Hello hello hello!!
*grin*
I'm actually very giddy writing this for I still can't believe that only around a few weeks ago I finally (FINALLY!!!) met my hero. Like literally shook his hand and said, "great show, Cesar, big fan!" *reminiscing*
Anyway, it all started at 3am on a Saturday (26 Apr 2014) morning. I jolted awake (after only around one and a half hour of sleep) and grinned from ear to ear. CESAR MILLAN DAY, I thought to myself... Rushed hubby to get ready and by 5am we were already in front of Juanda Airport's Burger King, "harassing" their people to quickly open the joint and were literally the first customers that day (hubby was craving for some good ol fashioned burger LOL).
Long story short, we arrived in Jakarta around 7.30am and after getting our luggage we hauled our sleepy butts to Bakmi GM. Yes, it was quite early yet we've had burgers AND noodles. Big portions, no less... LOL.
Got to the hotel (Rasuna Icon, Kuningan - a decent hotel, nothing fancy, they could use MORE aircon for it was hot around the lobby and even in our room, but the breakfast was delicious!) around 9am and found out that the check-in time was at 2pm LOL. But the lovely receptionist lady promised to call us whenever our room was ready and she kept her words, by 12pm we were already in our room.
Got to chill for a bit while awaiting for hubby's big bro to pick us up and around 1.30pm we were on our way to the venue (The Kassablanka - KoKas). We got lucky that day for the traffic was just so so... It got a bit ridiculous approaching KoKas and we saw a white SUV being escorted by the police. We believe Cesar Millan was INSIDE that car hahahaha...
Anyway, got into KoKas, had lunch at The Duck King and by 3pm we were already in the venue!! *excited*
This is the first thing we saw when we entered
We were greeted by some nice ProPlan ladies asking us to sign our names and we could enjoy the entertainment they've prepared prior to the actual show. Which we did, but first thing first, we went and exchanged the vouchers we purchased from rajakarcis.com with our actual tickets!!
With tickets on hand, we continued to explore ProPlan's booths. First up, game time. We played xbox (dog themed, we played fetch with imaginary puppy) and managed to score 2 frisbees (one of them had already been destroyed by Jerome - silly face thought it was a chew toy I guess LOL)
And then we lounged at ProPlan mini cafe.
Watched this dog training video (which was on repeat LOL).
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| Hubby (whom that day sat in front of me - no thanks for separating our seats, Air Asia!) looking giddy and sleepy at the same time LOL. |
Long story short, we arrived in Jakarta around 7.30am and after getting our luggage we hauled our sleepy butts to Bakmi GM. Yes, it was quite early yet we've had burgers AND noodles. Big portions, no less... LOL.
Got to the hotel (Rasuna Icon, Kuningan - a decent hotel, nothing fancy, they could use MORE aircon for it was hot around the lobby and even in our room, but the breakfast was delicious!) around 9am and found out that the check-in time was at 2pm LOL. But the lovely receptionist lady promised to call us whenever our room was ready and she kept her words, by 12pm we were already in our room.
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| Showing you the roof-top resto area - where we waited for our room to be ready (because it was significantly colder up there - remember I said the hotel needs MORE air con hehehe) and where we had breakfast the next day. |
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| The snacks hubby and I had to pass the time. |
Got to chill for a bit while awaiting for hubby's big bro to pick us up and around 1.30pm we were on our way to the venue (The Kassablanka - KoKas). We got lucky that day for the traffic was just so so... It got a bit ridiculous approaching KoKas and we saw a white SUV being escorted by the police. We believe Cesar Millan was INSIDE that car hahahaha...
Anyway, got into KoKas, had lunch at The Duck King and by 3pm we were already in the venue!! *excited*
This is the first thing we saw when we entered
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| Cesar and Junior's cardboard cutoff!! *excited excited!!* |
We were greeted by some nice ProPlan ladies asking us to sign our names and we could enjoy the entertainment they've prepared prior to the actual show. Which we did, but first thing first, we went and exchanged the vouchers we purchased from rajakarcis.com with our actual tickets!!
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| For someone from Surabaya whom never had to pay to go to concerts/shows (thanks to Ko Stephan from Lasika Production LOL), I didn't expect to get this kind of ticket... I pictured a more conventional looking ones - like, say, movie theater's LOL. |
With tickets on hand, we continued to explore ProPlan's booths. First up, game time. We played xbox (dog themed, we played fetch with imaginary puppy) and managed to score 2 frisbees (one of them had already been destroyed by Jerome - silly face thought it was a chew toy I guess LOL)
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| Showing you what we got for our kiddos! |
And then we lounged at ProPlan mini cafe.
Watched this dog training video (which was on repeat LOL).
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| I think hubby downed around 10 bars of mini chocolate they provided... |
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| ...while I was waiting for my coffee (always wanted to try Nescafe Dolce Gusto - and I finally did! The coffee was yum - didn't expect less from Nescafe!) |
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| My perfect Saturday! (And yes, that's the frisbee underneath the tickets covering all the chocolate wrappers LOL). |
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| O hi there Sorak Gemilang, ProPlan, and Animal Defenders' logos!! Thank you all for getting Cesar to Indonesia!! |
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| Next stop: Animal Defenders' Booth! |
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| A cause dear to my heart! Go check out their website and follow them on twitter |
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| Purchased several t-shirts (two of them look exactly like what the mannequin wears) for hubby and I and for our kennel-boy. You can also purchase those merchandises on their website to help fund their organization! |
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| Got to finally meet Mr. Doni Herdaru Tona in person! He's the founder of Animal Defenders and my personal hero! Go follow him on twitter to know more about what his amazing organization does! |
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| Following the arrow to our seats! |
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| The venue!! We got in pretty early, eager to skip the long lines! |
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| The giant screen with the word: JAKARTA!! |
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| Selfie with the hubs! (this was taken right before he snoozed right on his seat waiting for the show to start... Didn't I tell you we only had a few hours of sleep the night before hahaha) |
Finally (after 15 to 30 mins delay, I can't remember) the show started. I saw dark blank screen and thanks to my days in EO business, I knew he was gonna make the grand entrance from behind the audience! I quickly turned around, saw this guy pacing forward, and started clapping. People followed suit and cheered LOL. They cheered further when he took off his jacket to show a football jersey. Took me a while to realize that it was Persija's (hey, no football fan here!) LOL.
It was just like his show The Dog Whisperer (the live one that is), but so much more at the same time. He's one superb public speaker and from the moment he said "Hello Jakarta", I was sold. He started the "seminar" with a promise that when the show was done, we would be more in tune with our instinct and mother nature. Two things that people in big cities nowadays are no longer familiar with...
He didn't bring Junior with him (later explaining on his website how it was not possible due to the fact that bringing him to Asia would mean plenty time spent during custom's quarantine whilst Cesar and his team would only spend several days in each country), but that didn't mean no dogs were present. Few weeks before the D Day, Indonesian dogs were selected (from numbers of people submitting their dogs' video on YouTube) by Cesar himself to be with him on the stage.
And the way the dogs behaved whenever Cesar handled the leash was just awesome. Basically this is what he wanted us to see on his shows, that it can be done. No magic. Just pure calmness and assertiveness.
Speaking of magic, he joked once that long ago he would say to people that "it's because the leash is magic" when asked what his secret was. Clearly it was a joke. People laughed. But when we were lining up to go to the bathroom during intermission, I heard one aunty said to her daughter, "I wonder if they're selling the magic leash outside?! We should go look!" and I was like... KILL ME NOW LOL LOL LOL.
Aunty, it was no magic. And certainly there's no such thing as magic leash. LOL.
Anyway, I didn't snap any photo, didn't record any video because not only it was not allowed (oh but it was okay to snap photos as long as we don't use flash), but I was so into the show, I didn't want to ruin the moment by doing something other than watching and savoring it. But when this showed on the giant screen:
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| I just had to. It's Cesar's fave quote. Well said, Mr. Gandhi! |
And with that quote Cesar ended his show.
BUT it wasn't ending yet for yours truly as I actually won the meet and greet ticket!!!
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| Go on and read that card!! |
And one of the biggest moments in my life to date:
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| I can safely say that I've met my hero (yes, bringing hubby and my dogs along for the ride - check out my t-shirt! LOL) |
Arghhh what a dream came true!
Now excuse me, I need to dream my next encounter with Cesar Millan (which btw will come true, mark my words). Preferably at his Dog Training Facility - with me as one of his students. Hey, dream big, right!!
Toodles,
#Undecided
- 2:40:00 PM
- 5 Comments
