had to waddle through ankle-deep snow when they arrived at their destination.
“Every day there was something, but we got through it, and I think that’s how you can quickly form bonds. By the end of the week, we were so close,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Kit saw this trip to Turkey as an affirmation.
She explained: “I’ve travelled extensively and I asked myself, why do I enjoy travelling so much? Besides seeing new places and trying new food, at the end of the day, it’s about people and I always find so much satisfaction and fulfilment in being able to connect with people, even when we can’t speak the same language.
“I think it’s an affirmation that I can go anywhere and I can connect with anyone as long as I open my heart and I think that’s a very powerful feeling.”
Rail Life Story airs every Thursday on Channel 8 at 8pm and is also available on Mewatch. Other hosts include Mark Lee, Danny Yeo and Darren Lim as well as Taiwanese artistes Bowie Tsang, Pets Tseng, Lulu Huang and Kaiser Chuang.
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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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