Feb 12, 1999-- Press Con and TCS pre-recording:
Date: Feb 12, 1999. Orchard Hotel and TCS building.
Imagine I actually squeezed out a day leave from work, just 'cos I wanna see Faye. I would never do such things in normal circumstances, as mentioned before, but Faye has completely took over my normal senses, hehe.
I went to the hotel lobby at around 12pm 'cos we know there's a press conference starting at 1.30pm. We saw another 3 groups of Faye fans there, they were the same ones present last night too.
We just sat down in the lobby sofa quietly watching many media crew walking up & down. We saw lotsa S'pore DJs & comperes, including Yanqing, (she's really short). Ah Foon came down by herself & (my heart actually missed a beat again) 'cos she just sat right in front of us. Me & my friend Yuhui didn't dare call her, we just continued our chat (we were all along conversing in English so she might've thought we're tourists). She flicked out her mobile & started asking where're the pple. She talked in Mandarin & so loud too, she said the press conference is at 1.30pm & she wanted to have some food first. Later her friend came, not anyone from the crew. They went into the cafeteria for buffet & were there for quite some time too.
Our stomachs were very hungry too & we decided to have a bite as well, since we dun wanna miss the opportunity to see Faye, we got no choice but to eat in the cafeteria as well & we were brought to the empty table just beside Ah Foon & her friend. Talked abt another stroke of luck!!! We've no intention of eavesdropping on their conversation but Ah Foon voice is really loud. Her friend talked abt wanting to play mahjong????!!!!! (Ah Foon is definitely not a HKer, right? Her friend speaks perfect Beijing-accented Mandarin & Ah Foon Mandarin is very good too).
Another stroke of luck for us, the hotel cafeteria is having a promotion, there's a 50% discount (!!!) as long as you signed with visa card, so we didn't spend a lot on our food. (We've gotta eat here for sometime, hehe).
Later we sat down & made friends with the other group of Faye fans. They're also 1st generation Faye fans & they're actually Yuhui's friends, Xiaojing & Christine. Another group of fans happen to be my friend & Penny's friends, another girl named Yuhui (will call her little Yuhui from now on, so as not to confuse the 2 Yuhui) & Yingying. There's another group of fans which we dun like the look of them, dun think they're actually Faye fans 'cos they were present last nite & when DW & Katie came into the hotel, they couldn't recognise either.
We asked little Yuhui if she managed to get back their stuff that they passed Katie last nite & she said they did but got it back very late, around 12.30pm. They brought more things today for Faye to sign, her friend got a special card made by her aunt & she wanna let Faye autograph the card. The card is really well made, very nice.



The press conference was ultra short, only less than 15 mins, I think. We were quite surprised anyway, but knowing Faye, right? Then we saw EMI public relations manager & her assistant, they'll be in charge of Faye for the next event.
We saw DW coming down alone, he asked the hotel reception for something & walked away later. The band crew didn't go out together at all, they went their separate ways & Dou Ying & Zhang Yadong never go out together too, hehe. BTW, DW looks very cool, he looks very toned up now & he's actually such a polite & shy guy, hehe.
Yuhui & me cannot resist anymore, so when he's abt to go off, we rushed up to him & asked him if we can take a picture with him. He didn't say anything, sorta twicked his mouth, shrugged his shoulder non-commitally & pointed his head outside. We noted the hint & followed him outside the hotel. Me & Yuhui both took an individual picture with him. We thanked him later.
It happened that Xiaojing & Christine are good friends of these 2 EMI PRs, so we got quite a bit of info fm them. EMI will be ushering Faye to TCS to pre-record the CNY eve show. After this, then Simon Foo Pdtn House will take over. In fact, there's some "miscommunication" here & Faye almost couldn't attend the show. Seems like either Katie or Ah Foon did not know abt this arrangement, abt Faye going TCS to pre-record a show. So either one strongly refused to let Faye go while the other one strongly wanted Faye to go. Heard there's some unpleasant moments & EMI is in a real fix 'cos TCS & the newspapers had already advertised that Faye'll be appearing. If Faye really didn't appear as "promised" thru' no fault of hers, she'll be blocked & frozen by TCS for publicity definitely. Anyway, Faye was really in a very good mood, to pacify everyone, she just quietly said "wo yao qu", (I want to go). They also told us that Faye actually wanna go Newton Circus hawker centre for supper last nite (very famous eating place for tourists) but was advised not to, that's why the security staff gotta go & buy her those chilli crabs & BBQ chicken wings, hehe.
While waiting for Faye, we chatted with our "new found" friends. Xiaojing & Christine also went to HK for Faye concerts. They watched the last night & caught the one & only encore Faye gave. They got very good seats too, among all the VIPs, so they saw Christopher Doyle, Lin Ching Hsia, Lisa Wang etc, of course the main purpose is to watch Faye concert. Just thought they're so lucky, they got to see Faye when Faye came down singing "Love Life". They also showed us their autographed items. EMI PRs helped both of them. They've 2 different sets of autographed "she jie" singles. We also looked at all the things that little Yuhui asked Faye to sign last nite, imagine this, Faye signed ALL the pics. It was then discovered that little Yuhui's friend didn't get back her card, signed or unsign. She was so unhappy that she wanted to cry & she asked the hotel floor manager to help her convey the msg to Faye crew, then she seek the production house pple for help & it created quite a big hoo-hah.
Scramble, scramble, scramble, lotsa security pple are forming a human wall already & the white maxicab is outside now (she'll be taking cab no. 3299 from now on, hehe). Suddenly, the lift door opened & here is FAYE!!! She already had her make-up done, wore sunglasses, totally dressed in a red blouse & 3/4 length long red skirt, very CNY feel. She had her maroon shawl wrapped around her shoulders too & was wearing this embroidered flip-flop, the same that she wore for her concert while singing "Love Life" & she took them off later when she sang Fu Zao & Men. My gosh, this is my closest encounter with Faye & her face just radiates, her skin is so clear & creamy!!! She smiled, was hurried along the way by the security guards, & Angela was very protective. Admist this, little Yuhui still managed to pass another bag of Faye stuff to Katie. She also managed to asked Faye "How're you", Faye was walking in front already (she really walks fast!!!), she actually turned around & answered "hai hao" (quite ok).

We all followed her to her transport, waved her goodbye & she responded, actually said "bye bye" too, then we went to the car window & waved her off, she also smiled & waved back. Hehe, now we can have some rest & started wondering if Faye will be going for rehearsal tonite? We would like to listen to her rehearse, not trying to follow her 24 hours, just wanna listen how she actually rehearse? We took our dinner at the same cafeteria again, 50% discount wor, cheaper than anywhere & can keep a lookout for Faye as well.
Later Christine & Xiaojing told us that the recording in TCS had ended long ago. Faye was in TCS for a very short time only, seems like the recording is too easy huh? (But anyway, I watched the pre-recorded show last nite & the agony I went thru' sitting thru' the whole stupid almost 3 hours long show, just for Faye to appear. I'll do this ONLY for Faye lah. I thought she actually lip-synch, right? It sounds too much fm the CD, but anyway it sorta soothes my mind "seeing" Faye again, I was actually feeling very down, after climax mah).
We were so excited now, then where is Faye going??? She left TCS so early & now its abt 6 plus already, could it be she went for her rehearsal? Or she went shopping??? We decided to split into 2 groups & we went to the indoor stadium but were told that Faye will not be doing any rehearsals tonite. So we went back to the hotel. Later when a maxicab turned up, we thought its Faye & almost rushed out, but Ah Foon came out. We were kinda disappointed & trooped back to our seats, (actually we were quite scared of Ah Foon 'cos she looks very stern mah). She came forward to us & we thought "oh no, she's gonna scold us now" & we prepared ourselves for the worse. She came forward, forward & our hearts banged loudly, she opened her mouth & asked us (in perfect Mandarin), "you all waiting for Wang Fei?", we thought we're gonna get a scolding anyway, so we nodded our heads dumbly & she added, "go eat dinner, Wang Fei coming back only at 7pm." & she went up the lift. Oh my, another stroke of luck, she actually didn't scold us.
True to her word, Faye really came back at 7pm. Same procedure again, Faye was being surrounded by the fans. She was without her sunglasses now (her eyes are so big & nice, so sparkling!!!) She walked quickly, did a customary smile here & there & moved to the lift. (She always used this particular lift, the very 1st lift on your right). The security didn't do a good job here, there're other guests who needed to come out fm the lift 1st & hence Faye gotta wait for the pple to clear before she can go in. She moved right to the very back of the lift once the guests cleared fm the lift.






She came down again very soon. This time she didn't take very long to change. She was in a grey or yellow top & grey 3/4 pants again. We dunno where she's going but we just sent her off again. (Later, learnt that she went for rehearsal). We were too tired anyway. I went to the 7-11 shop to buy the evening newspapers & we read Faye press conference reports there & then. We didn't know how long we were reading the newspapers anyway, but Faye came back, passed by us & we noticed her too late. She just waved to all of us & went up. The funny & puzzled thing is there wasn't many securities around her, the security is so lax!!!



Anyway, its late already & we decided to go home. However, one of Faye crew (a HK guy, the same guy who always passed back our autographed stuff to us) came down. He asked the other group if they're the one who lost something & they said no, so he came to us. We told him that little Yuhui friend lost a card, he actually specially came down to explain that they've passed all stuff back to all fans already & they've checked their rooms again but didn't find any card around. We told him not to worry & not to let this small matter bother Faye 'cos its not Faye fault mah
Then guess what, Faye personal assistant Angela came down. She came specifically over to us & asked if we're the group that lost something. She explained again that they've checked & really there's no sign of the card, they've really passed back everything. We told Angela never mind, its a small problem. We reassured her its really a small matter, pls dun tell Faye, dun make her feel bad. We then told Angela we wanna pass some gifts to Faye, she said she'll come back later as she needs to buy something now.
I think she bought a can of drink for Faye (dunno what, but the rest said its a can of milo?). She walked to us again, took the gifts we wanna give Faye (I got the hotel staff to make a balloon flower for Faye). She said they'll check again & will be down here in the afternoon the next day to let us know the outcome. Anyway, we really reassured Angela again that this is a small matter, at all costs, pls dun let Faye know 'cos she'll definitely feel very bad over the incident & its no fault of hers. This time, we conversed to her in Mandarin 'cos all of our Cantonese are real bad, cannot speak a proper Cantonese sentence. Angela's Mandarin is really quite good, got Beijing accent wor!!! Faye must be doing a really good job here, hehe. We told Angela she speaks very good Mandarin & she looks so shy, imagine that from Angela.!!! She used to be so fierce & non-smiling, she actually smiled at us. (However, she's really a very good PA to Faye, she's employed by Katie KS Pdtn House, heard she's actually a Faye fan herself too). While Angela was preparing to go up, the other group of fans rushed forward to her & passed her a few plastic bags of Faye stuff!!! Imagine their nerve, a few plastic bags!!!
We decided to find out if they're really Faye fans. We walked over to them & chatted with them. True to our predictions, they're not Faye fans at all, they're the so-called "international fans". They would wait for any artistes that's in town, just to get the autographs & later sell the autographed stuff for a profit. How disgusting, we're so mad when we learnt abt this. They didn't go for both nights of the concerts too, didn't actually know many Faye songs, (as mentioned previously, they can't even recognise DW & Katie, these are Faye closest pple & they can't even recognise them). Worse of all, they themselves ADMITTED that they'll wait for anyone who's kinda popular. We were really ANGRY & INDIGNANT!!! They passed so many plastic bags of stuff to Angela & wads & wads of rolled up posters! We left for home soon.
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Thursday, Feb 11, 1999-- Faye's arrival in Singapore
Saturday, Feb 13, 1999-- Faye's first night concert
Sunday, Feb 14, 1999-- Faye's Valentine's Day concert
Monday, Feb 15, 1999-- Faye leaving Singapore