What to wear, what to wear! Just what do you wear to a movie premiere? We were a little concerned we wouldn't be dressed up enough, but once we got to the convention center, we totally forgot about our clothes. There were too many other exciting things to concentrate on.
Our bus picked us up right on time. Patrick, our bus guide, was there to make sure we were all on the bus, answer any questions, give us instructions on what to do once we got to the convention center, what to do after the premiere, and of course, make us laugh. He handed out the tickets that would allow us into the movie. They were huge tickets! Much, much bigger than a regular movie ticket.

As everyone looked over their tickets, the excitement in the bus seemed to get bigger.

Soon we were at the beautiful Convention Centre. It resembles a bird on the outside and it was amazingly beautiful on the inside. (Click here to take a virtual tour of the Centre!) As we rode the escalator up to the second level, we were able to soak in some of the view. Just like the tickets, the inside of the convention center was huge and it had a very open feel. There were big windows that added to the open feel. We were there at night when it was dark. It would be interesting to see what it looked like inside during the day with sun streaming in the windows.
We made our way to the stage where we knew Jackie and many other famous people would be. Very cool:

Then we walked around talking to familiar people and wondering who unfamiliar people were. I guess we should have stayed right next to the stage though. As the time drew close for Jackie to come out, people started crowding around the stage. We ended up a little ways back. It's a good thing the official Kids Club photographer is so tall so he could get a couple of pictures over the heads of the people in front of us.

We were still close enough to see the really neat dragon dance and make out the faces of all the people who came on stage. We didn't know who they all were because, as Kath mentioned, everything was spoken in Chinese. But it was still exciting.
Now it was time to see the movie! First we had to go through a security check point. Nobody could take any cameras in. They all had to be checked in. We were a little nervous about the whole idea of having our purses and pockets checked. But it went very quickly and the security people were very polite. The man who checked Stephanie through commented on how he liked her beaded Coca Cola purse that she had bought at the Temple Street night market. Here's Steph's Coca Cola bag:

Then he noticed her two-foot tall red shoes (well OK, they were 3 inches) and said how he liked those too. Little did he know that she would take them off the second she was checked through because they were hurting her feet so bad.
We got inside the theater and again…more hugeness! The room was huge. The seating space was huge. The movie screen was huge. The anticipation of the movie was huge. Knowing Jackie would be watching it with us was very cool too. However, Nic noticed there was one thing missing as we sat down…no popcorn! How could he watch a movie without a huge bucket of popcorn!? Well, he had tried several new things while we were in Hong Kong. This would have to be one of those new experiences too- watching an entire movie without one kernel of popcorn. Needless to say, he survived and still enjoyed the movie very much.

After the movie (see Kath's review here) everyone went and got their cameras back and we headed back down to the main level, again looking at the beauty of the convention center as we went along. Patrick was there waiting for us when we got to the doors. He was his usual smiling and excited self. While we waited for the rest of the group so Patrick could show us to the bus, we had the opportunity to have a family picture taken with him.

After we all boarded the bus again, Patrick asked if we all had fun and enjoyed the premiere. YES! Then Patrick explained our adventure for the next day…a tour of the JC Offices. We had hardly absorbed all the excitement of the evening and now we were thinking of our next exciting event for the morning. What a huge, huge night. And now we had a huge, huge morning to look forward to. How would we ever sleep?

Click here to read another account of The Medallion premiere!

Photos:©2003 Nic Schwark, Katharine Schroeder

©2003 Katharine Schroeder/Jackie's Kids Corner

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