Welcome 2 Taiwan Travel Exhibition at IMM, Singapore!

It was a typical hot Saturday noon when we reached IMM Building. As we always like to, we took the escalator. Up to the third floor, looking for the Garden Plaza.

Passing by the lifts, one of it greeted us with this poster..

1:40pm. Early excitement

I was told the booths would start by 2pm while the main event was at 3:30pm. This day, Asian pop queen Jolin Tsai and Taiwanese Director Wu NianZhen would be sharing travel details of Taiwan..

Event: Welcome 2 Taiwan Travel Exhibition/ Press Conference
Date: 26 April 2008 (Sat)
Time: 2pm
Place: Garden Plaza. Level 3, IMM Building
Guests: Jolin Tsai & Wu NianZhen

This was our very first time attending a travel-related show of Taiwan, or for anywhere.

Our first time for such things

Also, we are not people to chase idols or celebrity of any kind in any way haha.. In fact, my wife likely know more about Jolin Tsai than I do. All I know is that Jolin was the newly-selected ambassador to promote Taiwan tourism. So on Saturday morning, I did a quick research about Jolin, reading about her in the many fan clubs online..

Outdoor cheer at IMM Garden Plaza

A kid’s “water-play” area was adjacent to the event space. Kids in all manner of (un)clothes were drenched, squeaking in delight and soaking wet playing with the water sprinklers and water contraptions under the scorching sun..

They were oblivious to the hoo-ha beside them. The parents looked clueless too hehe.. ;-)

There were booths lining the area where the audience was. Each booth brought a slice of Taiwan to the show and visitors.

Showcase Taiwan

A booth promoted wedding and bridal photography in Taiwan. Next was a bubbly uncle demonstrating his unique skill of cutting (the shape of) a person’s facial profile onto paper.

Uncle had a field day – and plenty of practice! A long queue of willing faces has formed, each visitor waiting their turn for a fun souvenir from him!

2 pinball game sets drew the kids and adults lining up to try in the next stall. These pinball games can be seen in the streets of Taiwan, in ShiLin Night Market as well..

More tastes of Taiwan

A (2-metres tall?) Taipei 101 building stood proudly before this pinball stall. It was constructed from pieces of individually-wrapped FengLiSu Pineapple Cakes – a local product of Taiwan. See if you can spot the Cakes in the pinball photo..

2 young ladies sat still in the following booth. A line of colourful packed satchets laid on their table. You would have to move close to their large white table (!) to see that it was a single line of Muah Chee. Before that, you would (hopefully) have seen the signboard – before finally realising what they were promoting!

A queue snaked from the next booth, the stall-holders giving away small cups of Bubble Milk Tea. This would be the booth that saw the biggest patronage haha.. Like a drink to cool down in the warm afternoon?

Checking out more booths

The next booth has no queue. Rather, a handful of people crowded around it. I stepped inside for a look – this was what I discovered.

A week ago, we had already collected a small load of printed materials from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau in Shenton Way. So this time I just grabbed a few periodicals we had not seen in the Bureau office.

Aha! I was tempted to take something from the next – and last booth, but it was not meant for me. ;-)

A sign on the booth labelled “For Media”. I supposed representatives from the media would register and obtain their passes here.

Mingling among the fans

Never mind, so quickly I moved into the crowd and activities, snapping the many photos you see. Scanning the sights and sound, I took in the event to share with you here..

A few tall guys leaned against the barricades. They were looking either flustered or tired. Groups of teens and young adults sat their places.. I moved closer to see they were fan clubs of Jolin – from Singapore and even Malaysia!

Eyeing the security

2 armed policemen plus a handful of security personnel were in view. What will the crowd be like? How big will it be? I read that such idol appearance usually brought on huge crowds, especially for a heavyweight pop star like Jolin..

The fans were excited. I was too, very much curious and anticipating what was to come.

It was almost a funny scenario. I manoeuvered among the youthful crowd, eyeing them curiously. They looked at this “uncle” in return haha.. ;-)

We retreated to the food court for drinks to cool from the warm humid weather. Returning, we saw the guy emcee speaking up on stage, in English and Mandarin.

Has things finally started? Will Jolin be here soon?

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Escape Taiwan farther?