DAY SEVEN: 1st day in NEW YORK

New York!! One of my most favourite cities!  We left from Washington, D.C. in the morning (thank you to the D.C. publicists for seeing us off at the airport!), and arrived in New York an hour later: our last fly-in destination.  I was sad that the trip was almost over, but I was also very excited to be in New York, and excited for everyone to see New York, too.  I know it was unlike any of the cities we had visited, and I tried to describe it, but I just couldn't.  You just have to see New York to get it. 

We finally arrived in our hotel, which was adjacent to the famous Grand Central Station (one of the crews compared it to Hua Lampong Station, so I guess if you think of it that way...).  It was a great hotel for being incased in such a small city like New York.  There was some commotion, so we went straight to work, while everybody else tried to sort out our rooms.  For the many, many days we did interviews, today's interviews were most memorable to me.  I learn so much from everyone I work with, but when we do interviews, I learn about Tony's life and his motives and beliefs that are just inspirational and encouraging.  When people ask new questions, or when Tony thinks of something that sparks his memory, he'll tell stories that just fascinate me.  Like how when he was little, he would play fight, with him being on his elephant, being the most powerful, while his friends were on mere water buffalos, as his followers.  Or how whenever he talks about how he came to work in the business, he talks about the importance of determination and perseverance.  Tony said something that I will never ever forget, and that is, we have to create opportunities for ourselves, not wait for opportunities to come along.  :)

After an afternoon set of interviews and a performance, we had a brief moment to dash back into our rooms before we headed to....the MTV studios in Times Square!! I was soooo excited.  Never in my life had I dreamt that I would get to be in the MTV studios, see the famous photo booth, and look out the Times Square window.  We arrived at MTV Studios, which is in the Viacom building, and were greeted and shown to the green room: the most awesome green room I've been in, complete with a computer so we could check our mail, a cooler with MTV water and sodas in it.  Tony went to go take a picture in the MTV photo booth, which was broken sadly, and we reviewed the script while waiting for RZA.  We were filming for MTV Direct Effects, a daily hip-hop countdown show on MTV.  It all went by very fast, but was very very thrilling. 

After our interview on Direct Effect, the RZA's manager said she wanted to take Tony to her husband's Shaolin temple.  I couldn't imagine a temple in the middle of the city, but we got in the car with her and went to the temple.  The driver stopped in front of a normal looking building on Soho.  When Tony stepped out of the car, someone on the street cried out, "Ong-Bak!"  He was very elated and shook the man's hand, to which we instantly did our publicity job of announcing that it was opening that Friday. ;)  Throughout the tour, as the Ong-Bak advertisements were becoming more prominent, people began recognizing Tony more and more.  The morning after the San Francisco performance, the security guard at the airport asked for Tony's autograph, saying he had been to the screening the night before, and when we got on the plane, they welcomed the cast and crew of Ong-Bak. That was exciting.

Once Tony greeted the passerby, we headed up to the temple, which was on the second floor of the building.  We got in an elevator, much like the ones you see in movies, where you have to pull the door shut manually, and once we got to the second floor, we opened the door right into the temple.  The disciples in the temple were practicing their routine, and stopped short when they saw Tony and all gave a cheer.  Everyone was so elated to see Tony -- never had they thought that the man whose poster hung in their studio would be standing there with them.  Likewise, Tony was just as elated to be greeted so warmly.  To top it off, the Shaolin monk, who we were to meet was a man whom Tony had read about and seen in documentaries.  He was ecstatic and glowing, especially when he found out that he was going to join us at dinner.  It as such an amazing feeling, to be in that room, with a crowd that big cheering.  For Tony, you could just see and feel how overwhelmed with emotion he was. 

Beaming to dinner, we arrived at Kittichai, a posh Thai restaurant (it seats about 100 people I think).  The decor was marvelous...there was Thai script on the walls to the bathroom that me and Tony kept stopping to read on our ways in and out.  The food was just as excellent: the best beef green curry I've ever had!!!  Thanks to Mr. Ian Kittichai for coming out and greeting us! I found out he was a world famous chef, who used to work at the Four Seasons in Bangkok, as well as have his own cooking show.  Sifu (means Master, the Shaolin monk) showed up and gave Tony a bag from the temple, filled with goodies.  Tony was absolutely beaming the whole night.  For our first day in New York, it was a very exciting and spectacular day!

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DAY SIX:  Washington, D.C.

Day six of the tour and we were on our way to D.C.  After a somewhat rusty morning (lost phone, some of us getting off on the wrong subway exit for the wrong terminal...), we were headed to the capital of America!  A city rich with history, and also a chilling wind.  I wanted to explore the city, but we had a full day of press, and unfortunately, it was Monday, which meant that the White House was closed for cleaning, and some of the museums were closed.  It was breathtaking driving through the city, past the bridges, and all those historical sites.  It was a city that I definitely wanted to come back and visit. 

Our day of press in D.C. began very promptly at the hotel. Those who weren't on duty could go explore the city and experience the cold...hehe.  The conference room where we did the interviews was set up to have the tape of Tony's performance in Dallas during the last tour play, since there was not enough room for him to perform at the hotel.  We began first with an online interview with the Washington Post, one of the biggest newspapers in the United States, and definitely in the D.C. area.  Our press schedule was so tight that we had to have a roundtable, where many reporters could ocme together and ask questions all at once.  This was one of a series of many roundtables during the trip: everyone wanted an interview, but there just wasn't enough time to fit everyone in.  Even with the roundtable to save time, we had to jet from the hotel in a taxi to check out the theatre we would be performing in that night.  Tony had two performances that night: one at the theatre, and one at the Washington Wizards game. 

After dinner in Chinatown, we headed over to the Wizards stadium to prepare for the quarter time show.  The quarter show was much shorter than the usual halftime show, 2 minutes instead of 4, but Tony didn't seem phased by it.  He told me that he's had to perform under a 15-30 second time slot before.  Tony did his famous running over the shoulders, which garnered great attention from the crowd:  they were cheering, "more! more!"  He ended the performance at the Wizards by kicking a basketball into the crowd, where people gave him a standing ovation.  As we were heading back into the locker room, the announcer called out, "Tony Jaa...and today is his birthday! Happy Birthday, Tony Jaa!" :)

Off to the theatre!  Whenever we wait for performance time, we like to go check the reaction of the crowd.  The "ooh!" and "oh!" and "whoa!s" that we hear help encourage Tony and the stuntmen.  Tony made his surprise appearance after the show, which created a crazy fiasco after the performance, as everybody wanted an autograph and to take pictures, but we were being asked to leave the theatre because another movie was about to be showing!  The audience complied with the theatre and everybody seemed to patiently wait their turn to shake hands, take pictures, and get an autograph with Tony Jaa.  Tony made sure that he got to thank all the fans, and get pictures and autographs for everyone who wanted them.  Having people enjoy your movie is the best reward that makes you forget how tired you are, Tony always says. :)

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DAY FOUR: and FIVE  Atlanta, GA

Dirty South! (That's what they call it..)  After a four-hour flight, of which half our team devoured a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, we were at our third stop.  Atlanta is an amazing city: very leisurely, as well as a bit metropolitan.  Or was it because we were there on a Saturday, during Super Bowl weekend?  Atlanta is also the home of CNN, the news capital of the world.  Our Saturday in Atlanta began quite leisurely, where we checked into our hotel (the fifth largest of its branch hotels in the world), which resembled a Las Vegas hotel to me.  We ended up having to take separate elevators to go to various rooms.  We reconvened in the sports bar for a very American style lunch: buffalo wings, hamburgers, and fries. 

After that, time for work!  We had a light press day: only a few television interviews, and then enough time to quickly freshen up before we headed to the Atlanta Hawks basketball stadium, where Tony and the stuntmen would be performing during halftime.  The stuntmen got practice space on the Hawks' practice court, where another television crew was setting up for interviews after the performance. I think we all loved that practice space: the crew was warming up by playing basketball and the rest of us were playing with the equipment: the treadmill, elliptical machine, balancing ball -- my only real workout for the trip!  The performance went very well, as usual.  The crowd loved Tony's performance and got up and cheered. 

We celebrated with a dinner at one of the nicest Thai restaurants that I've been to in the United States called Nan Thai Fine Dining (thank you again for the wonderful food and hospitality!).  The restaurant was so thrilled to see Tony there, and the chef and owner set up a meal for us that seemed very Thai, but also quite elegant -- even the rice looked pretty!  I whispered to the owner that it was Tony's birthday and he told me he would have something ready.  After what seemed like a ten course meal of wonderful Thai food, the waiters came out with a special cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to Tony, complete with gongs...hehehe. It was one of many celebrations to come, and everybody had a lot of fun.  :)

The next morning was a relatively light day.  We had a few interviews in the morning, had lunch together, and then parted ways.  Some went back to rest, while a few others and I decided to explore the city.  We took the subway to a huge shopping mall and saw how the extravagant in Atlanta live.  Because it was Super Bowl Sunday, we thought it might be a bit more quiet.  We decided to pick up Thai food for everyone for dinner from a restaurant owned by the same people as the one we went to the night before.  One thing we soon realised was that Georgia doesn't sell alcohol on Sundays because it is still part of the Bible Belt!!  We could only purchase alcohol in restaurants, but not to consume outside the premises.  Hmm.  Nonetheless, it was a good night: we had a dinner of traditional Northeastern Thai food in our hotel, before getting ready to move on to the next city the following morning. 

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DAY THREE:  Second day in Los Angeles, CA

After a wonderful premiere, I awoke in a hotel in my own city and took and elevator down 5 floors to work:  this is the life!  Never having to drive to work!  Our day began with a photo shoot for the Los Angeles Times, one of the two biggest newspapers in the Los Angeles area.  The photographer totally amazed me.  He said he was inspired by the scene where Tony jumps over a car and wanted to re-enact that for his shoot.  So he crossed La Cienega Blvd. ( a very busy street in L.A.) and had Tony stand on the other side of the street, on the hotel planters, and jump up when a car was coming, to make it seem like he actually did jump over a car.  I don't remember how many jumps Tony did, but I know he was tired, but he also had fun.  The photographer put in as much energy as Tony did, as he tied a bright yellow plastic bag around his neck and proceeded to go stand in the middle of the street to get the best angle possible for the shoot.  I burst out laughing from amazement. 

The day continued with a series of interviews, some of them phone interviews, which soon made both me and Tony realize how much we liked phone interviews because we could totally relax and answer the questions just as fully.  The distribution company from Canada came to do their press day for the release of Ong-Bak in Canada as well, since we could not make it up to Toronto (cold!!!!).  Many television interviews and interviews for various newspaper publications.  The funniest was when the L.A. publicist whispered to me that a journalist from a college newspaper wanted Tony to take off his shirt for the whole interview. 

After all the press work was done for the day, we were about to head out for dinner in Koreatown, when we saw some rappers in front of our hotel.  We gave them a plug about the film and some had already heard about it and seemed very very excited. After dinner, one of the members of our group surprised Tony with a birthday cake as it was his birthday in Thailand already.  It was a huge cake that Tony said everyone had to finish in order for it to be good luck.  :)

ËÅѧ¨Ò¡§Ò¹ premiere ¤×¹¡è͹ ·Õèà»ç¹ä»â´Â´Õà¡Ô¹¤Ò´ ©Ñ¹µ×è¹ÁÒã¹âçáÃÁã¹àÁ×ͧ«Öè§à»ç¹ºéÒ¹¢Í§©Ñ¹ áÅÐŧÅÔ¿·ìä»ËéÒªÑé¹à¾×èÍä»·Ó§Ò¹ ªèÒ§ÇÔàÈɨÃÔ§æ! äÁèµéͧ¢ÑºÃ¶ä»·Ó§Ò¹! Çѹ·Ó§Ò¹¢Í§àÃÒàÃÔèÁâ´Â¡ÒöèÒÂÀÒ¾¹Ôè§ãËé¡ÑºË¹Ñ§Ê×;ÔÁ¾ì Los Angeles Times «Öè§à»ç¹¹Ê¾.·ÕèãË­è·ÕèÊØ´¢Í§áÍÅàÍ¡çÇèÒä´é  ªèÒ§ÀÒ¾·Ó©Ñ¹áÅзÕÁ§Ò¹¤¹Í×è¹æµÐÅÖ§ÁÒ¡æ  à¤éҺ͡ÇèÒà¤éÒ»ÃзѺ㨩ҡ·Õè¾Õè¨Ò¡ÃÐâ´´¢éÒÁöã¹àÃ×èͧͧ¤ìºÒ¡ÁÒ¡æ ¨Ö§ÍÂÒ¡¹ÓÁÒãªéã¹ÀÒ¾¹Õé â´Â¡ÒÃãËé¾Õè¨Ò¢Öé¹ä»Â×¹µÃ§Ë¹éÒâçáÃÁ áÅСÃÐâ´´¢Öé¹¾ÃéÍÁæ¡Ñº·ÕèöÇÔè§ÁÒº¹¶¹¹ãË­è «Ö觾Íà¡çºÀÒ¾¨Ò¡ÍÕ¡½Ñè§Ë¹Ö觢ͧ¶¹¹ ¨ÐàËç¹àËÁ×͹¡ÑºÇèÒ¾Õè¨Ò¡ÃÐâ´´¢éÒÁö  à¨ë§¨ÃÔ§æ  ªèÒ§ÀÒ¾à¤éÒ·ØèÁà·áç¡Ò¾Íæ¡Ñº·Õè¾Õè¨Ò¡ÃÐâ´´àÅ à¾ÃÒй͡¨Ò¡à¤éÒ¨ÐÇÔè§ä»ÍÕ¡½Ñè§Ë¹Ö觢ͧ¶¹¹ÊÒÂãË­èã¹áÍÅàÍáÅéÇ à¤éÒÂѧàÍҶا¾ÅÒʵԡÊÕàËÅ×ͧ ÁÒ¼Ù¡¤Í áÅÐÇÔè§ÍÍ¡ä»Â×¹¡ÅÒ§¶¹¹ à¾×èÍà¡çºÀÒ¾·ÕèÊÇ·ÕèÊØ´  ©Ñ¹·Ñ駢ӷÑ駷Öè§

ËÅѧ¨Ò¡¶èÒÂÀÒ¾àÊÃç¨áÅéÇ àÃÒ¡çä»ÊÑÁÀÒɳì¡Ñ¹µèÍ àÃÔèÁ´éÇ¡ÒÃÊÑÁÀÒɳì·Ò§â·ÃÈѾ·ì  «Ö觷ÓãËé©Ñ¹¡Ñº¾Õè¨ÒÃÙéÊÖ¡ÇèÒ ªÍº¡ÒÃÊÑÁÀÒɳì·Ò§â·ÃÈѾ·ìÁÒ¡ à¾ÃÒÐÊÒÁÒö·ÓµÑǵÒÁʺÒ ÍÂèÒ§àµçÁ·Õè â´Â·ÕèÂѧµÍº¤Ó¶ÒÁä´é´Õà·èÒà´ÔÁ  µèÍÁÒ¾Õè¨Òä´éáÊ´§ãËéÊ×èÍÁÇŪ¹áÅÐÊ×èÍâ·Ã·Ñȹì·Ò§á¤¹¹Ò´Òà¡çºÀÒ¾äÇé´éÇ  ·Ò§á¤¹¹Ò´Òä´éÊ觡ͧ¾Õ.ÍÒÃì.ÁÒà¡çº¢èÒÇ äÁèÇèÒ¨Ðà»ç¹¹Ñ¡¢èÒÇâ·Ã·Ñȹì ÇÔ·ÂØ áÅР˹ѧÊ×;ÔÁ¾ì à¾ÃÒоǡàÃÒäÁèÊÒÁÒö¢Öé¹ä» Toronto ä´é (˹ÒÇÊØ´æ!)  Çѹ¹Ñé¹Áչѡ¢èÒÇ·Ñé§ã¹áÍÅàÍáÅШҡ᤹¹Ò´ÒÁÒÊÑÁÀÒɳìÁÒ¡ÁÒ áµè·Õè¢Ó·ÕèÊØ´¤§¨Ðà»ç¹¹Ñ¡¢èÒÇÊÒÇ·èÒ¹¹Ö§ ¨Ò¡¹Ê¾.¢Í§ÁËÒÇÔ·ÂÒÅÑ «Öè§ä´é¡ÃЫԺ¡Ñº©Ñ¹áÅоÕ.ÍÒÃì.·Ò§áÍÅàÍÇèÒ ÍÂÒ¡ãËé¾Õè¨Ò¶Í´àÊ×éͤØ¡ѹ ¨Ðä´éàË繡ÅéÒÁÍÂèÒ§ªÑ´à¨¹

ËÅѧ¨Ò¡ÀÒáԨ¢Í§Çѹ¹Ñé¹ä´éàÊÃç¨ÊÔé¹áÅéÇ ¾Ç¡àÃÒÃǺÃÇÁ¾Åä»·Ò¹ÍÒËÒÃà¡ÒËÅÕ ã¹àÁ×ͧà¡ÒËÅբͧáÍÅàÍ ¡è͹ÍÍ¡¨Ò¡âçáÃÁ ä´éà¨Í¾ÕèæáÃêºà»éÍÃìÍÂÙè˹éÒâçáÃÁ à¨éÒ˹éÒ·Õè¢Í§·ÑÇÃìàÃҨ֧价ѡ·Ò áÅÐá¹Ð¹Ó¾Õè¨ÒãËéà¤éÒÃÙé¨Ñ¡ à¾ÃÒÐà¤éÒà¤ÂàËç¹â¦É³Ò áÅÐä´éÂÔ¹ÁÒ¨Ò¡à¾×è͹æºéÒ§áÅéÇæàªÔ­ªÇ¹ãËéà¤éÒä»´ÙÃͺ premiere ·Õè¹ÔÇÂÍÃì¤ à¾ÃÒÐÁÕºÒ§¤¹¨Ð仹ÔÇÂÍÃ줾ÃéÍÁæ¡Ñº·Õè¾Ç¡àÃÒÍÂÙè¾Í´Õ  ËÅѧ¨Ò¡·Ò¹¢éÒÇ·ÕèÃéÒ¹à¡ÒËÅÕàÊÃç¨áÅéÇ Âѧ¡ÅѺäÁèä´é¤èÐ à¾ÃÒÐÇèÒ¾Õèã¹·ÕÁ¤¹¹Ö§ä´éà«ÍÃìä¾Ãé«ì¾Õè¨Ò´éÇÂà¤ê¡ÍѹÊǧÒÁ à¹×èͧ¨Ò¡Çѹ¹Ñé¹à»ç¹Çѹ¤ÃºÃͺÇѹ¤ÅéÒÂÇѹà¡Ô´¾Õè¨ÒáÅéÇ·ÕèàÁ×ͧä·Â à¤ê¡¡é͹ãË­èÁÒ¡àŤèÐ áÅéǾÕè¨Ò¡çºÍ¡ãËé¾Ç¡àÃÒ·Ò¹ãËéËÁ´ à¾ÃÒж×ÍÇèÒ⪤´Õ Çѹ¹Ñé¹àÅÂÍÔèÁà¤ê¡ä»ÍÂèÒ§àµçÁ·Õè :)

DAY TWO:  Los Angeles, CA

After the much unanticipated success of the first Ong-Bak screening, we got up bright and early for what would be one of many many plane rides to come.  We got up bright and early in San Francisco and required two vans for the tour everytime we had to go to the airport:  one for all the luggage and another for all of us to load into.  The people at the airport were amazing.  They managed to load all our luggage (about 20 bags) into one skycap cart for what turned out to be the only skycap sculpture accomplished thus far. 

It was another long day for us in Los Angeles, but at least it was a familiar territory.  Not only is L.A. home for me, but we had already toured L.A. briefly for the AFI Festival, so we had a feel for the city and the crowd.  After the one hour flight from SF to LA, we went straight to work with Tony's first performance for the press -- great reactions from the crowd as usual!  Everyone's cheers and amazement is always captivating, and I'm sure it gives Tony great encouragement as well. 

We finally finished our press interviews for the day and finally headed off to dinner in Thai Town.  I had made the reservation and told them that the Ong-Bak team was coming, but I don't think they realized that until we were actually there and they saw Tony.  As always, Thais have that nature of helping one another and they asked for information about the film so that they could spread the word for other Thais in the area to support the film.  What I thought was most interesting was that they thought Ong-Bak was a limited release film, like many of the other Thai films that have come our way here in the United States.  To tell them that it would be shown nationwide and to keep their eyes peeled for it was truly exciting and something to be proud of. 

What we most anticipated with the day was the Los Angeles premiere of the film.  It would be shown at the same theatre we had premiered Ong-Bak in for the AFI.  The RZA, of the Wu-Tang Clan, who is a great supporter of the film and did the trailer for Ong-Bak, made his entrance into the film with Tony, while also stopping to do interviews with the MTV news crew.  How exciting!  Tony did a few flips and Muay Thai moves for the reporters who weren't able to make it to the screening and the morning demonstration. 

The screening went wonderfully, especially when Tony came out to perform.  What I love most about watching the crowds from each city is seeing them give Tony a standing ovation: a true love for the film and true recognition of talents.  I had also invited my friends to come join the premiere, since she was a big fan of the RZA and I had been pitching Ong-Bak to her for months now.  Both she and her roommate loved Tony and thought he was incredibly handsome.  After Tony performed, many Thai people in L.A. came to wish him well, welcome him, and many viewers showed their great appreciation for the film.  It was quite a long day, but like Tony always says, when you see people that are happy with what you've done, then you are happy, too.

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