My String Quartet Piece
This morning, at about 10am, I went to Shue Churn's house to hear a very 1st live rehearsal of my piece for string quartet, "A Walk In The Woods". It is taken from "On Vacation", a set of short pieces for string quartet. After completing the piece some time ago, I finally got to hear it being performed "live".
The quartet consists of Say Ming on 1st violin, Shue Churn on 2nd violin, Yoong Han on viola and Wei Shing on cello. All of them are members of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and they have all kindly taken time off their busy schedule to rehearse my piece. They'll be performing it this coming sunday, the 11th November 2007, at The Arts House, for the "1st COMPASS Extravaganza", where COMPASS members (including myself) can have a chance to showcase their original compositions. The satisfaction, joy and pride at hearing my own composition being performed by others, is simply undescribable.
Now I need to find inspiration to complete my other "On Vacation" pieces.
A Night WIth Friends
I had a rehearsal with a freshman this afternoon. She's a cellist from Xi'an and she can play very well. She'll be playing for the first Noon Recital on the 13th August. The rehearsal went quite well.
Later in the night, sis and I met up with BB, Darius, Jennifer, Wai Keong and Fuzzie Wuzzie for the movie, "
Disturbia" at GV Grand. It's a very nice and exciting movie and we really enjoyed it.
After the movie, Darius, sis and I went to the Kopitiam near Waterloo Street for supper and we ate and chatted till after 1am. It's nice to catch up with him after such a long time. Sis and I are looking forward to his mini-recital at The Arts House on the 13th August, under the "Living With..." series. It's a concert not to be missed! :P
Home Sweet Home
We woke up at about 7.30am today to wash up and to finish up our packing. After breakfast, we rested a while more before saying goodbye to our room and the hotel. The service and staff there had been very good, so that's the reason I want to go back there again, not to mention that the hotel is located within walking distance from shopping malls such as Paragon, Central World and MBK. And the very famous 4-faced Buddha is also nearby.
The nice bell-boy got for us a cab to go to the airport, telling us that the flat fee from the hotel to Bangkok International Airport is 400 baht (about S$22). After thanking him, we boarded what would be the "hell-ride" from Bangkok. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic without putting any signals. Along expressways, he was driving at an average speed of 150km/hr, not even slowing down when overtaking, and at one point, he was even racing with another cab. Sis and I looked at each other, wondering if we would ever make it to the airport.
Luckily for us, we arrived there safe and sound. After getting off quickly, we watched the cab sped off again. We really pity his past, present and future passengers. Our local traffic police will love drivers like him! :P
We left Bangkok at about 2.15pm, and finally arrived in Singapore at the scheduled 5.30pm Singapore time. Dad was already waiting for us there.
It's really good to be back home, but I won't mind going to Bangkok again in the near future. :)
Recital Day
Today is the day of Miti's recital.
In the morning, sis and I walked to nearby Central World shopping mall (picture above) to shop. It is a huge, very clean and new shopping centre. We were there at about 11am, and as there were not many people around yet, we took our time to shop and try on clothes. In the end, we bought only a handful. In the mall, we saw our local Charles & Keith, Bread Talk, as well as Marie France. We wanted to get some bread from Bread Talk, but when we saw flies flying around some of the bread, we decided to give it a miss. We then had lunch at Zen, a Japanese restaurant, before heading back to the hotel to prepare for the recital tonight.
Miti went with us the the concert hall, and we rehearsed a little there (picture below). It was much colder than yesterday on stage. My cold, which had more or less stopped, came back again. URGGH!
The recital started at 7.30pm. Besides Miti and myself, there were also 4 guest artists: a guitarist, a pianist, a flautist and a singer. They are all Thai musicians who are still schooling. The recital went very well in general and everyone was happy, including the audience.
Before sending us back to the hotel, Miti and his parents brought us to the Suan Lum night market to shop, but as it was very crowded and a lack of parking space, we decided to postpone the shopping trip to the next time when we revisit Bangkok again.
By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was already about 10.30pm. After bidding Miti and his family goodbye, sis and I went back to our room and we asked for room service as we were feeling hungry. We ordered a Pasta Carbonara (picture below) to share as we don't want to eat too much before bed. The pasta was good and so were the garlic breads.
After the meal, we packed our luggages to prepare for our flight back to Singapore tomorrow. I'm going to miss our nice and comfortable room, especially my bed. :) I will definitely want to stay in this hotel again.
Arrival In Bangkok
Sis and me left for the Changi Budget Terminal early this morning at about 4.30am. Dad fetched us there (thanks, dad :->). After checking in, sis and I had breakfast at Han's. The BT looks nothing like our Terminal 1 & 2, and there weren't much to see either. Finally, the time came for us to board our flight, and we took off at exactly 6.30am.
We arrived at Bangkok at about 7.20am Bangkok time (or 8.20am Singapore time), and Miti (the viola student that I would be playing for) was already there, waiting for us. He had come with his dad to pick us up. As we were way too early to check into our hotel, they took us for our 2nd round of breakfast at the S&P seafood restaurant, beside the Chao Phraya River:-
View of the river from restaurant
The S&P Seafood Restaurant
L-R: Miti's dad, Miti, me, Miti's mum & sis
The place reminds us of our Boat Quay or Clark Quay, except that the river is much wider and longer. The food at the restaurant was simply delicious and we had a great time eating and chatting. Miti and his mum then brought us to visit the famous Grand Palace, which is just about 10mins away on foot.
Sis & me in the compounds of the Grand PalaceThe Grand Palace, established in 1782, is really huge and beautiful, with tons of colourful and majestic architecture. It houses the royal residence and throne halls, as well as a number of government offices and the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha (picture below, in gold):-
This picture was taken from outside the hall, as photography and video is prohibited inside. We went in to pray and we also gave a small donation to the temple. Then, we continued our tour around the palace compounds. Lucky for us, the weather was very good, though it was very hot. Here are more photos of the famous palace:-
Phra Siratana Chedi, a reliquary in the shape of a golden chedi
Prasat Phra Dhepbidorn (The Royal Pantheon)
Golden Chedis
A miniature of Angkor Wat, crafted by the order of King Mongkut (Rama IV)
Statue of a Buddha
Chakri Maha Prasat Hall
Changing of guards in front of the hallAfter the tour, Miti and his parents brought us to our hotel, the Novotel Bangkok at Siam Square. It's a really nice hotel and we were given a room on the top floor, much to our delight. They then left us to unpack and to take a rest. At 4.30pm, Miti met us in the hotel lobby to bring us to The Stock Exchange of Thailand building, where we'll be performing tomorrow in the Prof. Sangvian Indaravijaya Auditorium (picture below):-
It's a very nice small hall, with a seating capacity of about 300. The Yamaha grand is not too bad too. Miti and I rehearsed for about 2hrs, before heading for dinner with sis and his parents.
It has been an enjoyable day and we're looking forward to tomorrow already.
Hello, Bangkok!
Early tomorrow morning, my sis and I will be catching a 6.30am flight to Bangkok. I'll be there to play in a recital with a viola student from the conservatory. It'll be the first time that we're going to Thailand, so we're kind of, excited. Hope it'll be fun! :)
Bangkok, here we come! :)
Last Jap Lesson
Today is the last day of my Japanese Basic Course. I won't be continuing to Intermediate yet as I won't have the time from next month onwards. I'm gonna miss the lessons, man! It has been a real fun 10 weeks and I've learnt alot. Now I need to speak it often so as not to forget it. I hope to continue with it whenever I'm free.
