Star-Chasing

• joined the 追星族 last monday and went star-chasing. the stars: the three olympic medalists from the singapore women's table tennis team. was at changi airport at 2.30pm, waiting for them on their return from beijing. of course, i wasnt alone. from the various media reports, there were 300-500 fans, contributing to a loud atmosphere filled with cheers.
• after much anxiety among the fans, the three lead actresses finally appeared at around 3.22pm with some other members of the team singapore contingent. it was a simple welcome session with some photo-taking, and they were off to raffles city for the big celebration. team singapore athletes and officials boarded the open-top hippo buses. as for me, i followed them enroute all the way to raffles city. was lucky enough to be on one of the hippo buses, not the same bus with the star athletes of course (i was on the media bus), but still enjoyed my one-hour-or-so of fame as we went through the streets of singapore unobstructed (thanks to the traffice police who opened the lanes for us), with the public cheering and waving towards us.
• it was quite an eye-opener for me at raffles city for the celebration ceremony organised by singapore sports council. i have never seen so many people packed there, and i presume there has never been so many people there packed at the same area at the same time. a more-than-1000 turnout! and it wasnt difficult to tell that Feng Tianwei is fast becoming the lastest singapore idol. if she starts a blog, or if singapore table tennis association starts a blog for her, i think it will be top in terms of hits. in any case, i bet there are already fans out there setting up blogs dedicated to her.
• i think singaporeans like me are hungry for sporting success! we certainly want more and yes, we dare to dream big!