Back in college, my KL born and bred friends (and those who were not, but liked to think they were) bragged about spotting local celebrities in hip Bangsar. Having never spotted any celebrities before, local or not, me and a few other friends duly went and spent our time and money in watering holes in Bangsar. There we were and the grand total of celebrities we spotted was zero. Zero, zilch, nada. Time went on, and still no results to show for our outings except a good time and considerably lighter purses. Then I grew out of my celebrity spotting phase.
I went to the UK, graduated, and was posted to Sabah. Then I moved to Labuan. To the uninitiated, yes, Labuan is part of Malaysia (shame on you!!). It was once part of Sabah, but in 1984 was made a Federal Territory. It’s a small island, just 95 sq km with a population of about 80 000. Its main industries are serving the oil and gas business and the offshore financial services.
Bear with me ya. I’m getting to my point now. I was told by a colleague that the best soto (Malay noodle soup) to be had in Labuan is in one particular stall by the road side. It’s quite out of the way, but apparently, it’s so good that even the MP frequents that stall. I’m not exactly a soto person, but I thot what the heck, I’d give it a try. So I took myself and off I went. There I was at the humble stall waiting for my soto when in sauntered ELVIS. He coolly went to the proprietor and placed his order and then placed his quite tubby self at a table not 3 feet away from mine. Granted, he didn’t have his trademark sideburns, and he didn’t have his trademark sequined bell-bottomed suit on and he didn’t have his cape on. But as surely as nite follows day, he was Elvis. Well, it was embroidered on his red coverall. That’s how I knew it was him. I wasted no time and whipped out my phone to text my other half. “I SAW ELVIS!!! ELVIS IS ALIVE!!!” Needless to say, he was not very amused J At any rate, that was my first encounter with a celebrity in Labuan.
My second encounter with a celebrity (yes, there was a second encounter, and even a third) occurred not too long after that. One till-then-uneventful day, I stepped into one of my classes to be greeted by (drum roll please) MACGYVER! I was quite a big fan of his show, so it was a rather thrilling experience for me J People of my generation would know Macgyver. People not of my generation, go look it up in Wikipedia.
My next encounter with a celebrity occurred in a nondescript Chinese coffee shop. I was with my colleague and had just had my breakfast of dim sum and wanton noodles and teh o peng. Sated and happy, my eyes started wandering around the coffee shop. That was when I spotted MARADONA! Unbeknownst to me, he was sitting at a table behind me the whole time! I’m not a football fan, so spotting him didn’t actually make my day all sunshiny. But still, it’s not everyday that you bump into a living legend. Another text went out to my other half about this encounter. Again, he was not very amused.
The moral of the story, forget Bangsar or Hollywood or Vegas. Come to Labuan.
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