SINGAPORE – Paris-based local actress-host Sharon Au, who was back in Singapore for a visit, took the MRT for the first time in 27 years.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the 47-year-old shared a video of her with Ethan Chen, the four-year-old son of Singaporean film-maker Anthony Chen, riding the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL).

“The last time I took (an) MRT in Singapore was (in) 1995. After 27 years, Ethan insisted that I revisit this efficient public transport system, showing me the beauty of our new TEL line,” she wrote in the caption, revealing that they disembarked at Thomson Plaza for Swensen’s ice cream.

She added that it was “a mall filled with aches of memories for me in the 1990s” and called her young companion “a time traveller who is here to bring me back to my roots. So that I will never forget who I am”.

“One day, we will ride the Polar Express, Ethan,” she wrote, referring to the train which features in a children’s book that was subsequently made into a movie, The Polar Express (2004).

“We have many lifetimes to meet. We will go back and forth through the sliding doors of Time.”

She tagged Anthony Chen and his wife Rachel Yan, who are now based in Hong Kong, in her post, as well as SMRT, and added: “Ethan’s ambition is to be a train station master or cleaner.”

On Dec 19, Au, who has lived in Paris since 2018, posted photos of herself eating chwee kueh from Tiong Bahru Market and said it had been more than 10 years since she visited that hawker centre.

“Now, I don’t know where all my fav (favourite) stalls are,” she added.

During her trip home, she attended the star-studded wedding of local actress Rebecca Lim and husband Matthew Webster in November, visited singer JJ Lin’s cafe Miracle Coffee at Marina Bay Sands and met her two godsons.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.