Shall talk a bit about the whole trip so that I can remind myself of it if I ever forget. In any case, it won't be the least bit surprising if I forget this because of all the tutorials that have been piled up during my absence in school and all the other extra activities such as piano lessons and other stuff. I am amazed at those who can really remember everything that happened in past trips because even after looking back at the pictures I have taken during the WMC trip last year, I do not remember where I was when the picture was taken and what roughly happened at that point in time.
We left Singapore after bidding quite an abrupt goodbye to our families and friends who came to send us off at Changi International Airport terminal 1. We didn't really had much time to roam about or explore the airport before having to queue to board the plane. We flew on Korean Air to Incheon International Airport. Incheon International Airport was somewhat similar to Singapore's with the glass building and all. Not surprising, since it was built for the 2002 World Cup and since Singapore have one of the world's best and most efficient airports. We were in transit for around 14 hours if I'm not wrong but we were lucky enough to have a day tour of Seoul. We had breakfast in some restaurant that served udon noodles with half a boiled egg and some funny spongy thing that I am still not sure what it is. Of course, there is the usual Kimchi and another funny dish that most of us would choose not to touch. We then had some shopping in the same building where the goods seemed to be on offer, were very expensive when compared to Singapore. Imagine a keychain costing 5500 Korean Won. That is almost equivalent to $10 in Singapore! After that short stop, we were headed for the blue house, also known as the King's palace. One of the funnier things on our way there was the traffic police we saw on our way there. I have a picture of him in his blue mask. It was rather cold when we were at the King's palace. Nothing much that interested me though, I was spending more time looking for pictures to take rather than to listen about the history of Korea and their culture and tradition that seemed quite Chinese to me. After the 1 hour or so of being exposed to dry and cold air of around 15 degree Celsius, we made our way to a famous restaurant that served ginseng chicken. I would say the chicken was nice but the ginseng root not only tasted funny, but it also had a funny texture. Not quite what I would like to have for lunch. I believe we did stop over at 2 places to do some shopping and over at the world cup stadium to do a quick tour before returning to the airport for our connecting flight although I cannot remember in which order the last 3 took place. Back at the airport, Danny and I shared a sandwich that cost maybe 8000 won? Can't remember how much we paid for it already.
And we were on our way to Honolulu. I slept for most of the flight I suppose, because I was stuck right in the middle of 4 other people and the two on my left were busy playing cards with the other two people on their left and Cheong Hing was sleeping on my right. The flight was rather pleasant other than the shear amount of turbulence that stopped me from using the toilets. We arrived safe and sound in Honolulu International Airport before we actually left for it in Seoul. That was possible all thanks to the 19 hour lag US has relative to Korea. There was this funny bus that had a driver and ran on the road that brought us to the immigration area from where we got off the plane. In Singapore, you might want to refer to it as the skytrain. Anyway, took quite some time to clear immigration. The guy over at the counter was frantically asking me questions like what I was in the US for, what instrument I played, for how many days I will be there for and so on. After the whole lot of us cleared immigration, we had to gather our luggage and wait for the buses. It was quite frustrating that they kept on changing instructions as to what and who went on which bus and all the confusion that arose but thankfully we made it to Ohana East hotel where we unloaded most of our luggage and went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It really does sound strange to go all the way to the US just to have Chinese food. After lunch we had a circle island tour. It didn't go on too well as it started to rain just as we were about to go crazy taking pictures. At the same time, only a few people were left crazy taking pictures because by that time, most of our batteries were flat. Mine was so flat that it couldn't even power on for a second. After the circle island tour, we were given some free time and had our own dinner. If I remember correctly, I went together with the twins, the sisters, half of the zoo, the year 2 bassoons, and Christina to shop before ending up sharing 2 16" pizzas for dinner. That was roughly what happened on my first day in Hawaii.
The second day was already the Ala Moana shopping centre performance. We had quite a great deal of fun there. I bet none of us will forget the guy in green tee shirt and a shirt over it dancing, or would you call that conducting the band and afterwards, the 50 minutes of shopping where Joan actually managed to spend $61 bucks. I must also thank Qiyan for treating me to a Hagen Dazz ice cream because it was the first time in my life I actually had that. We had to go for a welcome dinner at night where we sat together with people from the other bands taking part in the music festival. I didn't actually got to know many of them though. After the whole thing, we went back and had singing rehearsal in a function room back at Ohana East and there was this prize presentation session where I was awarded the "Most into it" award for the Ala Moana shopping centre performance.
Day 3 we all had to wake up at 5 to go to Pearl Harbour. It wasn't very interesting there, probably because it didn't mean much to me and I didn't know much about Pearl Harbour. We had our lunch followed by rehearsal and then a short nap before going back to Ala Moana to support St Patricks. This time, I managed to do some shopping and get a few things back for my class and maybe a few other people. Again, we had Chinese food for dinner at the same restaurant called "Legend".
Day 4 was competition day. We had rehearsal followed by sound check and rehearsal again before going into the grand ballroom for the adjudication. That performance, I believe was the best performance I've ever had. I was totally in the music and I could just feel the intensity and flow of our music, especially for With Heart and Voice. We felt the pulse of the piece with our hearts and sang through our instruments with our voices. By the end of Bahn Frei, I was totally drenched in my sweat. The whole stage was on fire. I felt so good after the performance that I felt that all our hard work for the 20 minutes on stage had paid off and it was all worth it. I think we were given some free time to shop and have our own dinner after that before we went back to watch the second half of adjudication where the Japanese band was performing. The Japanese band was stunning. I especially like the double bass player. He was amazing. He really created music out of a piece of wood with a few string strapped over it. I want to know how he can make the whole hall resonate with just one pluck and still sound louder than the 3 tubas they had. He really makes me want to learn how to play the double bass.
On our last full day in Hawaii, we had an exchange with an Australian band in the morning. As much as they would feel that we are fortunate to have instruments provided for by the school, we feel that they are real fortunate to have private lessons on their instruments. We had free time and lunch and dinner on our own before being required to meet back at street level to go to watch the command performance and for our results to be revealed. I had lunch with Timothy, Zhi Yuan, Darren, Andrew and a few others. Some of us went to ABC to grab a jumbo dog before heading to Jack In a Box to fill the rest of our stomach. I did some packing after that and went with Huimin, Christina and Qiyan to Ala Moana again. Went to the drug store to check out some stuff before rushing around to look for a gift before happening to try some heavenly Godiva chocolate drink that they gave out for free. Not being able to resist it, I bought a cup and I tell you it was the most value for money thing I have ever bought. If I ever go past a Godiva shop that will be the first thing I'm going to buy. The evening at the performance hall was the most unforgettable. VJCSB got Gold, and we scored an average of 93% in the Senior High School category. That is equivalent to a Gold with Honours in the SYF or a Gold with Distinction in the WMC. Let's not talk about the crying part any more. That night, quite a few of us didn't sleep. A few of us went to cheese steak to grab some sandwiches and I think I ate a total of 15 inches of it. After that, I finally set foot on the beach and took some pictures although it was past midnight. We went back to the hotel and did some final packing before planning what to do the next day and gossiping and saying things that didn't make sense at all.
At 4am, I headed for the beach to catch the sunrise. It was quite a bad time to go though, it was high tide and some places were totally inaccessible. Managed to find alternative routes to walk although at some parts I really freaked out because the water just came splashing like nothing. Walked for quite some time till we reached Port Hilton and further down where it looked like some place near Ala Moana. On our way there, I think there were 2 couples swimming half naked, but didn't want to intrude their privacy so we quickly and silently moved on. Didn't quite manage to see the sun rise, but the changes in the sky colour and the absence of the morning rain was enough to make it a great experience, with the morning breeze blowing against my face and the fresh air all around. We sort of hanged around there till 6:10 before heading back to the hotel and capturing even more beautiful sceneries along the way. If I hadn't gone out that morning and seen the beautiful sceneries, I don't think I can every say that I've been to Hawaii. After that, we had our last breakfast at Perry Smorgies before grabbing our luggages and heading for the airport. That's about all I can give for now.
