Bangkok Fan Meeting Recap

Note: Long post ahead!

When the Bangkok FM was announced, I was determined to go since I couldn’t make it to the Korea Fan meeting. However, I didn’t have much expectations after I bought my ticket online, because I knew the show wasn’t sold out, so cost will have to be managed some how. He certainly won’t bring his dancers to do the dance number that he sang at the Korea FM. 

The seating arrangement was also changed and only make known to us upon arrival, so that all the fans were congregated together to avoid any empty seats.

Yeon Seok sang only three songs: Amazing you, Sugar Daddy and Mr Sunshine’s OST, but the fan meeting was well over 2 hours though. In fact, about 2 hours 20mins before he did the high five and photo-taking with fans. I think the bulk of the time went to translation.

It did cross my mind that I may not understand what is going on in the FM since both Thai and Korean are not my native languages but fortunately, after 10 years of watching Korean drama with subs, I understood most of what he said. (LOL) 

First, I need to give praise to both the Thai emcee and translator. They must be quite popular themselves in Thailand, the emcee was a funny expressive guy, so I sometimes I could guess what he was trying to say, and the translator also did a good job translating with much emotions.

On hindsight, I like that during the translation time, I could observe YYS in his quiet mode which is not commonly seen in his works and interviews because he will be doing or saying something all the time. While the translator and the emcee were having a nice conversation among themselves about what YYS said, YYS sat on his chair patiently looking suave and elegant exuding some serious charm of a 34-year-old man. From here, I could see that he does has his quiet serious moments. (Swoon)

Actually, the first thing that hit me about a fan meeting in Thailand was when the lights went out for the show, we were all told to stand for the Thai’s King anthem! Thus, before I got to see our dear YYS in person, I stared at the Thai King’s portrait for a good few minutes while the soul stirring anthem blared through the hall.

For the usual pre-show advisory of switching hand phones to silence and no eating, YYS recorded it! He kindly tell us to switch our hand phones to silent and not to take pictures but concentrate on him. Haha and there shall be no eating too, as he announce sweetly that we would have to endure even if we were hungry. (Cute).

Finally, YYS walked in on stage, looking dapper in a grey check suit with white T-shirt and white sneakers, fans started screaming and clapping as he began to sing Amazing You. More screaming ensued as he sang the first line. As he smoothly sang verse after verse, I gradually followed his emotions into another realm of melodic love. This transcendental feeling, I kept with me long after the fan meeting ended.

Roaring screams greeted the end of his song and the emcee entered to welcome him asking if he had the chance to tried any Thai food yet. YYS said he had Tomyum Goong (spicy prawn soup), fried rice and green curry the night he arrived but he hadnt got the chance to eat Pad Thai (fried noodles).  The emcee told him there was a famous Pad Thai in Khaosan road, and YYS actually heard about it so the Emcee asked if he come to Thailand before? YYS replied yes, he first came about 13 years ago and overall he visited about 3 to 4 times. 

They briefly spoke about Mr Sunshine and YYS was asked what part of the filming was difficult. His immediate answer was the Japanese lines. (Ahhh). Then the sword scenes as well as the Judo scenes. Also because he was working on the Hedwig musical prior to filming Mr Sunshine, he was very fair and had to do tanning.

First segment:

Hall 1 #All about Yoo

His profile was flashed on the screen and the emcee began to examine him like a doctor examining a rare specimen. First, about his height of 183cm, I think the emcee asked him how he got so tall, and he credit his mum for giving birth to him well. Haha.

In the list, there was also a nickname item and he put Yoo Yeon So. So meant cow in Korean and because he was always working. Fans called him Yeon SO, as in him being as hardworking as a cow.

For his point of charm, he stated as his eyes, which he felt can be both kind-looking or bad like Gu Dong Mae. However, the emcee said Thai girls favour men with broad shoulders and YYS shoulders looks broad. At that point, a measuring tape was instantly brought out and THEN YYS took off his jacket to much screaming for the measuring. (Fantastic) The camera zoomed in on the tape and it says 17inches! 

The weird thing was that they had taken the measurement at his chest and later some Korean fans commented shouldn’t the measurement be done at the back? (Funny)

Next about his hobbies, he written Photography and Travelling. He said although he has many interests, photography is the one thing that he continued doing and his father had a film camera so he grew up sharing the same hobby with his dad. At this point, a lucky fan was drawn from a ballot box of tickets to go on stage to receive a polaroid photo from him. This lucky Indonesian fan with a sweet pink Hijab said actually it was her birthday! YYS then offered to take a selfie with her. Really lucky fan!

Favourite singers? YYS said he like many Korean singers and struggled to name just one, but the first one he said was Jason Mraz then Bruno Mars. The emcee then said since you danced in the Korea fan meeting, he should give at least a demo too. YYS looked sheepish but the music came on and he tried his best to groove. (Haha). He commented it was just so difficult. We all laughed anyway.

Next question: What sort of people do you not like?

YYS: Bad people.

Emcee: The fans here are all good people, right?

YYS: Yes!

Fashion – What do you like?

YYS: Casual, dandy is fine too.

Emcee: Did you feel hot in Bangkok

YYS: Actually, I feel the aircon is quite strong, so I need to keep my jacket on.

Some mumbling from the audience.

YYS: What?! you want me to take off my jacket again? (Everyone laughed)

Question: We heard you draw well too?

A portrait of ( I honestly didn’t know who was it he drawn, I thought it was HeeSung in Mr Sunshine LOL) a person in a suit.

YYS: I don’t draw well so I stick to photography. I was looking at the poster of the Gentleman’s guide musical and drew this. (Audience laughed. Some mumbling)

YYS: Oh Thai fans are so kind, they actually said the picture does resembles me. 

Hall 2 : #Thank Yoo

Next, a poster board was brought out on stage with fan's messages. YYS said he could easily choose one in Korea, but here he doesn’t understand Thai so could the emcee help him? He said it so earnestly that  everyone laughed.

The emcee took a look at the board and was very “helpful” telling YYS all the messages were ok, as in there are no strange questions. I think the emcee would be more than happy if there were wierd questions!

First question he picked was about which part of Thailand he wanted to visit and he replied Chiangmai.

Emcee: How did you know about Chiang Mai?

YYS: I have friends who visited and they mentioned it. It is quite famous

Emcee: elaborate on what he can do in Chiang Mai (some famous mountain there etc)

Audience mumbling.

Emcee: They recommend you to go Mon Jam

YYS: Chiang Mai's Mon Jam, ok I will remember.

YYS then picked up a Korean message on the board asking him to sing a song from the musical, so YYS asked, are there many people from Korea here? Quite a number of hands went up.

At this point, I like to mention a group of 4 Korean fans that were the last to enter the hall, this group deserves a honorable mention because they consist of a grandma, a couple and their teenage son! The two guys must be one of the small number of 5 men in the audience. At one point while I was busy taking notes about the fan meeting, the teenage boy seating in the row before me turned and stared at me with much curiosity. He must had thought that I was a wierdo. Who on earth, scribbles through fan meeting. LOL. Hey I did wave my light stick and clapped at times, but the Q & A was so long...

YYS started crooning the song Monty sang to Sibella (the same song he sang on Live’s bar variety show). It was SO NICE TO HEAR HIM SING LIVE without any music background. I could hear the treble of his voice…me swooning again.

Last question from the board: Oppa, could you do the baseball throwing pose of Chilbong?

YYS took off his jacket readily to another round of screaming, and then pick up some small white towels on the floor to roll them into balls for throwing. He flung them to the farthest end of the hall and fans stood up to catch them. 

Everyone were excited as he threw quite a few. Oh, and his baseball pose was quite a killer, showing off his long legs. (HeeHee) 

His body proportion is really wonderful. The white t-shirt he was wearing was fitting but not tight, his clothes just fit perfectly and…. I am in a lost for words describing this piece of art. Haha. After finishing the ball throwing, he must had felt so cool, he swivelled his jacket back onto himself like a super model and everyone screamed again. Haha

Frankly, I think the baseball throwing segment was planned, why else would there be white towels readily available on stage?? Anyway, it was nicely done and we got to see him doing the throw which was fabulous.

Since he can’t make coffee on stage, YYS decided to make watermelon juice in the Thailand FM! Two staff brought out the long table which were equipped with a sparkling new white blender, a cutting board for watermelon (which were in large slices).  The first thing that YYS did was put on the plastic gloves, then he put the ice in the blender followed by chunks of watermelon, only after the emcee suggested that he cut them that YYS sliced some of the watermelon to smaller pieces. He kept filling up the blender to the brim and fans kept telling him to stop putting more. Everyone was really amused and I wasn’t surprised that the blender refused to work when he switched it on!

While I started laughing, a stressed looking staff came running from backstage offering to help. YYS started using a spoon? to stir all the stuff and then he and the staff started shaking the blender. Hahahaha, lo and behold the blender finally started to BLEND!

When YYS began pouring the juice in the cups, he promptly declared he was going to drink first, (was he thirsty?) and drank about an inch of a cup? Perhaps he was proud about his own concoction and looked delighted after drinking the juice.

Two lucky fans were again drawn from the ballot box to go on stage to receive the drinks. Both were extremely shy and stood a million miles away from YYS and never dare looked him in the eye. Hey, my dear YYS, if you had chosen me, I would have given you a free hug (as if he would care for it). Hahaha

The two girls had a different expression from YYS after drinking and “complained” that the juice was not sweet when the emcee asked them how was the taste. YYS quickly offered to add sugar syrup into their cups! The lucky fans were given polaroid selfies with YYS too before they left the stage. I am sure I am not the only one envious of them!

At this point, YYS left the stage to change while the congratulatory messages from his celebrity friends came on. Yang Se Jong was a new addition, and he said he misses YYS. The rest were seen before in the Korean fan meeting namely: Juman, Sehun, Lee Byun Hun, Kim Tae Ri, Son Ho Jun and Byun Yo Han who called YYS the best!

When YYS next appeared on stage, he belted out Sugar Daddy, the song from his Hedwig musical. In his black and white silk shirt, he ran down stage to look for the “Sugar Daddy” and then across the hall while touching the hands of the fans seated along the aisles. Everyone got super excited and I should have shoot a video amidst the chaos but he was fast and he returned to the stage in a flash.

Hall 3 #Actor

MORE interview time after he sang.

Memorable scenes of him in Reply 1994 and Romantic Doctor were shown on screen. I was wondering why they didn’t show Mr Sunshine scenes, maybe there were rights issues. I don’t know.

The scenes he selected from Reply 1994 were:

1) Kissing Najung at the bus stop when the clock strikes midnight.

While watching the video, YYS laughed at himself saying “Chuwayo”. The emcee asked how many times did they film the scene and he said it was ok on one count. No NGs. (Wow). Emcee then wanted him to reenact the scene here and YYS looked at his watch asking “do we have time”? He compensated by saying “Pom Lak Khun” which was I love You in Thai with finger heart. Heehee (me, am beginning to like the phrase Pom Lak Khun)

2) Ball throwing to Najung at the stadium after he won a match.

3) Interview on TV scene with ChilBong saying “this is not the end”

Here the emcee asked if like ChilBong who cannot give up Najung, was there anything that YYS cannot give up in life? YYS said it is his dream to be an actor and although there were hard times, it is something that he cannot give up. (I want to cry hearing him say this).

Romantic Doctor scenes:

1) Pretending to fight with HyunJin at the hospital to conceal their relationship.

2) Repeatedly saying I love you to HyunJin. 

The emcee requested he said I love you in different languages live as well and he managed Korean, English, Thai and German?

3) Surgery scene where he expertly stitched up the patient.

YYS said he really practiced hard for the scene and before filming the drama, he had always watched with interest when such scenes come on the TV so he had a fun time filming them himself.

Hall 4 #Life

And more Q and A!! LOL There was really so much talking in this fan meeting, I wished he sang more.

Q: What do you wear at home?

YYS: Pyjamas pants and T-shirts

Emcee probing more, in what sequence?

YYS: I wear the pants then the T-shirt (he said it in amusement)

Q: What kind of coffee do you like?

YYS: I like Americano and Latte. Recently I like lemon tea too.

The Emcee refused to give up: Choose between Americano and Latte. 

YYS started thinking hard and answered Latte... 
Like an auctioneer, finally getting the price he wants, the emcee declared, so Latte it will be!

He went further to ask YYS why, but I couldn’t understand YYS’s explanation.

Q: When you are alone, what do you do?

YYS: Recently, I just want to sleep. I look at scripts and practice my songs.

AT THIS POINT. A full pie chart came up, O.M.G, I could almost feel everyone squinting their eyes to decipher it. Was I attending a university lecture on YYS’s life? Haha.

Professor Yoo started lecturing, oops, explaining the chart from his sleeping time and the translating fast so at this point, I had to scribble even faster. These days with keyboards, I havent been writing so much!

Emcee commented: Looks like you are very organised, but Thai girls in general are not so, are you ok with that? YYS thinking…. well I am ok (me: what do you expect him to answer) (LOL)

Next, the doggie picture of Chibongie YYS drawn was flashed on screen he said it is not easy to design his own name into a logo.

(am glad I bought the flash light to support him, yes!)

After that, his photo at Blue Dragon awards appeared. The emcee said YYS was dancing to the Twice song then, can he demo it too? YYS cutely stood up and did it again, making everyone laughed.

With much sadness, after 2 hours, the fan meeting came to an end and YYS said his final words for Thai fans. All the usual diplomatic things. He also wrote a letter to the Thai fans.

A surprise for him came in the form of a video done by Thai Fans which was kind of like a tribute tracking his debut all the way to the The Seoul Awards with message thanking him for all his work. Then all us hold up the white paper banner to show him our support. A white banner was given to us when we enter the hall. It said --Thank you for coming for us.

As a wrapped up, he sang one of the OST from Mr Sunshine to conclude the fan meeting and left the stage. I kept the sheets of notes securely in my bag like they were the most precious things I had and prepare for the high five session. Looking back, the notes were really helpful in recalling the program of the fan meeting. I tried talking to the Thai fans on both my left and right, but they couldnt speak English so I just quietly waited for the high five session.

When the lights came on, ushers directed us to go to the stage in rows to do the high five. YYS came out with a new T-shirt and everyone high five him on stage while he stood behind a table with two guards beside him. As my turn came, I got nervous. Everything and everyone was just moving too fast. 

Within that 2 seconds of me walking towards him, I saw he held his hands up and I could see his smiling face in between his hands and I high five him while telling him I came from Singapore, but I think my voice was drowned in the hall and he didnt hear what I was saying and just politely nodded. *sad*  His hands were firm and warm and not as big as seen in photos. His palm is just slightly larger then usual. 

I went off stage and was rerouted to seat again while waiting for the group photo.  This time, I was seated next to another Thai fan who was really pretty and spoke perfect English. (I hope she will get to read this, we didnt exchange names). The fans who did not paid for the group photo left the hall as they finished their high fives with him.

After the high five session was over, YYS was escorted off stage again and the staff brought out white chairs, placing them in a row on stage. For some random reason, even though I was not seated among the front rows, I was in the first group to go on stage for photo taking, but I wasn’t lucky to seat in the middle of the row. 

When all the 10 chairs were filled, the camera man took a few practiced shots while we waited for YYS come back on stage. They certainly were determined to keep him out of sight because I peered backstage from my seat.  Eventually, when we were ready, YYS came back and everyone got excited again as he took his place in the middle of the row standing behind us. There was no chance to admire him further, as we were told to look at the camera right away. I put on my best smile for the shots knowing I better look good for this precious photo. Before I knew it, the cameraman was done and we were waved off to go. 

But wait, I haven’t seen him up close!!! I turned quickly to take a final look at him as the minders were waving. I snapshot his face with my memory: small face, smooth complexion, excellent glowing makeup, ever smiling... .and then I had to head off down stage. Please, I want to stay longer!!! *Cried in my heart.

The very pretty Thai fan kindly asked me how am I going back to my hotel, and told me it would be difficult to get a taxi at the remote venue, so I followed her to the free shuttle bus area, where a shuttle bus would ferry us to the nearest train station. 

Since there many people waiting, we had to wait a along time for the bus to make a second trip back for our turn and as I was worrying about my journey back…. some people started screaming, then I saw a black van coming from my right with its windows down and YYS waving at us!!! AHHHHHHH. 

But the van was going at full speed towards the exit, so all of us sent him off with loads of screaming. LOL. Hmm, I wonder how did he know the whole bunch of us waiting for the bus were his fans?? Did he remember how we look like? Did some staff in his car told him? I guessed we were the only one at the venue at that hour? And we were all girls... Nice mystery, Mr Yoo. LOL.

To be honest, the van was at least 20 metres away and I didn’t see his face clearly as he whisked by, but still, for him to wave at us was just so heart warming, it was a wonderful end to an already great evening!

Thanks for reading!

Edit: With regards to his interest photography, I read from another fan's account that it was his dad who encourage him on it by showing him the camera and a related book. After that, YYS read book after book on photography and developed the interest.