My Pinoy Pride Experience in Singapore
It’s been a month since the Pinoy Pride Fair 2011 in Singapore but I am still reminiscing the wonderful experience I had there. I’ve been to Singapore a few times but never like this – treated like a superstar, and I don’t mean like Nora Aunor getting detained for illegal substances.
Right off the airplane, the paparazzi welcomed me with their flashing cameras and smiles. Those MASP guys lent their lenses and their inside photography tips on getting “willing” models.
And here I thought it was just going to be Renzie meeting us at the airport with his light and camera shouting all by himself, “Tim! Tim! Over here!”
From the airport, Frankie took us on a ride in his pimped up van. For all your transportation needs in Sing, Frankie is the man. Frankie Lim should not be confused with the retired basketball player Frankie Lim, even though they have the same height and smell.
We stayed in the new hotel Porcelain, which was conveniently located in Chinatown. Patrick and I discovered this very cool dessert called shaved ice. It’s nothing like Ice Monster back home. This one tastes very different. I’m thinking of franchising it. Another thing I discovered is that Patrick snores like a jackhammer. Actually, I already knew that even before the trip but I was hoping he had the surgery already.
The event was a whole day affair with booths, martial arts demos, and even dancing flight attendants from Cebu Pacific making the fair fun and interesting especially for Patrick who was scouting for “talents”. Well, that was the line he used.
As soon as I hit the stage and did my opening bit, I knew the crowd was different. The audience was so receptive, I wanted to dive into them and let them carry me all the way to the back. But safety comes first, so I just let it happen in my imagination. They loved True Faith as they danced along to their familiar tunes. Aizza did 2 encore songs, probably even more if time permitted.
It got crazier after the show as the audience lined up to get photos with us. Yes, they lined up. I should’ve sold something like cd’s or dvd’s like the other artists but Singapore doesn’t allow pirated copies.
The whole experience was amazing. We are planning to come back soon for more shows. Thank you to all the people who watched. Thank you to MASP for the photos (the ones posted here are from them) and the company. Thank you TAG Event Concepts especially to Renzie Baluyut for pretty much everything. Thank you to all the sponsors and partners: Cebu Pacific, Cathy Valencia, SMDC, Carlos Celdran Tours, Sun Cellular, iRemit, Bonifacio resto, and everyone else who I might’ve missed.