tom hanks @ orchard

was at isetan orchard with bee and saw a huge crowd gathered at the ground floor. there was a red carpet laid out and the crowd had gathered on both sides of the red carpet. i soon learned that it was shaw lido cineplex's grand opening tonight. it was clear that some celebrity had been invited. and before i knew it... i saw tom hanks. not too tall, rather fair and very friendly. he literally stopped every 2 step to talk to people. anyway, what caught my attention and amused me was not tom hanks (i am not too particularly a person who chase celebrities in the first place). rather, it was the comments and reactions of people around me that made me smile. here's some of it...

(1) passer-by hokkien auntie to her fellow hokkien auntie (in hokkien): wah... who is that? so many people! her hokkien auntie friend: i also don't know... i can only see a lot of ang mo people, don't even know what the big deal is? tsk tsk tsk... so many people... i don't know how to appreciate. i don't even know what the hell is happening!... and they strutted off...

(2) teenage mat gang walking by not knowing who the hell tom hanks was and as per a lot of typical attention-seeking mat gang, they started talking loudly. one mat shouting to another mat: ooi ooi, siapa tu? siapa tu?... the other mat replied: alamak, tak tau la... tu! tu! tu!... siapa tu? ehhhh, michael jackson ke? (roll eyes)

(3) inside isetan, one elderly american lady to her husband (strong american slang): what's the commotion about? there must be someone important coming! husband: well, i dunno (turning to singaporean salesgirl) eh... do you know who's coming? singaporean salesgirl: ahhhh, ahhhh... i donno leh! but ne'er mind, see see... and they all leaned forward and waited eagerly (of cos i told them it was tom hanks and the american lady got excited...)

(4) second floor isetan, china chinese salesgirl (when she saw people screaming as tom hanks walked up the escalator) (in shrilling voice and in beijing mandarin to her fellow china chinese salesgirl): who the hell is that? (her salesgirl friend) ah, i donno too, but wahhhh... everyone screaming, take picture take picture and she whipped out her handphone camera and started snapping (by which time tom hanks had disappeared)...

hahaha...

:-)