Last Day of 2006...
I had my very 1st qigong session this morning at the Botanical Gardens. I was there with an aunt (my mum's youngest sis). Some of the patterns are quite hard to follow but in general, it was quite easy. The most important thing is for the body to be relaxed, then the "qi" can pass through the body. The instructor and the members are very friendly and helpful and they make me feel at ease straight away. Our session started at about 8.10am and ended at about 9.15am. I hope to be able to go for the sessions every morning, if possible.
In the early afternoon, Serene, my sister-in-law and I went to the M1 shop at Paragon Shopping Centre as I wanted to change my Samsung handphone to a newer model. I settled for the Samsung SGH-Z230 model, where it has both 3G and Tri-band functions, which will enable me to use my phone anywhere in the world. I also bought 2 3G SIM cards at a special rate of $18.90 for both, instead of the usual price of $26.25/card. I'm very happy with my new phone and can't wait to use it .
Later, at about 4.30pm, my parents, sis and I went to another aunt's (my dad's youngest sis) condo for the 2-year old birthday celebration of my niece (my cousin's daughter). We had buffet and BBQ and there were quite alot to eat. I like the dry mee siam best, because it's sour enough. Haha.
After the birthday cake-cutting, the 4 of us, together with my brother, Jaan, Serene and little Day Shaan, headed for another aunt's (my mum's 2nd sis) appartment for some more food and mahjong, and to welcome 2007. It has sort of, became a "rule" to go to this aunt's place on the last day of the year to celebrate. My aunt made yummy laksa and we ate like pigs. Haha.
Then, my sis, 2 cousins and I had a game of mahjong on a rectangle, glass table, as my mum and 3 aunts were having their own mahjong game on the mahjong table.
As we played, we were also counting down to the new year...
More Photos From Seoul...
Sunset at Incheon International Airport
Dale, Pincye, Suan and me just after going through the customs
Our room 591 at Holiday Inn Hotel
The Christmas "tree" at our hotel lobby
Korean stores by the road
The War Memorial of Korea
Rehearsing on stage at Seoul Arts Centre Concert Hall
Backstage of Concert Hall
Posing with Professor Hae-Won CHANG, President of Ewon Cultural Center
and also
organiser of "Asia Grand Piano Concert"
Our Singapore team and our Korean partners
Group photo: Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore teams
2 Korean student artists and us
Enduring the freezing weather near Dongdaemon
Goodbye, Seoul!
We woke up at 4.30am this morning to prepare for our departure for Singapore. Our coach ride from to Incheon International Airport was at 5.55am, and our flight was 9am.
We arrived at the airport at about 6.45am, and after checking in, we went for breakfast at the bar and grill beside our boarding gate 43. We had green tea bread sandwich and green tea, and the bread was a very refreshing taste from our normal bread. At about, 8.35am, we boarded the plane to get ready for take-off.
The flight was generally smooth, and we arrived in Singapore at about 2.45pm. It's home sweet home, but I still miss the trip. Haha.
Here are a few photos of Incheon International Airport...
On Our Own
This morning, at about 9.10am, we met BB for breakfast at the La Stella restaurant in our hotel. BB was down with quite a bad flu as the heater in his room was not working, and they later changed him to another room. BB did not join the 5 of us (Sutini, Dale, Pincye, my sis and I) for our outing. The concert organiser actually organised a shopping trip of Namdaemon, an open-air tourist shopping area, for us foreign performers, with lunch included. Somehow, we Singaporean team was left behind to fend for ourselves. In the end, the 5 of us decided to go to Dongdaemon (another shopping area) ourselves, and we took the subway.
Due to language problem, we wasted quite a lot of time searching for Dongdaemon, and in the end, we settled for a shopping area near it. It looked just like our OG shopping center, and most of the items on sale didn't look too "appetizing". However, we did have a delicious and hot lunch of rice cake in dumpling soup nearby. By the way, the temperature was -6 degrees, and it was really FREEZING, especially when the wind blew, so a hot bowl of soup really helped!
We returned to the hotel after 3pm and saw the other teams in the lobby. They had also just arrived from their shopping trip. The moment they saw us, questions like "What happened to you?", "Where did you go?" and "How come you were not with us?" flew out of their mouths, and we had to explain to them. Then, we 5 went to look in on BB, and luckily, he was much better.
As BB had decided to stay in his room to rest, he did not join us for dinner at the Pizza Hut next to our hotel. The food was delicious and we 5 had fun chatting and laughing.
Later, Sutini, my sis and I attend a Korean friend's piano recital at the nearby Ewon Cultural Centre, while Dale and Pincye went on their own. After the concert, we 3 returned to the hotel, and my sis and I packed our luggages for our departure for Singapore early tomorrow morning.
Sigh! I'm gonna miss this trip! It has really been very enjoyable!
Concert Day
We (BB, Sutini, my sis and I), together with the Hong Kong and Malaysia teams headed for our rehearsals and concert at Seoul Arts Centre this afternoon at about 1pm in a chartered bus. Here are some Korean street scenes along the way...
We reached the Arts Centre in about 40 mins, and we were all very impressed by it. It is huge and it looks very majestic...
The inside of it was even more impressive, especially the concert hall. We were told that it's the biggest concert hall in Korea and it has a seating capacity of about 2400...
After our rehearsal, we hung around inside the Arts Centre and chatted amongst ourselves, and also with the Malaysian team and some of our Korean partners.
We had sushi for dinner and it was quite good, except for the raw stuffs which my sis and I don't take.
The pre-concert performed by students finally started at 7.30pm, and the main concert, the one we were playing in, started at 8pm. Our item was the 3rd one and when our turn came for us to go on stage, we were all very excited. Performing in such a grand concert hall to an almost full house, with 4 pianos on stage, and 8 people playing together simultaneously, was totally an experience of a lifetime. We enjoyed ourselves so much on stage that we nearly didn't want to leave the stage. Haha. And the audience response was overwhelming! There was a total of 12 items and 97 pianists from 7 asian countries, and we were told it was the first time such a concert was held in Asia.
Sadly, all good things have to come to an end. The concert ended at about 10.30pm, after which, most of us went for a reception at the foyer of the concert hall. We had fun chatting with some audience and performers, as well as taking lots of photos. We then left for our hotel at about 11.45pm.
It was truly an enjoyable and memorable day and we are really glad to be part of it!
Departure To Seoul, Korea
Today is our trip to Seoul for the Asian Grand Piano Concert.
Mr. Benjamin Loh (BB), Sutini, Dale, Pincye, my sis and I met at Changi Airport at 6am for our 8am flight, and after checking in, we went through the customs to do a bit of window shopping and also have breakfast. Then, we boarded our SQ plane to get ready for take-off.
When the plane got to the take-off runway, it stopped there for quite some time and we were wondering what was taking it so long to take-off. Then the Captain announced that there was a slight technical problem with the plane and we had to return to the airport to have it check. Once back at the airport, we were told that the technical problem was due to a defect of the anti-collision avoidance system. In the end, we were delayed for 2 and a half hours, and we only got to take-off at about 10.35am. We finally arrived at Incheon International Airport at about 5.20pm, instead of the scheduled 3.15pm.
Once there, the guy who came to pick us up, told us that we had to wait for the Hong Kong team before heading together to Seoul's Holiday Inn Hotel. So its more waiting again.
When the Hong Kong team arrived a while later, we gladly set out for our hotel as we were really very tired already. What's more, we were scheduled to rehearse with 4 Korean pianists at 7pm tonight, so we were actually rushing for time.
By the time we reached our hotel, it was already 7.30pm, thanks to the traffic jams on the roads. We put down our luggages and rushed over to Ewon Cultural Centre, which is luckily, just 5 mins walk from the hotel. The 4 Korean pianists were already there and they didn't look too happy, naturally. After explaining about what happened, they sort of, eased a little and our rehearsal started. We played Bach's Sicilienne and Kevin R. Olson's A Scott Joplin Rag Rhapsody, both arranged for 2 pianos, 8 hands, but were doubled with 2 more pianos. We also played Rondo, for 3 pianos, 12 hands, composed by my sis and I, with another 2 Korean pianists. We all had alot of fun.
Then, we headed for dinner at a little korean restaurant beside our hotel, before turning in for the night. There would be 1 more rehearsal tomorrow afternoon at Seoul Arts Centre's Concert Hall before the actual concert tomorrow night. We were very tired, but very excited. Can't wait!
Christmas Shopping
Judy, my close friend since my JC days, and I had lunch at Crystal Jade in Bishan Junction 8 today, then we did some Christmas shopping at the shopping mall. I bought a Japanese-made mini xylophone from Muji for Day Shaan, and a Canon Ixus 850IS digital camera for myself, to take to Seoul on tuesday. Then, it's more presents for a few more people.
Long live shopping! :)
The Perfect Gift
These past few days I've been shopping, shopping and more shopping. Christmas is just around the corner and it's really great going around, searching for gifts for family and friends...and also for myself. Haha. Sometimes, I can spend hours going around, looking for the perfect gift, and it can be really hard getting that perfect gift. You have to make sure that the person on the receiving end will like it and not already have a similar item of what you've bought. Sometimes, I'll ask them things like their favourite colors, but by asking that, they will roughly know that you're getting them gifts, so that will, sort of, spoil the surprise. Therefore, I'll try not to ask, if possible, and hope for the best, that they'll like it and also they won't have a similar item.
Despite that, I still like getting gifts for people, especially when they least expect it. The surprise looks and smiles on their faces really make my day. :)
HIROMI --- The Formidable Pianist
Tonight, after dinner with Ming Yen and my sis at the Garlic Restaurant at The Esplanade, we headed to the Concert Hall for a jazz concert by the very talented Japanese pianist, Hiromi. I must say that I have never, ever seen anyone play like her. Her energy, charisma, and un-humanly lightning fast and impeccable technique simply blew the whole house away. We were simply amazed by her stage presence and the way she delivered each piece like water flowing out of a tap. The music seemed to flow non-stop each time she started playing and I like to mention again, her insanely crystal clear, lightning-speed running notes and repeated notes really left us speechless. She did not have a tiny hint of fatigue at all, and she looked like she could play on and on forever. She really looked like she was having the best times of her life on stage.
Besides audio entertainment, she also provided visual entertainment, such as head bobbings to accented chords, feet-stampings, jumping up while playing loud chords, and cute facial expressions. She was accompanied by 2 other talents: Tony Grey on the electric guitar, and Martin Valihora on drums. All 3 of them were graduates from the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, and their chemistry was simply remarkable.
At the end of the concert, they were greeted with thunderous applause, wolf whistles and screams from the audience, including me. Haha. I couldn't help it. They, especially Hiromi, were simply FAN-TAS-TIC!!!
At just 27 years old, Hiromi is certainly someone to look out for. She's a really big source of inspiration to every musician, especially pianists, and I'm already looking forward to her future concerts.
Quote of Wisdom
As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two... --
Sir Norman Wisdom
A Little Gathering
This evening, at about 6.45pm, I went to Danil's (left picture) house for a small gathering with his family and a few friends. The gathering was in rememberance of him. Eleana (Danil's mum) made very delicious pancakes for dinner, and we all sat around the table to talk about him while eating. Everyone has fond memories of him and it was clear that he is going to be dearly missed by all who knew him.
A while later, I proceeded to the piano to play Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor, Op. Posthumous for Eleana. This Nocturne was Danil's favourite piece (and mine too) and she hoped that I could play it for her. Danil had heard this piece after watching the movie, "The Pianist" and he liked it so much that he wanted to learn it, and I remember teaching him how to play it.
After playing the Nocturne, Eleana asked me to play also Chopin's Etude Op.10, No.4 (Danil was halfway through learning it before he died). I did an impromptu performance, even though I haven't touched the piece in ages, and the result was quite disastrous. Luckily, Eleana and everyone else in the room were appreciative of my effort, so I didn't feel that bad.
After chatting for a while more, I left for home at about 8.05pm as I have to pick my sis and her student up from Parkway Parade.
I hope everything will turn out fine for Danil's family, and hope that they will have many happiness to come.
