Back from Seoul, South Korea
We touched down at Amsterdam airport on the night of 20th January at 10.30pm after a long flight.. flying halfway across the globe. After collecting our luggage, we took the train to Utrecht and were there around midnight. There was a possibility that the last tram had already left, so Grubby's dad picked us up and drove us back to our home. We reached home at 12.30am, exhausted, but we knew it was not the end of the day for us yet.

At Schiphol (airport in Amsterdam) it's already Christmas time! They even have an enormous Knut on the Christmas tree! :) Knut is a famous polar bear born in Berlin zoo. The next time I visit Berlin again, I gonna visit Knut!

Jos de Putter (the director of "Beyond The Game" Documentary) called us when we were in the train. He told Grubby that the next day (21st January) will be a very busy day, lots of interviews before the movie premier. The day will start early morning where there's an interview with EenVandaag, a Dutch news show at 10am in Amsterdam. Jos de Putter had already booked us a hotel in Amsterdam for the night of 20th and 21st. He suggested that we go home to put down our luggage, then pack a small luggage for 2 nights and take a taxi to Amsterdam to sleep in the hotel, so it could be easier for us in the morning.

And so we did as told. When we reached home at 12.30am, we didn't do the packing straight away. We cooked some noodles and tried to satisfy our hunger. The food in the plane was not that nice, and always so small portions. After eating, we unpacked and packed fresh clothes and necessities, after which we took a cab to Amsterdam. It was around 4.30am in the morning when we got to Amsterdam. I was tired like a zombie when we checked in to the hotel. It was a nice hotel though.. it's the Amsterdam Americain Hotel.

21st Nov - Media Circus day and Movie Premier
We only had 2 hours of sleep or less! T_T Woke up at 7am to go eat breakfast, then come back up to shower and prepare. After dressing up, Grubby met Jos De Putter in the lobby at 9.45am, and they talked a little and walked 15 mins to meet up with EenVandaag for the interview. They did the interview in a games retail store. I stayed behind in the hotel to organise stuffs, make some phone calls and ironed Grubby's formal clothes for the movie premier.

Jos De Putter and Grubby with Twan Huys (famous TV guy in The Netherlands, was once voted "Best looking man in Netherlands in June 2008" by a popular Dutch women's magazine Opzij).

Manuel returned at 12.15pm, and left again at 12.45pm to go for a pre-talk meeting with Twan Huys at 1pm. Meanwhile I took a bath and got dressed up to go out for the day. Manuel returned at 2.15pm and brought me to the NH Schiller hotel, where Twan Huys and his crew had everything set up for the interview and talk with Jos De Putter, Grubby and Garry Kasparov. The show was going tol be live at 3.30pm, so we didn't need to wait for long. We were also very excited to meet Garry Kasparov.. but he was late because his flight was delayed. For those who do not know who Garry Kasparov is, he is a very brillant guy, and the best chess player in the world. Now he is involved Russia's politics, though he does not consider himself a politician. You can also visit Kasparov's website HERE.

The interview/talk show is for Dutch TV Show "Festival journaal (VPRO)", where they talk about documentaries from the IDFA - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.

When Kasparov finally arrived, he had to rush to the table for the interview straight away. A Russian lady who can speak Dutch told us to wait for the interview to finish, because Kasparov would like to meet Grubby and talk with him. We were of course very surprised! Later we found out that the Russian lady was the director who made the latest documentary about Kasparov. That's also the reason why Kasparov was also at the talk show.

The documentary about Kasparov is also very interesting. Kasparov was imprisoned for 5 days because his demonstration and protest against the government was not allowed by the government. Kasparov said that you can not call him a politician, because he can not lie. His phone is tapped and everything he says or does is recorded, and if he lie, anything can be used against him. He also mentioned that the election in Russia last year was not an election. There's a joke in Russia " You can either vote for Putin or the paper shredder." Kasparov is currently trying to overthrow Putin's regime, and he wants Russia to have a real election and to be a democracy. He calls the current regime a dictatorship and finds it extremely damaging to Russia's economy and harmful for all Russian citizens.

Finally, after the interview Kasparov meets up with Grubby! They had a very nice and enjoyable talk. Kasparov's English is very fluent. Kasparov said he bought Warcraft III for his son and taught him how to play it. He also likes the game and enquired much about it with Grubby. It's really amazing how Kasparov being so famous is also very humble and easy-going at the same time.

Both were pretty excited during the talk.. it seems they clicked immediately.

Meanwhile Jos De Putter was happily enjoying their talk. Another camera crew also filmed the talk, so there could be a better quality version out there somewhere, or it might appear in "Beyond The Game" DVD later on.

After that Kasparov asked to take a picture with Grubby, so that he can show it to his son! Totally cool! ;)

Video: Kasparov chatting with Grubby

I taped part of the talk between Grubby and Kasparov. It was not very good quality but you can hear some of the stuffs they talk about.

I took a picture with Twan Huys. (For Grubby's mom and grandma, who are his fans)

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