Insta-buzz: What the stars were up to this week

Insta-buzz: What the stars were up to this week

It’s celebrations galore in this week’s social media roundup, be it for birthdays, anniversaries, or the Mid-Autumn Festival. We also saw the end of Singapore’s longest-running drama series, as well as the start of a well-loved and much-missed local actress’s comeback. Read on for more!

Joanne Peh posts update after car accident

Yesterday, the actress posted her first update and a few photos from her car accident on Wednesday, reassuring her followers that she is "well, no superficial injuries except for neck and back pain".

She also recalled a similar accident her husband Qi Yuwu was in years ago, in which he suffered cuts because of the airbag being deployed, and explained that the reason her car's airbag didn't deploy was because "the pre-collision system kicked in and my Harrier had protected me by cushioning most of the impact which was why I had avoided being 'punched' by the air bags."

Whew! We are glad she is okay. Drive safely, everyone!

Photos: Instagram/Joanne Peh

‘Ramen Teh’ goes to Europe

Eric Khoo’s foodie film, starring Takumi Saitoh, Seiko Matsuda, Jeanette Aw and Mark Lee, is slowly but surely leaving its mark all over the world. Earlier this week, it was shown at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain before it premiered in Paris, France (doesn’t its French title, La Saveur Des Ramen, sound so posh?).

“It is such an amazing thing to receive tremendous love and recognition from the film experts proving that local films can indeed shine”, wrote Jeanette in a post. Indeed, yet another brilliant moment of #localpride.

That’s not all: the actress was also appointed as the ambassador of Takasaki, and will work closely with them to promote the Japanese city. To celebrate the new partnership, they gifted her with a specially made Daruma doll (a traditional Japanese wishing doll) wearing a Le Cordon Bleu uniform (Jeanette is currently undergoing a patisserie course in the Bangkok school).

Congrats, Jeanette!

Photos: Pauline Soh

Filming for ‘Hello from the Other Side’ kicks off

Coffee-making grim reapers Rui En and Shaun Chen have started reporting for duty. On Thursday, Hong Hui Fang revealed that they have begun shooting for upcoming Channel 8 drama Hello from the Other Side, Rui En’s highly anticipated comeback after over a year. Who’s excited!?

Photos: Instagram/Hong Hui Fang

Stars celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival

Celebrities spent the special occasion in a number of different ways, from playing with lanterns to eating mooncakes to…Photoshopping fake moons into their photos and posing with figurines of moon goddess Chang’e made out of balloons? Well, who are we to judge.

Photos: Instagram/Kimberly Chia, Stefanie Sun, Jasmine Sim, Edmund Chen

Who wore the pomelo hat best?

In Chinese culture, it’s tradition to eat pomelos and put the rinds on your head (something to do with the belief that Chang’e will see it and answer your prayers). Janet Hsieh posted an utterly adorable collage of her baby son Egan looking extremely pleased with his pomelo hat (left), and a few days later, Prince Chiu uploaded his own #throwback shot of him donning the same “headgear” as a tiny tot (right).

So…who wore it better?

Photos: Instagram/Janet Hsieh, Prince Chiu

Wang Leehom celebrates son’s full moon

This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival also coincided with the singer’s third child’s first month (little Jiayao was born on August 24). From the looks of the photo he shared of himself, his wife Lee Jinglei and their baby boy on Monday (Sep 24), they had a full moon and mooncake party before Leehom jetted off to Beijing to promote his new film Legend of the Ancient Sword.

Photo: Instagram/Lee Jinglei

Yvonne Lim reveals salted egg cookies recipe

Yvonne spent her Mid-Autumn Festival baking yummy-looking salted egg cookies with her BFF Fish Leong, and was kind enough to share the full recipe and steps (in both English and Mandarin) on Instagram. BRB, unleashing our inner (very hidden) kitchen goddess to try this out.

Photos: Instagram/Yvonne Lim

Singapore’s longest-running drama comes to a close

Can you believe that Tanglin has ended (after over three years and an impressive, record-breaking 825 episodes)? On Thursday, the day before the finale, Fauzie Laily posted a photo from a final gathering of some of the cast members (not everyone could make it, unfortunately), writing that “laughter and tears were shared with some of our fans, #tanglings..The ones who made it possible for us to come this far..Real life stories of how they have been watching the show all the way from Germany and also how the show has helped them to fight cancer, amongst others..A reminder to us to never take our jobs on the screens for granted (sic)”.

Tanglin will certainly be missed by many.

Watch past episodes of Tanglin on Toggle.

Photo: Instagram/Fauzie Laily

Zhang Zhen Huan, girlfriend enjoy romantic getaway Down Under…

Aiyo, got so sweet or not? It looks like Zhen Huan and his lady love Sally Pan are having a really good time in Sydney, Australia. By the way, who did they get to snap this picture for them? It’s probably just us, but this looks way too intimate to have been captured by a stranger.

Photo: Instagram/Sally Pan

…where they met the Chen family

Well, what a coincidence. During their romantic sojourn in the Land Down Under, Zhen Huan and Sally ran into Edmund Chen, Chen Yixi and Chen Yixin, who are also holidaying there. Just in time for a little Mid-Autumn Festival get-together.

Photos: Instagram/Zhang Zhen Huan, Edmund Chen

Sheila Sim, husband enjoy picturesque European honeymoon…

After almost nine months, the model-actress and her hubby Deon Woo have finally gone on their long-awaited honeymoon. Their first stop was gorgeous Santorini, Greece, before heading on to Italy, where they embarked on a seven-hour hike (and still looked amazing every step of the way).

Photos: Instagram/Sheila Sim

…and also run into a friend overseas

What is it with our local celebs bumping into each other in foreign countries this week? Because of a two-hour flight delay, Sheila and Deon were able to meet Chase Tan at the Santorini airport. What a coincidence…or is it fate?

Photo: Instagram/Sheila Sim

BTS address the United Nations

BTS made history earlier this week by becoming the first ever K-pop group to give a speech to the United Nations at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday (Tuesday Singapore time). In an inspiring six-minute delivery by leader RM, he touched on their Love Myself album series and campaign, how they are heartened by the response from fans, and more.

After this remarkable milestone, the septet went on to make appearances on two top American talk shows, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Good Morning America. ARMY must be super proud of their boys.

Photos: Twitter/BTS, UNICEF, GMA; Instagram/Jimmy Fallon

Rebecca Lim celebrates birthday

Socialite Kim Lim threw a birthday party for her gal pal Becks on Tuesday, the night before Rebecca’s actual 32nd birthday, with a few close pals (including Ian Fang, of course) in attendance.

On the day itself, Rebecca shared a picture of herself with yet another birthday cake, and wearing a T-shirt that says “forever young” (which she claims was not intentional). “Overwhelmed by love…Thank you so much for your birthday wishes. May we all love, laugh, be respectful to one another and be surrounded with happiness always”, she wrote.

Photos: Instagram/Kim Lim

Julie Tan celebrates birthday

The actress turned 26 on September 22 and had a slightly belated celebration with friends “at the zoo (yes not zook)” [Ed’s note: a play on the name of nightclub Zouk, and a good one at that], specifically, the Rainforest Lumina night walk. A couple of familiar faces we spotted in the group photos were siblings Calvert Tay and Tay Ying.

Photos: Instagram/Julie Tan

Yvonne Lim gets birthday flowers all the way from Singapore

Despite being all the way in Taiwan, Yvonne has certainly not been forgotten by her dear friends back home here in Singapore, such as Zheng Ge Ping and Hong Hui Fang, who sent a lovely bouquet of pink flowers to her with a sweet note saying that although they can’t be in Taipei to celebrate the special occasion together, they are always together in spirit.

Bonus social media points for sharing the photo of the blooms with baby Alexa!

Photos: Instagram/Yvonne Lim

Alex Tien plans surprise birthday gathering for Yvonne Lim

Of course, Yvonne was shown tons of birthday love in Taiwan itself as well, thanks to her hubby who successfully put together a surprise party with her pals, including Fish Leong and Christine Fan.

Photos: Instagram/Yvonne Lim

Tay Kewei, Alfred Sim’s son turns 1

Why does it feel like just yesterday when we were reporting on little Momo’s birth? In the blink of an eye, the unbelievably adorable tot has turned 1, and his parents threw him a lavish yet environmentally friendly, recycling-themed party (we love the hashtag #LessIsMo), complete with “zero waste” gift bag kits for all the guests.

By the way, what was the result of Momo’s zhuazhou ceremony!?

Photos: Instagram/Tay Kewei, Alfred Sim

Kit Chan celebrates 25th showbiz anniversary

Our "national treasure" had a gathering to mark her 25th anniversary in showbiz with Singapore media on Thursday. She noted that some of the reporters have been with her throughout her entire showbiz career, and there were also others who weren't even born when she debuted. Regardless, she expressed her gratitude for everyone's love and support.

She also shared that she will be focusing on promoting her new album and preparing for her upcoming concert. Congratulations, Kit, and all the best!

Photos: Weibo/Kit Chan

YoonA enjoys her chilli crab in Singapore

The Girls' Generation member was in town for her first solo fan meeting and got to indulge in every K-pop star's favourite Lion City dish: chilli crab. We'd have that exact same look on her face if we were presented with such a sumptuous spread too.

Photo: Instagram/YoonA

Henry Golding crosses 500k follower mark on Instagram

The power of a Hollywood role. On Tuesday, the Crazy Rich Asians heartthrob celebrated reaching over 500,000 followers on his Instagram account, and thanked his fans for “following me through the days of 8tv quickie, CNA, BBC, Discovery Channel and now Hollywood! (sic)” Congrats, Henry – and here’s to a million followers.

Photo: Instagram/Henry Golding

Taufik Batisah hangs out with Siti Nurhaliza

Our first Singapore Idol met up with the Malaysian mega-star at Anugerah Planet Muzik 2018 on Friday night, and besides presenting an award together, they took a selfie and, according to Taufik's caption, Siti sang a birthday song for his mother. So sweet, right?

He also added "see you in Japan", hinting at some joint family trip in the near future. We can't wait to see the pics from that getaway.

Photo: Instagram/Taufik Batisah

Joshua Tan, girlfriend celebrate ninth monthsary

It’s been two months since the actor and his girlfriend Zoen Tay went public with their romance and they are as lovey-dovey as ever on their respective social media accounts.

On Wednesday, Zoen shared a snap of a bouquet of flowers, which Joshua re-posted and added “Happy 9th love”. He had also shared his own super-sweet photo of the couple (we honestly thought it was a wedding photo shoot thanks to Zoen’s white bride-like dress) and wrote, “Because, you’re worth fighting for”. Awww…

Photos: Instagram/Joshua Tan, Zoen Tay

James Seah, girlfriend celebrate 3.5 years together

Another pair of lovebirds celebrating a relationship milestone is James Seah and influencer Nicole Chang Min, who have been together for three-and-a-half years. “Time must be a fighter jet because 3.5 years just flew past like that”, wrote Nicole in an Instagram Stories post, which was shared by James on his own page.

Photo: Instagram/James Seah

Jessica Jung walks the runway for Dolce & Gabbana

The former Girls’ Generation member crossed a very cool item off her bucket list when she made her runway debut by walking for Dolce & Gabbana’s Spring collection at Milan Fashion Week. Definitely a very cool career milestone.

Photos: Instagram/Jessica Jung

Michelle Yim completes filming for ‘How Are You?’

“I’ve wrapped!!” declared the veteran Hong Kong actress happily on her newly opened Instagram account (Romeo Tan helped her, by the way). “Glad to be part of the team…looking forward to continuing to work with good productions!”

Of course, her co-stars weren’t going to let her go without a proper goodbye – Romeo and Zheng Ge Ping popped by the airport for a surprise send-off. So sweet, right?

Photos: Instagram/Michelle Yim

Minzy to embark on American dance tour

“I’m happy to finally announce something I’ve been planning for the past few months - my 10-City North America DANCE BREAK TOUR!!! (sic)” announced the former 2NE1 member excited on Instagram. “This tour is so important to me because it’s an opportunity for me to reflect back to all of you the love and encouragement you’ve shown me as I grew in my art and identity as an artist and a person.”

She also revealed that she will have “some wonderful guests from each city” (including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Vancouver) joining her on stage.

Photo: Instagram/Minzy

Sonia Sui’s son’s captivation at the dentist

Is it just us, or have we never seen a kid so intrigued at the sight of someone’s teeth getting cleaned? According to Sonia’s caption, her bringing Max to the dentist for his dad’s check-up was a way of making him fascinated with – instead of frightened of – the place, which will no doubt come in handy when it’s the little boy’s turn to be in the chair.

Photos: Instagram/Sonia Sui

Tay Ping Hui conquers the Great Wall (in a way)

That looks like a long, long, long journey, but why does Ping Hui look like he didn’t even break a sweat?

Photo: Instagram/Tay Ping Hui

Apple Hong paints the northern lights

Apple missed the breath-taking sight of the aurora borealis so much that she decided to put down her memory of it with paint and canvas. Because merely taking a picture is too mainstream.

Photos: Instagram/Apple Hong

Is Bryan Wong working on his directorial debut?

The actor embarked “on a new journey” earlier this week when he began writing a screenplay “which might… well, supposedly be my directorial debut”. A partially blurred photo of said screenplay seems to revolve around a “tall willowy figure” called “Sheila” “in her mid thirties”. Bryan wrote that he is “really looking forward to be the storyteller” and to be the one sitting in the director’s chair. Jiayou, Bryan!

Photo: Instagram/Bryan Wong

Noah Yap recalls “weirdest service ever” in Korean spa

The Ah Boys to Men actor shared a rather detailed account of his experience in a jjimjilbang (Korean spa), which involved an intense scrubbing session while butt naked. We’ll let the screenshots of his text tell the whole story.

Photos: Instagram/Noah Yap