PUBLISHED ONSeptember 24, 2023 12:53 AMByYeo Shu HuiHome can sometimes be a person instead of a place.
And when you are working overseas, the foreign environment and living situation may just make you long for some familiarity.
In local actor Desmond Tan's case, his wife's visits to Malaysia and Thailand earlier this year while he was there filming the newly released Mediacorp drama All That Glitters provided him with much comfort.
Speaking to AsiaOne at the press conference for the drama recently, the 37-year-old said that his wife, a non-celebrity whose identity he hasn't revealed, visited him about five days each in both countries.
He shared: "It's hard on her in Malaysia because when she was around, I was working most of the time so when I was out for a shoot, she would be in the hotel doing her stuff."
When asked if his wife went sightseeing on her own while he was out, he said she didn't because they were unfamiliar with the area.
"It's not that the place was unsafe… I told her it is better to stay in the hotel and when I was around then we could go out together," he added.
They also had an unlikely roommate in their hotel room in Malaysia.
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Desmond, who arrived earlier to shoot the drama, heard a scratching sound one day while he was preparing for his work in the room.
"I thought maybe it was the aircon, fan or something. It ended up being a rat living at the back of a cabinet,' he said.
When his wife came to visit later and he was out for shoots, she met the rodent.
Desmond said: "She was so cute, she said that she saw the rat face-to-face, eye-to-eye."
They requested for a room change after that as she was afraid of it.
Although he was filming on most days in Malaysia, Desmond said that he would spend time out with her after work.
"We went around, just the two of us, to look at the shophouses in Malaysia and shopped around a little before we got our dinner… In Malaysia, we pretty much did grocery shopping and dinner,' he shared.
In Hat Yai, Thailand, where Desmond had more rest days in between shoots, he would go cafe-hopping.
He shared: "The cafe-hopping scene in Hat Yai is quite commendable. They have cafes with healthy food, such as sliced chicken breast mixed with asparagus and all that. It is still doable for those of us who are on diet, to maintain our diet for topless scenes. Coffee was good as well, so it was quite a treat for me."
He added that he and his wife also watched the movie John Wick: Chapter 4 in the cinema there.
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Desmond also revealed that this was the first time his wife visited him at work and it was good to have her as part of his work environment.
He said: "It's nice to have her be included in part of the team because she also went out with the directors' and producers' spouses who went along. It was nice to introduce her to my colleagues."
In All That Glitters, Desmond plays Liu Musen, a young man who was orphaned at an early age and became best friends with He Jianzhi (Ayden Sng) and Huang Jintiao (Jeremy Chan). The story centres around how their friendship crumbles over the span of two decades as they turned from best friends to worst enemies in their pursuit of success and riches.
All That Glitters, which also stars Chantalle Ng, Hong Ling, He Ying Ying, Chen Yixin, Zhang Zetong and Tyler Ten, airs on Channel 8 at 9pm on weekdays. It is also available now on demand for free on meWATCH.
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