HYDE HUNT in HONG
KONG
Hello
everyone, I'm back..em..somewhat..actually I'm in Taiwan right now. I have no
computer access (yet) in Hong Kong, so yes..no internet for me, but now in Taiwan
I do have..but since i'm travelling...I don't think i'll be on that much anyways,
but just that today's and the past few days' experience is just so cool that
I would like to share. Hyde has came to Hong Kong as you all know ( i think
) from July 15th ~ 17th 2002. Fortunately this time I was able to catch him
while he is in Hong Kong...unlike last time when tetchan and hyde came in 99
Sept.. i was in Canada...>_< and the best thing about this time is that,
i have a flight on the same day hyde's leaving!! And guess what I can do about
this....while usually when we say goodbye to hyde in the airport, I got to go
in the gate with him! and he was within 0 distance basically IN FRONT OF ME
IN LINE FOR THE CUSTOMS!!!!!! I was unbelievably freaked out... I completely
couldn't do anything...(and btw, NO PICTURES allowed in the customs area...damn
..but I wouldn't wanna take pictures in his face anyway..don't wanna scare him
) i guess all these images can just be kept in my memory.... but anyway its
an unbelievable experience, nothing I've ever dreamt of!!!! Anyway I'll somewhat
summarize my " hyde chase " in these 3 days.
*** some pictures enlargable, please do not use without permission! thanks ***
15th (1st Day)
7:00
@ Airport
Some die-hard LArc fans and I gathered together and made some coffin boxes with
fresh flowers in it so that we can hold it while waiting as a welcoming for
hyde. We checked with the counter ( Cathay Pacific ) and got info that his flight
(CX421) will come out from gate B. We went over there and fortunately got some
good spaces while not many ppl are in the airport yet..nevertheless its pretty
damn early -_-"..and he won't arrive in at least 4 hours... (we expect
him around 2:10 ) As time went by more and more fans gathered near that area,
and by 1:30 fans already blocked the opening hyde's suppose to exit from!!!
And because of this, when hyde FINALLY came out ( around 2:30 I guess .. ) he
just sneaked through a gap at the side where there were lots of reporters! (
yeah nice move man... ) and as you know the reporters were far from GENTLE...
and the whole scene just lose control... all fans ran to the direction hyde
left and it was just chaotic. For me, I think, if hyde would have just came
out, stopped and let us take some pictures, and go through the original opening
he's suppose to walk through ( which was later blocked by some fans who came
later!! geez ) and anyways, it wouldn't be so bad coz there's a huge distance
from all the fans and it takes some time for everyone to dash. And now that
he chose to just cut right nito the fans is not the smartest thing ( but i think
its the security's fault ) ... and finally it was so chaotic that a lot of fans
fell and almost got our hyde hurt too!!! Some fans ( some guy... I think everyone
who went that day know who ) took advantage of the scene and went to touch hyde's
hand and some other guy's head bump into hyde's head too! After hyde manage
to get out from the crowd he hurried downstairs with a van waiting for him...
it was realy hard for any of us to even get a snap of him because he was moving
so swiftly and the fans were everywhere..(and we were trying to get down the
stairs...without tripping..) by the time I manage to get down he's already in
the van and the van drove off, we were able to catch the license plate fortunately....
(the scene was quite chaotic so I wasn't able to get some good pics, if I get
any later maybe i'll post some ^^;; sorry! )
5:00
@ Habour Plaza Hotel
(left: looking towards the elevator. right: the hallway hyde will come thru
to the parking lot)
Right after hyde's van left, our group all hurried to bus out to the city. Last
time hyde and tetsu stayed at Habour Plaza Hotel, but we're not so sure this
time..So we divided ourselves into 3 groups ( we had about 12 ppl only ) and
each group is to go to a different area and check the hotels if there are any
signs of hyde's van. Me and my group went to the Tsim Sha Tsui area to check
The Penninsula etc, but no signs...another group went to check the NEW harbour
plaza... nothing either.. and 3rd group went to habour plaza but they seem to
have find nothing too. and right when our 3rd group were going to leave, one
member spotted the van leaving the hotel! we all then took the taxi and gathered
at the hotel and notice that the security guards are there too! ( which means
bingo! ) we were so fortunate coz there were very few fans there. And the funny
thing is, our group dressed up gothic lolita style, and going into the hotel
like that is just saying " i've came for hyde " , but we couldn't
care more and we just went in and sat at the sofas to wait. The securities noticed
us, but didn't do anything about it. As long as the securities are there, it
means that hyde will still come out ( for dinner! since he loves to eat so much
) coz if hyde's not coming out again teh securites can just go home right? so
we just can't miss the chance .. Some other fans arrived too but for soem reasons
they didn't stay (?) and we stayed till around 7~8 PM and see the securities
are getting up. Not long after hyde got down from the elevator with 10+ staff
(from japan and local sony staff ) and went through the door we were waiting
at. We had written an apology letter earlier while waiting about the chaos in
the airport this morning because we are very sorry if hyde was hurt. When we
saw hyde, my friend just said " gomenasai ... " and tried to hand
the letter to hyde, but the securities stopped her, but hyde nicely smiled back
at us. I was able to snap a pic before he go thru the door. He got on a different
van, and headed off. we were all shocked and didn't knwo what to do... so our
reflex action was just to jump onto a taxi and follow them. However the staff
sitting in the last row of the van noticed us, and kept turning back. We don't
want hyde to be unhappy about being chased, but its such a dilemma... anyhow,
the bus drove into this mall " New world department store " in Tsim
Sha Tsui and we pretended to drive off with the taxi and waved goodbye to hyde's
bus. I saw hyde and the securities getting off the bus and up the escalators
after we drove off. We got off the taxi and went upstairs but he's already gone,
but 2 securities are still there. We know that hyde hates to be disturbed while
he's eating, but we wish we could just hand the letter to his manager or staff..but
the securities are not at all so friendly... -_-" so we realize that from
that escalator, there's only 2 restaurants upstairs, 1 western 1 chinese ( and
you'd expect hyde at the chinese one ), we went up and saw some staff, so we're
pretty sure they're in there. So we had someone pretend to ask about booking
inside, and they saw that there's a VIP room inside, so we guess that hyde's
in there. We left right afterthat since we didn't wanna disturb him so long
and let him have a good time dining...but getting up so close to hyde in the
hotel was just so much better than the chaos in the airport, and hyde knows
too, coz we werent' screaming or even trying to get up to him.
( hyde coming thru with a lot of security guards, but he nicely smiled to us
)
(left: behind hyde's bus to the restaurant. right: the restaurant that we guess
he went up to)
16th (2nd Day)
(pictures of daytime coming later..sorry! )
Today hyde's having a lot of promotion activities. Including 3 different' radio
channel's interviews. I myself didn't chase him in the day time coz I had some
personal business...but my friends still went.. they missed him at the hotel
in the morning, and missed him at the 1st station i think ( I'm not sure I guess
i'd ask them for a better report later ) but as far as I know now, they talked
to the manager ( and he was nice ) and asked that hyde come out and wave to
the fans and all fans promised not to take pictures.. and that GUY who touched
hyde in the 1st day at the airport did NOT follow the promise and used a flash
to take picture of hyde when he's waving at the fans while ALL FANS DID NOT
take pictures ( and hyde immediately closed the curtains when he saw the flash
) ...what a b@st@rd!!!!!!!! )^!@*T!(@^!@!!! anyways, I wasn't there so i'm not
sure about what's next, but I heard that hyde mentioned in his radio interview
that he was very happy that fans still remembered him after so many years (
of course man! your poster's like everywhere in my room..how can i forget..)
and he said he was very happy that fans waited for him at the hotel last night
( which was US!!!! ). Meanwhile, I went with my family to Habour Plaza Hotel
to have dinner (and the restaurant's got a great view of the hotel's elevator
and parking entrance...haha main reason i'm there anyways ) and soon fans gathered
there after the last radio show ended around 9:00. I saw 3 hotel staff and they
asked me "oh u waiting for him......he's coming later.. " then those
3 guys sat at the sofa near the door. I stood there to wait for hyde, and then
had a little chat with those 3 guys, and they say that they're the hotel staff
and they get to go into hyde's room too! In the previous night we guessed that
hyde's room is on 17th floor, coz we saw staff there, but we're not so sure.
and according to these 3 guys, the 17th floor room has stairs to the 18th floor,
so hyde is actaully on the 18th. but the hotel is unbelievably spacious! and
the main point is we are not going to go upstairs to disturb hyde like that.
The 3 guys said that hyde has stopped at the Whampoa mall ( near the hotel )
at the supermarket Jusco and they said maybe he's doing some shopping in there..
so we guessed maybe he'd come back soon coz its already 10. We waited and waited...but
no signs of him... could he have went to drink? or something? hha.. dunno.....we
waited past 12, and there's like no more bus and stuff..but I live reasonably
close to take a taxi .. then suddenly the security guards showed up, and we
all gathered, and we were gonna all bow and say "oyasumi nasai ' to hyde
when he enters, but he didn't enter! only some staff came in with some presents
hyde'd received... and we were so freaked out, what other way could he have
got into the hotel? we have no idea.. we didn't want to give up..since we've
waited for so long, but we searched up and down and we had no signs. At the
end the staff all left again, so we gave up too... although we never figured
out how hyde got upstairs...>_<!
(hotel floor setting..these are pictures of the 17th floor.but hyde's on 18th
i think )
17th (3rd Day)
Out of all 3 days for me, I guess this is "THE DAY".
My flight to Taipei is @ 1:20, and we are not sure of hyde's flight. We're guessing
around 9:30 to Korea. So anyhow we're gonna go to the airport around 7:00. The
problem is that usually they wont' let you check in earlier than 2 hrs before
your flight, so if hyde's leaving around 9, its impossible for me to get my
boarding pass and go in with him ...so what i came up with is to check in in
the "city terminal", which you can check in anytime regardless, just
that i have to pay much more to buy the train ticket ( if no train ticket you
can't check in there..what a rip ) but its all worth it!!! I end up getting
there around 7:30, and just when we went upstairs to the departure floor to
check out the gates and see how we're gonna catch hyde, suddenly I heard screaming
sound over the North gate and i was totally freaked, i ran right over and hyde's
already in, i flashed my boarding pass and followed right after, and tehre's
like NO ONE inside!!! just 2 lineups, and hyde's the last guy.....and i just
slowly stepped up to him...RIGHT BEHIND HIM......waiting for the immigration
... and i can see him SO CLEARLY!!! I mean, he could have went through the staff
door next door and I would have absolutely no chance seeing him..but he wasn't
cocky or anything and must go thru the normal immigration like all other people..i
can see his hair and actually its not that good quality..haha... maybe dyed
too much..the roots are darker blonde than the other parts probably due to re-dying
of new hair growth...and he's wearing the same suit he wore on arrival day...
he's very skinny.... and the suit is a little wrinkled.. ^^;; he wore Dr.Martins....
looks very clean, probably new ones... and he wore sunglasses all the time (
i'm still trying to figure out what brand it is ^^? its quite special looking
) The right lane is clear and the guy called hyde over to that lane, and then
i stepped up too ( so we're parallel ). Hyde took off his sunglasses (finally
see his eyes after so many days in hong kong!! ) i was so scared, I didn't wana
look too obvious , although i think he already knows that i'm a fan ( coz i
completely forgot the cell phone i'm holding has a L'Arc~en~Ciel strap.. ) anyways
i still tried so hard to look normal and peeped at him occasionally... i wish
i can see his passport photo..hehe....after he got back his passport he politely
knodded to the immigration guy ( SO CUTE!!!!!!! ) ..he's NOT COCKY AT ALL! he
looks like a polite and nice kid in someway, like listening to all the staff...^^;;
poor hyde!!! anyway.....so he got thru a little bit earlier than i did at the
counter, and lined up to go thru the baggage scan... i followed after him and
3 staff, and the 4th staff is behind me coz he was slower. the lineup is twisting
so he turned the corner and we were FACE TO FACE *_*!! and the manager guy made
some joke and hyde laughed a little..but i couldnt' hear what he said... the
4th staff tried to pass me to stand with them at the corner and sort of said
sumimasen to me so that he could join them ( wooooo i wish haido can say that
to me instead.. ) and right behind there's 2 other japanese girls, and they
start to recognize haido and were whispering to eacho ther " oh..hey that's
L'Arc~en~Ciel vocal haido... " and i was like " shit... " haido
went thru the scanning thing... he had some luggages.... one of them kind of
weird, a yellow-brownish fabric small suitcase... it can't be his guitar coz
he already bought another .. and the case it too small..but it does look like
some antique musical instrument...but the size is really unfit for anything
i can think of...unless a ukelele.but that doesn't really make sense... and
hyde went through the metal scan booth and it totally beeped ..hahahaha.....
he's like """"" and he stepped up to let the FEMALE
custom use the scan stick to scan him!!!!!!!!! >_< and I saw that he's
wearing some chrome hearts like belt...which's making the thing beep probably...
they let him go after scanning and I was next!!!! and i beeped too.damn it...
coz i was wearing some accessories.. and they used the stick that they use to
scan hyde to scan me!! SHIAWASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE >_<!!!!!!!!!!!!
(lining up right behind haido!)
( hyde moving to the line beside me so we're parallel!)
after passport checking into the scanning area, the RED DOTTED line, is the
path of hyde (and me, we went thru the same booth and got checked by the same
lady )
anyway.... my shiawase didn't last for very long after this..... I hurried to
follow them down the escalator, and the 2 Japanese girls were trying to approach
them..and I saw that the staff were telling them to back off... so seems like
its impossible to go up..and the truth is, MY LEGS ARE SHAKING.. i can't believe
what's happening and i'm totally frreaked..... i followed them within a distance
but the manager seem to notice, and was looking back at me occasionally.....
i took a few pictures when they turned around ( altho i would love to catch
hyde's face ) ... we went down the gate 33~80 escalator to catch the internal
train to transport passengers inside the terminal. So I'm pretty sure his gate
is 33~80 ... he went into the 1st section of the train and I was soooooooo scared
coz if i'm gonna step in there i'm gonna be stuck with them face to face and
I know i'm gonna act like an idiot.. so i chickened out and ran into the 2nd
section instead... and when i got out of the train i see that he's behind me
a little..so i thought if i go up he'd have to go up to ( there's no other way
)....his manager is right beside me..(still looking at me -_-!) ... but right
when i got up, the manager disappeared, and hyde, supposedly behind me, didn't
come up!!! that's impossibel i thought, coz there's only one way ..which is
to come up... unless they are so stupid that they realize their gate is not
33~80 and took the train back, but they looked prety much like they know where
they're going ( considering they got 4 staff .. ) and i realized there's an
elevator downstairs..but u know, if he's going to take the elevator its still
bringing him up!!!! but he's no where near my sight!!!!!! i was scared..but
i checked the flights..and the only flight to KOREA in gate 33~80 is on Cathay
Pacific ( reasonable ) in gate 66. So .. I thought, hey man I'll just wait there,
and he'll have to board from there anyways right.. there's a business lounge
(he's flying on business class when he came to Hong Kong so I think he's flying
on business to Korea too, not a very big budget i guess ^^;;) so I thought,
he'll come out from the lounge to board later..so I'll wait..but when they started
boarding..there were no signs of blonde hyde nor his black suited staff (quite
easy to recognize..) .. the cathay staff there thought I was going on the flight
too and asked me to board, and i told her " oh im waiting for my friend..but
he hasn't shown up yet, i'm not on this flight..but i'm gonna meet him first...
i'm afraid i have mistaken the gate ".. ( i totaly lied..haha i was thinking
if hyde really showed up she'd be like " yeah he's ur friend?" hahhaa
anyway i couldn't care more ) and she's very nice and offered to help me search..
she asked me " what's the customer's last name?" and i was like "
er........Takarai........""" " and she's like " ????
how do you spell that " ..and i'm like " oh just search starting with
TAKA" ...and she tell me that there's NO SUCH CUSTOMER!!!! MY GOD!! at
that time its already 9:30, and this is just unreasonable.... there's no other
flight in gates 33~80 that he would possibly take... I checked most of the gates
but even if he's taking the flight I probably won't see him..coz he's in the
lounges... I had no idea what to do by then..and there's another flight to korea
( that we orgiinally thought he's taking ) its on this airline with code OZ
( i'm not sure whatever this is ) , and its on gate 19....but its impossible
he's so damn stupid to go to 33~80 if he's flying 19 right? and i'm so sure
i saw his manager!!! so damn there's 80 gates in the whole airport and how the
hell i'm suppose to find him....... and so i ended up giving up..somehow i'm
in a dilemma, i want him to just show up, but someway i don't wanna see him
coz i know i'm so scared. he looks friendly enough to approach..but i just can't
do it....imagine after so long, watching him on magazines, lives, TVs, everything....now
he's in front of me!!! i just don't know how to act correctly. I thought of
asking him for autograph, or maybe taking a picture together, but I know its
pretty much impossible...... but u know its absolutely worth a try, maybe i
could shake hands with him.. if i was polite ( and i will be ) ..but its too
bad i never spotted him again..... in someways i also hated myself..how can
i lost him like that@!! this kind of chance to see him without ANY BODY ELSE
chasing after him... its only possible maybe in a situation like..in the airport...
or seeing him private in a foreign country... and how big is the possiblity
of that happening eh? Anyway, although I couldn't get any further closer to
him or at least take some decent pictures, but I will never never forget his
whole figure in front of my touching distance and all his little moves and shigusa...
T___T
(inside the airport , after customs heading in the train to the boarding
gate... no fans! hehe ...because I didn't want to use FLASH to disturb him,
I didnt' take any really good pictures, and NO PICTURES ALLOWED IN IMMIGRATION
AREA...so..that's when we were the closest..but cant' take pics >_< )
I'll try to upload his radio interviews & translation later when i have time :)
some more pictures
later maybe too...
