[The Sun and Ta Kung Pao]

Cast members from TVB's "Life Begins at Forty" including Alex Fong, Shirley Yeung, Chin Ka Lok and Anne Heung took part in a promotion yesterday where they had to play games riding Harleys. With the girls riding behind the men, Chin Ka Lok joked to his passenger Shirley telling her to treat him as though he was her boyfriend Gregory Lee. He also braked hard intentionally so that she would fall onto his back as he laughed: "I keep getting poked in the back."

Afterwards, Shirley said: "I only know that my bottom hurts! I was a little scared when we rode out for a spin, so I just grabbed hard onto Ka Lok's 'spare tyre'." However, Ka Lok protests that is muscle and not fat!

It turns out that this is the first time that Anne and Shirley have ridden on a motorbike, but Anne was careful not to lean too closely to Alex because she knows he has a girlfriend. Anne has wanted to ride on a motorcycle for a long time because she feels that women riding motorbikes look very cool and stylish, however her family have objected and she is too frightened, so the idea has been put off indefinitely.

Despite over twenty years experience in riding a motorcycle, Alex almost had an accident with Anne because they were too excited, but luckily they were both unharmed. Alex said: "I haven't ridden for a long time! I have been thinking of buying a bike for a while and found one for about $200,000 but my girlfriend (Mok Ho Yan) has never ridden behind me, maybe she is scared." Talking of the rather low ratings for the show, Alex forced a laugh and said: "Everyone is going out, even I haven't been staying in to watch TV! That means that the markets are picking up though, there is nothing we can do but be sacrificed for a rise in the economy."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-1-4/UL-214818.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040104/20040104004518_0003.html



[Ta Kung Pao, Oriental Daily & The Sun]

The twenty one Miss Chinese International contestants have left for filming in Dalian and in order to pray for good luck, a blessing ceremony was held in TVB City yesterday. The day also happened to be the 25th birthday of Number 19 Amanda Ong, so a small celebration and cake were arranged as her fellow contestants wished her a happy birthday. Hailing from Melbourne, Amanda held her birthday in Hong Kong three years ago, but this time she had a better surprise. She has not received her present yet because it was so rushed, but she laughs that she may be celebrating again after the pageant. As for her birthday wish, she would not reveal it. Because she is a doctor, she has prepared herself to become the doctor for the group and has brought a lot of medicines with her and she says that she helped out when Number 2 Wong Yin Man became dehydrated during dancing.

With the quality of this year's contestants being rather high, the tip for the top from the media has been for Number 3 Vivien Yeo, Number 8 Chui Ching Kit and Number 19 Mandy Cho. With the support from the press in the past few days has Number 7 from Los Angeles gained in confidence? She smiles: "Yes! (Will you be joining showbiz?) If I get an award, then I will stay and will work hard at learning Cantonese. (Will you stay if you don't win?) But then I won't have as much confidence!"

Vivien Yeo hails from Kuala Lumpur and as she is used to the tropical temperatures, she is afraid of the cold so she has brought a lot of warm clothes with her as well as medicines in case she becomes unwell. When asked who she feels is her fiercest rival, she says graciously: "Every contestant is, but they are all the best from their different places."

Hong Kong representative Mandy Cho is afraid of both the hot and the cold, so if she could choose, she would not choose to go to Dalian, but she believes that everything will be arranged well for them. She says: "This is the first time I have been to such a cold place, so I have prepared a lot of warm clothes and warm packs. (Last year's contestants ended up with a fever from using too many warm packs!) I will not use too much on my body, it will mainly be used to warm my hands." Also she has brought three crystal bracelets with her to keep away bad luck, for healthy respiratory organs and for happiness. She insists though that she is not a superstitious person and these were a present from a sponsor that she did a shoot for earlier.

As for the earlier football practice, the girls seemed very malco-ordinated, but they were all very enthusiastic. Even Mandy who rarely does sport says that she has found a hidden sporting talent in herself recently and she is gaining in interest. With the Olympics taking place this year, she hopes to be able to interview some of the sporting stars, especially her idol, Russian swimmer Popov. Chui Ching Kit added: "This is the first time I have played and I am not worried about getting big legs, but it has been hard work practising and quite stressful so I have got some spots on my forehead."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-1-4/UL-214819.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a17cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040104/20040104004630_0003.html