OMM's UK tour was a real treat for me. All members of the orchestra had their airfare, accommodation, insurance and most land transport covered. It was a real feat of getting sponsors to provide so much money for such an undertaking!
We flew on Emirates and we had to go through the inconvenience of having to stop over in Colombo. For that one hour or so, the passengers who are continuing their journey to Dubai supposedly have to remain seated and avoid using the lavatories. The cabin crew also have to do a head count and have passengers account for their cabin luggage. For all those considering flying on Emirates and have to fly through Dubai, do avoid the flight that stops in Colombo. If no changes are done, they are flights EK349 and EK348. These are weekly flights instead of the daily flights that go straight to Dubai daily. Nevertheless, the service, inflight entertainment and general atmosphere were as I knew them from last year's flights to Rome. Service was decent and inflight entertainment is still great!
Everyone was eagerly awaiting to arrive in England and for many of us, myself included, it is our first visit there. Birmingham airport's immigration clearance was quite packed and long queues formed. Fortunately there was free wifi at the airport and many of could get connected to the world and our families and friends after 16 hours in the air. Soon enough, we were all out of the airport and experiencing the cool British summer! It was really nice out there and all of us simply loved the weather. After a bit of waiting, the orchestra was on its way to Cheltenham.
Cheltenham was a quiet and really nice place to be in. Although it rains everyday it isn't heavy most of the time, mostly light drizzles. Many consider Singapore to be a garden city but this small town called Cheltenham certainly is more of a garden to me as you can see in the photos.
The people in Cheltenham were also really nice! I had no sense at all that we were unfairly treated whatsoever. In fact they happily had conversations with us and wanted to know more about how Singapore is like. I really enjoyed myself in Cheltenham. Rooms were single rooms, wifi was 2 pounds per 24 hours (which we found out later was really cheap!), some food for breakfast and a pantry per floor was also provided and the great hospitality from the organisers and the general public made our stay in Cheltenham really enjoyable. I hope we pleased them with our music! To be honest our first concert wasn't a solid one but the circumstances were hard; it was one day after we arrived and we had 2 long rehearsals before the concert. There were lots of great moments but equally disappointing ones I must say. However, the family concert the next day was a different story. The orchestra got to work with a fantastic illustrator by the name of James Mayhew. Being engrossed in the music to keep my concentration, I didn't pay much attention to his work but at the end of every movement, the artwork I saw was just spectacular! And I found out that not only did he just paint so well, he painted according to the mood of the music! When the music was calm and tranquil, his strokes would be graceful and slow. When the music was violent, his strokes would be aggressive and hurried. Furthermore, he times himself to finish each painting when the orchestra plays the last chord of each movement! I think this is really amazing and he should be commended for his excellent artistry! With the last chord of Scheherazade in the Cheltenham Town Hall, OMM concluded its performance stint at the Cheltenham Music Festival. With half a day left before we head for Lichfield, I wandered around the town with fellow orchestra members and had many pleasant conversations with different people in the orchestra whom I might not have talked to if not for the tour! It was a fantastic time and brought me closer to the rest of the orchestra than ever before. With that, I left Cheltenham behind.
The next day, OMM departed Cheltenham for Lichfield. Lichfield looked like a relatively older town compared to Cheltenham but it was really beautiful! The old buildings, the parks and of course, the cathedrals, contributed to the town's splendor. Here's a shot of the Lichfield cathedral where OMM performed.
It might not seem like much at first but take a look at the people at right foreground of the picture. Bet that was a "wow!" moment huh? Because OMM performed on a Sunday at Lichfield, I was lucky to get to try the local roast at a nearby pub. It was fan…tastic. I honestly have not eaten roast beef so flavourful in my life and coupled with a nice pint of Carlsberg, it made the perfect lunch. OMM's concert later in the evening was really successful and I must say, after that last chord of Scheherazade, I just felt so elated that the orchestra has come such a long way and played music to such high standards. I was really proud to be playing in that orchestra and I loved how I could just do my thing and just fit in with the other musicians, particularly my section mates in the low brass. It was a fantastic time working with them for the past 5 months and I appreciate the opportunities they gave me. This tour has definitely opened my eyes and mind in the orchestral view and it'll be an unforgettable experience. Thank you OMM!
With only a few hours to sightsee in London, we woke up early to maximise our time. It paid off and with some planning, we managed to see Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Big Ben and the House of Parliament, the River Thames, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, London Tower and Tower Bridge in a span of about 4 hours! With that, we headed to Heathrow to board our flight back to Singapore.
One day of rest and still feeling jet lagged, I wasn't done. I boarded a flight to Jakarta with my mom and a friend! My secondary school classmate, Michael, was in town and he wanted to bring us around. It was my first time to Jakarta and to be honest, it wasn't a nice place to be in. Air was polluted, traffic jams abundant, traffic itself was a nightmare and generally, you'd need to have quite a bit of money to be able to live what Singaporeans would call a decent life even in Indonesia's capital. The main consolation was that I got to try lots of food and bought some stuff cheaply! The best of which was a Gold class-like movie for $7! (In Singapore, it would be at least $30). It was a nice time with my friends and it has also made me appreciate what we have in Singapore more. We have clean air, we have order, our public transport is useable, we have education. Yes, there are loopholes here and there but we can't deny we have these in our country and we must be appreciative of it. Europe was a really nice place to be in and the people there are generally more courteous and there are many things we can learn from the Europeans! Singapore really is a nice place to be in. So let's be appreciative!
Alright! That covers my 2 weeks of traveling and I apologise for the delay but I hope you have been fascinated by what you've seen and read in this post. Right now, time to get back to bass trombone playing and get ready for school!
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