The Forbidden Gate
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| Wonderfully Tacky: The Beauty Crown Hotels |
I woke up at the crack of dawn again on the day of the
pageant after another sleepless night. Immediately I checked my phone to see if
my friend had responded about the possibility of getting tickets. The answer
was that there was STILL no news about tickets. This was even worse than
the 2010 outing when it was just as hard to get tickets, but at least I
organised them the day before the event. My friend and I agreed to meet at the
Beauty Crown at 10am.
I headed down to breakfast and, for the first time, I could really feel the
Miss World fever. It was very clear who was staying at the hotel for the Miss
World Pageant and who were just regular guests. There was a large group from
French Polynesia who were there to support Miss World France. On my way up to
my room I stopped to wish them good luck and say that I think their girl would
do very well. I then rushed up to post my final Stairway to the Crown
Leaderboard and off I went to the Beauty Crown.
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| OUTDOOR EVENT: A makeshift arena was constructed outside the Beauty Crown |
Now I must say that I thought the Beauty Crown hotels looked
super tacky when I saw them on photos, but in real life they are actually
pretty impressive. They are definitely unlike any other hotels, so I was
impressed by the creativity that went into the design process
Upon arrival at the gate where you enter the grounds of the
hotel and Beauty Crown Theater, I quickly realized that another nightmare had
started. I asked the staff where I could get tickets for Miss World. First of
all, they did not know what I was saying AGAIN. Then when someone who could
speak English came to the gate, I was told that the tickets could be obtained
from the second floor of the hotel, but that you needed a pass to get in and
that you would you get a pass with the tickets. So I needed a pass to get a
ticket, but the passes came with the tickets. That made perfect sense of
course… in China.
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The wait had started. It would be a wait that would last for
1 hour and 55 minutes in the hot Sanya sun. Well, the sun was nice, but it was
the constant and all too familiar sound of spitting that grated on my nerves
the most. I was constantly in
contact with my friend and we were both kind of surprised by how hard it was to
get a ticket and/or people who could explain what was going on.
In the meantime, I saw some interesting things. Some
directors were arriving for the national directors’ meeting and people were
coming and going. The ones who got in, I was told, were the ones who had gone
through this exact struggle in the days before the actual day of the crowning to eventually get hold of this elusive
pass that seemed like a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I was
kind of irritated. Yes, I am just a fan, but I also do not think it is so
outrageous to just want to BUY a ticket to an important event. I did not want
to get anything for free or do anything wrong. I actually just wanted to spend
a pretty decent and generous (for a pageant) amount of money so I could have a
good seat at an event that I had been looking forward to for a long time.
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| THE PEARLY GATES OF MISS WORLD: The hottest tickets in town were inside |
I was not the only person who became extremely irate. The
parents and sister of Miss Gibraltar had the same problem. They spent 40
minutes trying to get in and explained that they were one of the contestant’s
parents and they wanted to get tickets. They were just blankly shut down by the
staff on site who pretty much just talked in circles. In what seemed to be a
recurring theme, it seemed like NOBODY knew exactly what was going on. It
seemed like they were not prepared to deal with these kind of “issues”. That’s
if you could call people wanting to attend a “show” an “issue”. They had no way
of solving the problem. For them it was just, no pass = no entry. More people who arrived faced the same problem and some angry phone calls were made and I heard from my sources that even some national directors had a meltdown or two. It pretty much went like
this. “Come and collect the tickets from the second floor.” “Oh, but we can’t
enter without a pass.” “You will get a pass with the tickets.” There was a lot
of frustration and quite a few curse words. Now, once again, I totally understand that I am just a
fan and that I mean absolutely nothing to the MWO and that they have no
obligations to me whatsoever. But I did feel awful for the parents of the contestants. This was
supposed to be a special day not only for girls, but also for their families
who had spent lots of money to get to Sanya. The vibe turned quite negative and
understandably so, because the people felt disrespected. I had to keep my cool
and stay calm, because technically I actually had no right to be there. I was
not a contestant’s family or a national director. I was just an outsider trying
to get accepted to this “members only club”. It was a bit embarrassing and by
then I had decided that it would probably be the last time that I attend a Miss
World Pageant, because I felt lower than low, like a persona non grata.
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| NO ENTRY: Getting in was not easy feat |
After lots of phone calls and angry words, the Chinese staff
became extremely impatient. I heard them calling Miss World's British staff
and it became clear that there were two camps: the Miss World cluster group (the British
staff) and the Miss World host group. I sensed that there was a communication gap
between the two groups. Actually, by that time, I had managed to find my sense
of humour again and having lived this for a few years, I could only imagine how
hard it must have been for the British staff. I am sure there were a lot of
“Yes, but no” answers and even more “No, but yes” answers. This would only make
sense to a person who has actually lived in the Far East.
Finally, after what felt like going round and round in
circles for 40 minutes, a staff member of the Miss World Organization showed
up. He was quite laid-back and very kind and immediately made sure that the
family of Miss Gibraltar was let in. I had opted not to humiliate myself any
longer (after my name dropping of a few contacts got me absolutely NOWHERE at
all), so I just sheepishly stood around. I decided that I would wait for
another 15 minutes and then I would just totally give up and forget about Miss
World. As the parents of Miss Gibraltar made their way in, her dad suddenly
turned around and said: “That guy must get in, too. He has been waiting out
here for so long.” It took only 30 seconds of explaining for the Miss World
staff member to say: “He’s coming with me.” I was beyond grateful not only to
the Miss Gibraltar’s dad who absolutely did not have to help me, but also to
this Miss World staff member who was really nice. He explained that he got
stuck outside several times.
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| (DON'T) CALL ME MAYBE: Phone calls, phone calls, phone calls |
I was quite impressed by the size of the whole complex. A
lot of money was spent on this development. I still could not decide if the
whole concept and the decoration and design were wonderful or tacky – so maybe
it’s just wonderfully tacky. As we entered the hotel and got ready to go up to
the second floor, I saw a few of the girls. Most of them had their curlers in
and full makeup on already. It was midday. By that time, I was so depleted
after my two-hour wait that I could actually just not even have cared less. I
just remember thinking to myself that it was easy to even in just five seconds
be able to tell who the sincere ones were, who the divas were and also who the
ones were that just have had enough of the whole experience.
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| BEAUTY CROWN: Miss World was held just outside the Beauty Crown Theatre |
We entered the large bar and reception area on the second
floor to a jovial atmosphere. The mood was quite festive, as the national
directors had just concluded their annual ND meeting. They were chatting like
long lost relatives and lots of hugs were being exchanged. It was exciting to
see so many familiar faces, but I was honestly so discouraged that I remained
mostly untouched. The excitement was gone for me. I overheard that some of the
NDs were surprised that Mrs. Morley did not attend this meeting as it was the
first time that she had failed to go to the ND meeting. She probably had her
own issues with the host committee or she probably got tired of hearing
complaints.
I waited at the bar area where the tickets were supposed to
be handed out. I was on the list and just wanted to pay for my ticket and get
out of there. At this point I thought that the tickets were about RMB1000 (just
over $150) and I was fine with that. In fact, I would gladly have paid RMB2,000
or even more if I could just buy my own ticket and select a seat I wanted to be
in without having to be humiliated by pretty much almost begging for one. My
friend who I had known for several years came over and that was actually the
biggest highlight for me up until that point. It was the first time that we met
in person and it was a true delight after having shared so many pageant ups and
downs. He informed me that it was actually the coronation ball tickets that
were RMB1000 and that tickets to show were being given out for free. I found
that interesting. I still maintain that I would have paid to just get tickets
if I felt good about the whole thing. After a brief exchange of words, I
followed my friend’s advice to rather not get tickets for the champagne gala
afterwards. I was pretty much fed up and disappointed that an event I had
looked forward to for so long turned out to be such a disappointment.
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| CLOCK IS TICKING: No tickets hours before the show |
The tickets were still not there. Apparently they would only
arrive between 3 and 4 – about 3 hours before everyone had to be seated.
Personally, I felt that was disorganization at its very best. On my way out, I
did manage to chat to a few national directors. That was a thrill and I must
say that Mrs. Morley can thank her lucky stars that she gets to work with a
bunch of loyal, energetic and positive people who have a true passion for the
brand. I wonder if they are appreciated by the organization. Even though some
of them might have been disappointed by the way things were going, they were
true professionals and did not let it dampen their enthusiasm. I did pick up that everyone believed that Miss
Russia would win. Apparently it was the trending topic during the preceding 48
hours as the girls started talking about it after Miss Russia “apparently” told
another delegate that the organization told her she should get ready to take
the crown. Now we all know by know this was proven to just be a rumor as Miss
Russia actually finished as the runner-up to Miss World. But that’s life in the
pageant world – there are always loads of rumors and gossip that fly around in
the final days before the event.
I was still ticketless and headed back to my hotel to go and
get changed for the main event. We would return at 5pm in search of the elusive
golden tickets.
(TO BE CONTINUED…)
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