Wednesday 12 September 2012

Kina Grannis in Manila - August 2012

Sooo...
I was so sad to missed Kina's Asia Pacific Tour last March.
I had planned to attend at least three of her show, in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore.
The thing plan was to attend her KL show on March 13th with Toby (US Kinerd, who was working at Laos), then go to Jakarta with Toby and Rob and maybe Steph (Philiphine Kinerd), then we'll fly for her Singapore show, which was held on March 19th.
The thing was, at that moment I was waiting for my work visa in Singapore. Furthermore, March 17th is my birthday. So my parents ask me to go home. And i thought okay, at least I can try attending her Jakarta show.
To cut the long story short, my plan failed. There were so many things to do at home. So... i missed the entire shows, and passed the tickets to some people :)

Anyway, the Manila show was cancelled, I think not much ticket sold due to school exam period, but Kina still go to the venue, and perform free for her fans.
That's so nice of her!

Move forward to June 2012. I heard rumors that Kina is heading to South East Asia again, well, at least Manila.
So i contacted my friend, Steph. And kind enough, as soon as the tickets are on sale, she purchased one for me, and also one for Mark (Ireland Kinerd).
Luckily I've passed my 3 month probation on work, and allowed to take some leave.
I bought Jetstar tickets, and was actually thinking to find a hotel near by, and maybe spend some more time to travel around Manila.
Steph is super-awesome, she told me to stay at her place instead.

August 2012..
Manila was in a very bad weather, it has been raining non-stop for around 2 weeks.
I left Singapore at 6th August, early in the morning, with a little bit worried about the weather.
Thank God, the plane landed safely. It was only a small drizzle. Mark waited for me at the passanger arrival. And we went to his hotel in Resort World to kill the time until Steph arrived.
Steph finally arrived, and we went to Mall of Asia (Super-huge mall). Too bad, due to the rain and flood, most of the shops closed early. :(
We ended up in a bowling place, and both of them tried to teach me to play bowling..
My clumsy finger doesn't really work well with bowling, soooo.. yeah.. can't even beat Steph's or Mark's score :P
Anyway, i can safely say, I've went bowling.. ONCE.. :P
We went back to Mark's hotel, and head to the casino, to catch some live performance.
It was quite okay, but we're all tired. So after a while, Steph and I went to her house.

Late that night, Steph's parents come back from USA. I also met her brothers. All of them were a bunch of nice-warm-friendly people! (THANK YOU for welcoming me in your house! You've made my trip to Manila memorable).. :)

The next day, we try to catch Kina in some radio show. There were 2 radio show planned, but only 1 still on. So we waited, and she finally come with Pauline (www.soulmannalive.com). By the way, Soulmanna live is handling some youtube concert in Asia and Australia (at least: David Choi, Clara Chung, AJ Rafael, etc). They used to be "Monsoon Team", but changed their name sometime earlier this year I think.

Pauline is from Singapore. She's quite surprised to know Mark came all the way from Ireland, and I came from Singapore. I also found out we're on the same flight back to Singapore! Weeee..
Anyway, kina perform two songs, and it was awesome!
She sang Mr. Sun... which followed by the sun actually peeking up! And kinda eased out our worry about the show.

Oh, and I manage to get photo with Kina :)


I also met Jown and Tere (awesome people!), and we spent the noon at McD in Greenhills. The show will be held in Promanade Theatrino, which is in Greenhills.
Since the flood was bad in Manila, so Jown decided she'll book a hotel nearby. We found Elian Hotel (sorry if it's misspelled). We killed the time by playing ukulele, charging phones (yes, our phone batteries dried out soooo fast!), singing, eating, and more singing.. Super fun-relax time.

When we want to go to the venue, Steph and I was surprised to see Kina and Pauline at the lobby.
Apparantely they can't find a cab, and was gonna walk to the venue (it was around 15 minutes walk!!). They brought Kina's guitar as well! Wow, can't imagine how they are going to handle it!
Tere offered Kina and Pauline, that Steph will drive them to the venue..
And sooo.. the awkward drive begin :P
Kina was really quiet (i think she's worried about the weather and how it will affect the show). I am bassically a very introvert person, and Steph needs to focus on the road as it's raining.. Luckily Pauline safe the awkward moment by trying to chat with Steph and me.. :P

We arrived at the venue, and we picked up Tere, Jown, and Marc. In the venue, we met Jeff and Jude. Kuya (brother) Jude shared his story on how he reach the venue.. Look at the link of the video, posted below! It was super inspiring how he manage to reach despite the bad weather, and he still have that positive attitude..
http://soulmannalive.tumblr.com/post/29547152973/kinamanilafanvid1

The show was gonna start at 7 pm. Pauline ask us to join her in the backstage around 6 pm.
She kindly provide us icecream.. YAYYYY! Icecream party backstage!! :D
Kina come out, and hang out with us for a bit. She answer some call from Kinerds who can't make it to the show, and she kindly remind them to be safe.

Then it's time to start openning the door. We help them doing the merch, as the merch team can't make it due to the flood.
This might be the most-internationally merch team ever.. Self claimed, but still.. :P

The show it self is awesome. I cried a bit when she sang Strong enough.. Very beautiful!!!!
When the show was over, the meet and greet ended up with all of us, eating Kina's birthday cake.
There were some left-over, which we pass to Kina and Pauline. (That's where the cake-overdose tweet came, guys!)


And i will close this post with a picture taken by Kuya Jude
Much love to Manila Kinerds.. You're awesome!! <3>


Photo credit: Jude Ng




P.S: So great to meet you guys, and to call you friend!
Left to right: Jeff-Mark-Jown-Steph-Tere-Ayrine..
And Jude holding the camera!


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