A Night to Remember

This week I didn’t finish watching any new dramas, so I cannot give you any drama reviews, like what I’ve been doing lately.  Instead I’m going to tell you a bit of the local news in Kuala Lumpur which are Korea related.
Last week two very hot stars from Korea were in Kuala Lumpur in the form of Kim Hyun Joong and Song Il Kook. KHJ was on a promotional tour of Asia for the Faceshop brand of Korean cosmetics. 
  
Two fans gathering events were held over the weekend in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with KHJ’s tour of Asia. One was held on Dec 4^th at the Bukit Bintang Entrance, Pavilion, whilst the other was at the Sunway Pyramid on Dec 5^th.


 
This was the one held at the Pavilion on Dec 4^th at 5pm. Crowds of people had gathered at the venue long before it was supposed to start, as early as 2.30pm. As you all know KHJ has signed up with Bae Yong Joon’s company, KeyEast so it’s only natural that the Bae Yong Joon Fanclub or Family of Malaysia turn out to support BYJ’s protege KHJ. That’s a picture of them above.
   
Purchases of RM50 and above of Face Shop cosmetics entitled the purchaser to get a postcard out of which 200 were selected as the lucky winners of Kim Hyun-joong’s autographed posters.

And for purchases of RM300 and above at The Face Shop, the purchaser received a Special Note Book & Post Card. The Face Shop then shortlisted 10 shoppers to receive Kim Hyun-joong’s autograph on the note book on Dec 4 during the Fans Gathering Event. A further 6 lucky shoppers were shortlisted for an Up Close Session with Kim Hyun-joong. Three (3) shoppers met him at TFS Pavilion, and the other three (3) at the Sunway Pyramid on Dec 5. All 6 lucky shoppers received hampers and took a picture with him.

Song Il Kook on the other hand, was here at the invitation of the Malaysia-Korea TV Content Forum & Showcase, organized by KCC (Korea Communications Commission), KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency), and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), where he played a role in introducing the Malaysian audience to new Korean TV contents, and he even had an autograph signing session to meet with his Malaysian fans.
And now for SIK’s autograph session and fan meeting. As this was not a fan meeting in the true sense, there was a limit to the number of participants. Those who wished to attend this event had to pre-register and only the first hundred fans would get his autographed picture. Not many people knew about this as there was not much publicity about it. So those people who attended this autograph session were very lucky as SIG could give them more attention as they were only a small crowd.

SIK made his appearance at 3.05pm at the Nikko Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 2^nd 2010 where he held a press conference for about half an hour with about 50 media delegates before he met his fans. There were tables for the media to the front, with seats for the fans to the back. Although there was a limit of 100 fans to this event, there were fans that came as far as Iran, Hong Kong and Singapore just to see him.
Korean  nationals  studying in schools here in Kuala Lumpur, were also among his supporters at this event.

OMG he looks better in person than in his pictures. He’s so handsome and tall with such a slim body and such magnetic eyes. Not only is he blessed with good looks, he is a very nice person, very polite and very generous with his smiles. I’m glad that he’s one of my favorite Korean actors because he’s exactly how I pictured  he would be like. He’s a very down to earth person with no airs at all something we seldom see in the more famous actors of today. Not only did he sign the autographs but he so graciously posed with his fans for photographs. Some of the fans even asked to be hugged by him which he did.

There was even this girl who requested him to sing a birthday song to her as it was her birthday the previous day and that her greatest wish was to hear him sing it to her which he obliged. He jumped off from the stage immediately, to go to her side and he sang “Happy birthday” to her in Korean and gave her a big hug after that.. She was moved to tears as her dream had come true. Now how many celebrities would do that?

Then I heard about how concerned he was about his fans who had gone to the airport to send him off. Seeing that his fans were mostly teenagers and students, he asked his translator to ask them how they were going to go back home as it was quite a distance from Kuala Lumpur and also it was already quite late and did they have transportation. It’s very touching isn’t it to know that he’s so caring.

What I find different from other fan meetings is that his manager stood by without even stopping his fans from making all sorts of requests of him, like posing for individual photographs with him and asking to be hugged by him. You can really get up close and personal to him. I don’t even see any scruffy bodyguards around. That’s why I say, the fans that came for this event are very lucky in that they are not restricted in any way. I hope that Song Il Gook will come to Malaysia again. Good luck to you in your acting career and may you win many more awards.

And now to end my story for today, I’m going to tell you about a night I’ll always remember – the Inspiring Korea Night 2010 organized by KTO Kuala Lumpur for its Saranghaeyo Korea Club members.
But before that I’m going to tell you something about KTO Kuala Lumpur. The KTO Kuala Lumpur office was established in December 2004 It is the regional office for Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. The main role of KTO is to promote Korean tourism and provide general travel information to the general public.
Korea Plaza was established by the Korea Tourism Organization and is a tourism and cultural centre, found all over the world. Korea Plaza Kuala Lumpur, situated in the heart of the city, plays an important role as a one-stop Korea cultural experience and tourists information centre. It provides the general public with the up-to-date and accurate information on Korean Tourism. Visitors can get helpful information on travel, accommodations, tourist attractions etc, in the form of leaflets, brochures, books and audio-visual presentations. Korea Plaza also provides opportunities and facilities for the public to experience the Korean culture, such as Hanbok trying/photo sessions; Korean food, art and musical instruments exhibition; Korean dramas and movies screening session and many more. Besides that, Korea Plaza also offers free Hangeul (Korean Language) classes, Korean cooking classes, K-pop singing classes, Korea traditional dance classes etc.
Because of the “Korean Wave” that hit the Malaysia shores in the form of Korean Dramas, K-pop music and B=Boys Dancing, Malaysians began to develop a passion for all things Korean. KTO felt the need to keep alive this love and enthusiasm by forming the Saranghaeyo Korea Club or Love Korea Club to cater for this group of people. The SKC is actually a supporters club where its members act as volunteer ambassadors to help promote Korea in Malaysia.
 So on May 22^nd this year, the Saranghaeyo Korea Club held its inauguration ceremony with about 200 members. Some of the things the members were briefed on were the roles and benefits of being a member of the club like the membership card that allows them privileges and discounts at selected Korean outlets. Every time we participated in the events drawn up by KTO, we would be given points.
I consider myself very lucky to be invited to this celebration and award dinner as not all of the SKC members (now more than 1,300) were invited. Only about 350 guests were invited which included travel agents, media partners and a fraction of the Saranghaeyo Korea Club (SKC) members .

So there we were at the Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur, the venue for the night’s event right on the dot at 6.30pm on Dec 2nd 2010 to register ourselves. We were served tteok/Korean rice cakes and light refreshments  in the waiting area before dinner was served.
The evening’s function started off with a welcoming speech by KTO’s Executive Director for Overseas Marketing Mr. Rhee Jae Sung. Some of the distinguished guests included Mr Choi Dong Gyu, the Minister & Consul General from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lee Kwang Sun, the Chairman of the Korean Society in Malaysia, Mr. John Tan, the Vice Chairman of MATTA, and Ms. Chong Yoke Har, Director of International & Marketing Division from Tourism Malaysia.
   
This was followed by a presentation by the Saranghaeyo Korea Club on the club’s activities since it’s inauguration. So far we have participated in the 2010 World Cup Street Cheering events, provided voluntary assistance during the Nanta Performance, held the SKC Members Day where we had a chance to play Korean games and taste Korean cuisine, the Hallyu Fan Club interview by the Chosun Daily from Korea and lastly the Inspiring Korea Night 2010.


The inaugural SKC Board of Directors were officially appointed and presented with their certificates of appointment. SKC Awards were presented to those who had been extraordinarily active in Korean culture and tourism activities held by KTO and Korea Plaza.
Korea Tourism Awards were also presented to those travel agents and media partners that had shown outstanding support and significant in promoting Korea tourism throughout 2010. During the last MATTA fair in September, Korea travel product achieved one of the best-selling records.
  
  
 
 
After this you’ll have to forgive me if I get the sequence of the evening’s program all mixed up because dinner was beginning to be served and I was most likely distracted by the delicious food before me. Dinner was an eight-course mixture of Korean and Chinese dishes and it was one of the best dinners I’ve had. We had Oriental Four Season Combination for the first course followed by Sangyetang Ginseng Chicken Soup, Stir-fried Chicken in Yam Basket, Steamed Seabass in Superior Soy Sauce, Stir-fried Fresh Prawns with Oatmeal Flakes, Braised Tau Kan with Trios Mushroom with Green Vegetables, Bibimbap accompanied with Bulgogi, Kimchi and Seaweed Soup, and lastly the dessert of Double Boiled Chinese Figs with Sea Coconut. But I missed the dessert because I had to go up stage to collect the Microwave oven that I had won in the raffle draw.

  
Let’s see, what was the program like in terms of entertainment? Well, we had dance performances by the Wakaka Crew, Epsilon and Ruff Necks. Then we were entertained with a few songs by our guest singer, Soo Wincci, including the theme song, Menanti Hikmat by Mawi from a Malaysian drama, The Call of Nami Island which was filmed in Korea. There was even a contest I am a Korean Celebrity where the contestants had to dress up like a Korean idol to win prizes. The finale for the night was the raffle draw, I was wishing hard to get a free airline ticket to Korea, actually there were two being up for grabs, I did not get the air ticket but my friend got it. All I got was a microwave oven, well something is better than nothing they say.
It was really a night to remember – good atmosphere, good company, good food, and good entertainment. But what I liked about it most was the unity of the crowd there, their enthusiasm and passion for Korea and all things Korean. Within the dining hall it was entirely a different world altogether. There’s a good feeling  about it. Everyone there was connected to KTO or SKC somehow. There was this lady from the Korean Cooking class, another from the Hangeul class and yet another from the Korean singing class, so you see, everyone’s more or less connected in one way or another. I saw this group of ahjummas from the Bae Yong Joon Fanclub Malaysia.
The Malaysian people have been introduced to the Korean people and the Korean culture through the Saranghaeyo Korea Club and KTO. Kamsa-hamnidah KTO for starting the SKC in Kuala Lumpur and also for the well organized Inspiring Korea Night 2010. This was just a crowd of 350, what if it had been in the thousands?
And so with this I’ll end today’s post.