AYO on tour

My apologies for not updating this blog! It has been really busy on tour and I wish I could update at every city I'm at but it's not really likely.

Firstly, I am enjoying the travels! I have now seen Vietnam (Hanoi), China (Zhongshan & Dongguan) and Taiwan (Taipei) for the first time in my life. I didn't spend so much time outside the hotel in Hanoi, partly because I didn't seek someone to take me around and partly because I was practising before rehearsals. Since I did not actually see much of Hanoi, I can't give a fair point on how I feel about the city. I honestly didn't really like the tour in China. I don't hate it, I just didn't enjoy myself. The only upside was the stay at the Hilton hotel and that the city streets were relatively clean in both cities. The halls were actually theatres, audience were noisy and the general feel of the places weren't really comfortable. In stark contrast, I really enjoyed Taipei! From the first outing on the first day, I felt Taipei was a place I'm going to enjoy and it was! The food is great, people are nice, city is clean, hall is really nice and most things are quite inexpensive! The audience at both concerts were also really supportive and it made the concerts very enjoyable! Now the orchestra is back in Hong Kong for one charity concert and the two standard programs that we prepared.

I would like to talk about flights for a bit. So far every time I went to check in with my case intact, it has been questioned by the check in officer who insists I should check in my instrument in the Cronkhite until they get a supervisor who is more lenient and will let me board with the instrument. So far I have taken seven flights and I have not once been questioned by the cabin crew. My case has also successfully been in the overhead compartment on every single flight. I usually sit with a horn player and it has been dicey but the case's ability to separate the two parts has allowed us to store both our cases (she uses an MB5 case) in the same overhead bin! So what I have been doing nowadays is to separate the case and hand my slide to another trombonist while I check in. So for useful information, a Cronkhite 2-piece bass trombone case can be carried on the following: B777, A320, A330 and B747 (biggest bins so far). Generally I would pick the seats on the sides for wide-body aircraft (two aisles) as the bins are bigger on the sides and of course, do yourself a favour and pick seats at the back of the plane because those tend to board first. Other than that, the service on Cathay Pacific has so far been decent. Sometimes I wish the cabin crew smile more during actual service and not just during boarding and arrival. The entertainment system on the new economy class is absolutely fantastic and may have a shot at beating Emirates but I'm not completely sure because I haven't experienced the best of Emirates. The Cathay system is completely touchscreen and has the complete new seasons of the Big Bang Theory and other popular shows and movies. The system is also really snappy so less waiting and it accommodates the standard 3.5mm earphone plug! The new seat itself is very comfortable and it was nice to have it on the 3.5 hour journey to Singapore from Hong Kong. Other than that, we've been getting the shell seats and old seats which are ok for short flights but I can imagine they are a bit too cramp on long flights.

The music on tour so far has been pretty average at the most. I have not really felt like the orchestra has done a fantastic job at all for the concerts we have played so far and I seriously doubt we will actually play a musically fulfilling concert. There are way too many technical deficiencies and a lack of effort in taking care of those deficiencies. As such, I do feel what I have been getting most out of this experience is the networking with other musicians (some of which are not in AYO!) and the travelling which I have been enjoying (even though I don't actually like the city) because I love seeing the world and getting an idea of what each city and country is like. After Hong Kong, we have 6 days in Japan starting on Sunday! Till the next time, bye!