Five Officials' Temple Part II

(12 Nov 2006, Hainan)
(continued from Five Officials' Temple, Part I)

When one is at the Five Officials' Temple, one should not miss Sugong Ci (The memorial hall of Mr Su Dongpo).

According to the words on one of the plaques, Mr Su Dongpo, a famous literati, "lived in exile in Hainan from 1097 to 1100". He contributed greatly to cultural and educational development of Hainan.

At Sugong Ci, one can also find murals depicting Mr Su Dongpo's four years living in exile in Hainan.





At the Five Officials' Temple, my cousin particularly pointed me to a spring. According to the records, this was one of the two springs that Mr Su Dongpo had dug when he was here in Hainan. It has been said that the water from this spring has a mildly sweet tast and contains many essential minerals. I didn't try the water from the spring there to verify the information. I only know that this is one of the most famous springs in Hainan.









There is a building that exhibits a number of Mr Su Dongpo's calligraphy. I must admit that while I come from a Chinese-speaking family, I am largely exposed to Western art and have limited knowledge of Chinese art. I stood right at a plaque that describes the calligraphy style of Mr Su Dongpo, but I realised I did not have enough fundamental knowledge in Chinese calligraphy to be able to appreciate the contents on the plaque. I wonder if there is any folk who is well-versed in Chinese calligraphy who can enlighten me please?







***
There is this predominantly red and large building that caught my attention. Somehow, it has a fairly unique architecture, though I can't tell exactly why. That building was the Five Officials' Temple (also known as the Hainan First Building and inside that very temple, one can find tablets that pay tribute to the five famous figures who have been recognised to have played important roles in the development of Hainan's culture.







By the way, I like the sculptures nearby that red building. I could not help but to take snapshots of them. I might have preferred visiting the Five Officials' Temple on my own. I could take walk about at my pace instead of being at the pace of my accompanying relatives. Anyway, there was quite a bit to see at the Five Officials' Temple that one day would not enough.










There were also other red, but smaller buildings within the premises. I took notice of the beams. I was told that no nail has been used to build many of these buildings. How ingenious.








If I could have more time at the Five Officials Temple, I would have read about each of the five officials in detail. They have been known to be people with exemplary characters and integrity, it should do me good to learn from them.

By the way, I shall post Part III of Five Officials Temple some time later. If you would still like to find out about the Qi2qu1 Qiao, (which literally means a bridge whose path keeps winding and isn't smooth), found right in the premises of the Five Officials Temples, please stay tuned.

Five Officials' Temple

(12 Nov 2006, Hainan)

After the dim-sum breakfast, and after my cousin helped me find the much rare postcards of Hainan, my cousin, his wife and my first aunt were so hospitable that they agreed to take us to the Five Officials Temple.

My mother won't be quite keen on sight-seeing, knowing her. As such, it seems the choice of the place to sightsee was probably as a result of my preferences. I had asked my cousin the previous evening about if there is any place in Haikou where I could find out more about the history and heritage of Hainan. The Five Officials Temple was one of the places that he had recommended.

We walked towards a nearby bus-stop and took a bus to the Five Officials Temple. The journey took about twenty minutes. The bus that we took was quite interesting. Just before each bus-stop, there will be a recorded announcement announcing the name of each of the bus-stops. It appeared that each bus stop would be named according to the name of a nearby landmark.



Finally, we reached the Five Officals' Temple (in Mandarin: Wu3Gong1 Ci2). The temple was built in honour of five revered government officials - Li Deyu, Li Gang, Li Guang, Zhao Ding and Hu Quan - who were banished to Hainan Island in the Tang and Song dynasties (click to view source).





Admission was 20 RMB per person, which I felt was reasonable if I were to convert the admission fees to Singapore dollars. However, come to think about it, for the locals, 20 RMB could buy a person at least 8 to 10 bowls of noodles from a humble food stall.

Anyway, according to one of the brochures, the Five Officials' Temple is one historic site where one can comprehensively learn about the history, political and cultural development of Hainan. In order to learn about the Temple, I bought myself a booklet containing information on the Temple. The contents are written in Mandarin, and I haven't set aside any time to read that booklet from cover to cover though.

As I had foreseen, my mother decided not to join me, my dad, my cousin and his wife with the sightseeing. Instead, she and my first aunt found a spot to sit under a pavilion and they started chatting away. Perhaps I am a lady with few words generally, I wonder what made my mother have so much to talk about with my aunt that day. Anwyay, I love walking about and sightseeing, so I didn't bother too much about my mother as I knew she was alright with sitting down and chatting.

The Five Officials' Temple stands on a land that has an area of 66000 square metres (according to one of the brochures). I particularly like its scenic environment, so please pardon me if you were to see too many photos of it here.

My cousin served as our guide for the day. He said that he had attended a few guided tours about the Five Officials' Temple when he was a student.





Ji Spring. Accordingly to what I could make out of the descriptions, Ji Spring was uncovered by chance in the year 1915 while enlarging the roads found within the Five Officials' Temple.






Right here, my cousin shared with us about this Chinese idiom "Men Dang1 Hu4 Dui4" (which literally means finding a partner who is of equal social standing) and how it came about. The stone that you see in this photo right above is very closely related to this Chinese idiom.


According to my cousin, the stone that you had see on the photo just before this should be placed approximately where he was standing.


It had been interesting and enriching to know more about how certain idioms in the Chinese language had came about.

More about the Five Officials' Temple in another post, if you care to wait.

**
Reference:
http://www.hainandiscovery.com/eng/region/haikou_sights2.htm

At the cybercafe in Haikou

(11 Nov 2006, Hainan)

After the dinner at my cousin's place-of-residence, my parents and I headed for the hotel. As the night was relatively young, after a shower, I headed for the cybercafe located within the premises of the hotel.

I had realised that there was a cybercafe in the hotel when I read a piece of advertisement at the hotel's lobby earlier that day. My fingers were "itching" to type and to surf the internet, so I was more than pleased that there was a cybercafe just within the hotel's premises, on the third level.

When I reached the cybercafe, I realised that there wasn't a cafe so as to speak. The cybercafe was more like a simple shop with a number of personal computers with broadband connections. There was no available personal computer for my use when I was there, and I was told that I had to wait at least 20 minutes. The next nearest cybercafe, I was told, would be at least 15 minutes walk away from the hotel.

While waiting, I noticed that most of the users were using the personal computers to play online games (I realised much later that one of these games was called Audition. Headphone was available to the users. I also realised that most of the personal computers in the cybercafe had a webcam each, and there were a few adults who were using the webcam to engage in online discussions.

Finally, there was a personal computer available. I can't remember how much the charges were, but it should be lesss than 10 RMB per hour (5 RMB is approximately equivalent to S$1).

I started trying to find if there was any MSN software, but there was none. I tried to gain access to Web Messenger, but could only log onto MSN using ebuddy. It felt good to be connected.

Having not blogged for the past two days (I was in the village), my next inclination was to check out my favourite blogs. However, I realised that I could not access all the Blogger blogs. That meant that I cannot update my blog, and that I cannot read many of my favourite blogs. I wonder if there has been some restrictions in that part of China that restricts the access to Blogger blogs. I have had heard from some of my friends in China that they could not access my Blogger blog from China. What could the folks there in China be missing out on? I have no idea.

Anyway, I was at least consoled that I could gain access to Yesterday.sg and Tomorrow.sg, and I started spending my time reading whatever familiar sites I could gain access.

Sometime shortly, a young lady sat at the station just next to mine. I didn't mind her presence but I greatly mind the smoke from her cigarettes. I tried to bear with it for a while since the smoke wasn't directly blowing in my direction. However, much later, the smoke started heading my direction, and it became unbearable. Since I can't access many of my preferred sites, and the smell of the cigarette smoke was too much for me to bear, I decided to excuse myself from the MSN chat sessions that I had, stopped everything else, and end my session at the cybercafe.

While leaving the cybercafe, I thought to myself, I am very glad that in Singapore, smoking is prohibited in air-conditioned places, and many of the public areas. Such prohibitions make life much bearable for non-smokers like myself. I don't mind smokers smoking if they were to smoke at places that would not subject non-smokers to their cigarette smoke. I think the smoking restriction in Singapore is one of my favourite regulations by far.

Having said so much, I just want to remind all readers that if you do visit a cybercafe in Haikou, China, in the near future, do keep your expectations low. No doubt, the rates are fairly reasonable,. However, unless you simply want to play online games, please be prepared that your access to many of your favourite websites may be restricted. Oh yes, maybe it would be good to wear a mask too. There seems to be too much smoke around.

Too much questions about life itself

Here's one of my favourite quotes:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous --
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people
Won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
Give other people permission to do the same.

- Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (New York: Harper Collins, 1992)
(the edition of this quote was taken from Zander R.S. and Zander B. (2000). The Art of Possibility. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.)

***
The quote has been an empowering one, which demonstrates that there are lots of possibilities out there for us to achieve, but perhaps we are terrified of achieving the possibilities (?). For the past weeks, I have been asking myself, am I fearful of releasing that light in me? Or rather, is it because I have no clue how I could best let my own light shine? Somehow, I felt I have yet to fully realise and demonstrate my potential.

Life's too short, how do I make the most out of my life?

Meantime, perhaps too much questioning has painted my moods blue. I am feeling pretty melancholic and dark of late. Please pardon me if I don't wish to talk.

Postcard hunting in Hainan

When I was in Hainan, China, last November, I had the idea of sending postcards from Hainan to a few of my friends in Singapore. When I was in UK in year 2005, it had been fairly easy to find postcards. I had thought that it would be just as easy to find postcards in Hainan, and I was very wrong.

When I was at the town of Tan-niu, I had tried to visit a nearby post-office to look for postcards containing images of Hainan. My uncle had told me that postcards might be sold there. However, when I was at the post-office, I was told that postcards are probably only available at the post-offices in the city of Haikou.

Not willing to give up, I decided to check out the book-stores in the town of Tan-niu. In Mandarin, postcards are called "ming2xin4pian4". When I spoke in Mandarin, and asked for postcards at many of the stores, all of the shop attendants had mistaken that I had asked for "ming2xing1 ka3pian4" (cards containing images of the pop-stars), even though I had clearly pronounced what I had wanted correctly. As such, when they showed me what they had thought I had wanted, I didn't know if I should be disappointed or if I should be amused.

On 11 Nov 2006, when I reached Haikou, one of the first things that I had asked my cousin was "Where could I find postcards?". He said I could try the post-office. I asked the hotel staff for directions to the nearby post-office. It was about ten minutes walk from the hotel. However, when I was at the post-office, I was told by the staff that postcards are usually not available in Hainan. The reason is that Hainan is not considered a tourist attraction province. If I should want postcards, I would have to go to the city of Guangzhou. Well, I thought to myself, how likely would I be able to find postcards containing images of Hainan in Guangzhou?

Along the way back to the hotel, I also checked out a few of the nearby hotels. However, I realised that most of these hotels were hotels meant to cater to visitors from other provinces of China, and none of them has any shop that sells postcards. I also checked out the various stores nearby the hotel, and strangely, the folks in Haikou also tend to make the mistake thinking that I was looking for "ming2xing1 ka3pian4" (cards containing images of the pop-stars). My goodness. Are those pop-stars such big favourites in China as compared to postcards containing scenes of Hainan?

Lady Luck must be shining on me on 12 Nov 2006. After the breakfast that day with my parents, my first aunt, my cousin and his wife, my cousin beckoned me to hop onto his scooter. Before I did that, he asked that I wear a helmet. My cousin told me that he shall take me to the largest post-office in Haikou to try to see if I could find postcards there.

That was my second time in my life pillion-riding. My first was at least four years ago when I went for one of my friends' housewarming event, and one of her husband's friends gave me a ride home during the wee hours of the day.

Now, back to my second experience to ride pillion. It was quite different from my first. I was riding on my cousin's scooters and travelling on very busy Sunday morning traffic in the city of Haikou. I had to muster enough trust that those cars and buses that travelled alongside my cousin's scooters won't crash onto me like I had imagined. Along the way, my cousin spoke to me and pointed to me where he works.

Finally, we reached the largest post-office in Haikou. It didn't look very large to me. Anyway, the post-offices in Hainan appeared to serve various functions. I noticed that there would be one section dealing with postal matters; another dealing with banking matters; and yet another dealing with the sale of publications and magazines.

I went into the post-office expecting to find postcards being sold individually. However, I realised that postcards in that post-office was sold in sets. I made my selection, and also purchased stamps. I decided that I shall write on the postcards later the day when I return to the hotel. I also bought extra postcards, just in case. I figured that it was definitely much more easier to find a mail-box to post my postcards than to find postcards in Hainan.

When my cousin and I returned to his scooter, we met a lady requesting for money. My cousin told me that the fees were similar to parking fees. The lady's duty was to attend to the scooters in the vicinity. It seemed like her role is like that of a carpark attendant?

Whatever it is, you could definitely see a broad smile on my face that day. I finally got my rare postcards from Hainan. Special thanks to my cousin.

Snap Preview Anywhere

Thanks to Acroamatic, I found out about this interesting tool, Snap Preview Anywhere.

Here's quoting:

Snap Preview Anywhere enables anyone visiting your site to get a glimpse of what other sites you're linking to, without having to leave your site. By rolling over any link, the user gets a visual preview of the site without having to go there, thus eliminating wasted "trips" to linked sites.

(please click here to view source).

I find it quite a helpful tool, so I am now testing it out. If you were to roll your cursor over most of the links found on my blog, you should be able to get a visual preview of the linked site without even having to go there.

Please share with me your comments about this tool. Do you find it a useful tool to have on this blog? Or, is it distracting to have this tool around? All other comments are welcome.

If you would like to get a free Snap Preview Anywhere, do visit: http://www.snap.com/about/spa1A.php

Breakfast on 12 Nov 2006

(12 Nov 2006, Hainan)

I woke up fairly early in the morning at 12 Nov 2006, and after changing my clothes, I left the hotel for a stroll with my dad.


The park nearby

We found our way to a nearby park and we took some time strolling at the park. While strolling, I started to miss the fresh air of the village. Actually, I think the air of Aberdeen was even more fresh. Pardon me, I am missing the days that I had spent visiting Scotland.

**
Later that morning, my cousin, his wife and my first aunt met myself and my parents for breakfast. We had breakfast at a restaurant serving Chinese dim-sum.

In China, according to my cousin, there is a common practice to wash the chopsticks and the tea-cups with tea before one starts having the meal. I remember that when I was in Shenzhen about four years ago, I have also observed people in Shenzhen washing their chopsticks and tea-cups before having their meal. Right in Singapore, we do not have such practices. I think it can be quite a hazzle for me if I were to put aside time to wash chopsticks and cups before having my meal.

Whatever it is, I am pleased to show my readers photographs of this common practice. My cousin agreed to allow me to take photographs of him washing the chopsticks and the tea-cups.





**
One of the items that we had asked for our breakfast was the porridge. It was plain porridge, but the porridge had a most delicious and pleasantly savouring taste to it. The texture was also quite special. I hadn't tasted any porridge like that before. I asked my relatives what could have made the porridge taste so special, and I was told that corn flour (shu2 fen3) is usually added to the porridge. In addition, the porridge is usually being cooked with a kind of beancurd food material to add that special taste (although the beancurd material is usually removed from the porridge after the cooking).





We also ordered several other dishes. For some of the dishes, we had to go to a nearby counter to choose the item for ourselves. Subsequently, the staff would indicate on a ordering list the items that we had taken.

I am not an avid lover of dim-sum but I quite enjoy having breakfast together with my parents and relatives. My first aunt seemed quite amused at how I kept taking photographs of seemingly common everyday life.









My cousin treated us to the breakfast, though he shouldn't have.

After the breakfast, my cousin remembered that I greatly hope to get postcards from Hainan for my friends. So after the breakfast, he asked me to hop onto his scooter, and we headed for the biggest post-office in Haikou. More about my postcard hunting experiences later. Stay tuned.

At Haikou

(11 Nov Hainan 2006)



The storage area


Before we left the village, I saw my first aunt taking a chicken with her from a storage area. She said that she would be taking the chicken to Haikou (a city of Hainan, about half-an-hour's ride from the village) so that she can cook chicken for one of her sons who is living there. When we reached our hotel at Haikou, my first aunt left with one of her sons (my cousin).

***
At Haikou, after checking into our hotel rooms, I took the chance to use the toilet and bathroom facilities. I felt as if I had been missing the modern, urban toilet facilities for quite a well. I could say that I am too used to some of the comforts of modern city living that it had been a challenge to adjust to village life. But I am proud that I have survived happily my three days and two nights stay at the village.

***
Later that afternoon, my parents had been obliging to accompany me to walk to a nearby post office. I had wanted to get postcards from Hainan for my friends, and I was told that it might be available at the post office. Well, I shalln't write about my postcard-hunting experience in detail here. Stay tune for this at another time.




While walking about the streets of Haikou, I took a particular interest at the painted trunks of the coconut trees. For your information, most of the streets of Haikou city were lined with coconut trees by the sides of the roads. Actually, to think of it, it can be a scary idea for yours truly to walk under the coconut trees. I never would know when a coconut fruit would decide to fall and hit on me. I wonder if any car on the roads of Haikou had its windscreen accidentally hit by a falling coconut fruit?

For reasons unknown to me then, most of the lower trunks of the coconut trees (and other trees that lined the sides of the roads) had been painted white. I asked my father about why the trunks were painted white. He said it is likely a road-safety measure. When the trunks are painted white, that part of the trunks would be better able to reflect light when the cars' spotlights shine on the trunks at night. With that, cars drivers can better steer away from the trees.

***
That afternoon, we also went to a nearby photo-developing shop to develop the photos that we had taken earlier in the vilage so that we can pass the photos to my first aunt later that evening.

**
That evening, we took a taxi to my cousin's place of residence. It was a unit in one of the apartments. As there was no lift, we climbed our way up the stairs. Many steps to healthy living, I could say.

We were greeted by my cousin, and several other relatives. I heard from my parents that two of the children of my other cousins are living together with the cousin whom I met that evening. Gosh, that makes me the aunt of the two children! Actually, many of my cousins are already married with children, so I have many nieces and nephews than I can imagine.

Dinner was simple but lovely. I decide that I shall let the photo below illustrate to you how the dinner had been. We had sting-ray, chicken and many other dishes. The soup was nice.



***
After dinner, we had wanted to take some group photos. I realised that my cousin's son was quite camera-shy. Anyway, I figured that he might want to learn how to take photographs using a camera, so I taught him some basics and then asked if he could help take the group photos using my camera. It seemed that this young boy learns pretty fast. Hmm, I wonder if he may become a famous photographer one day?

As the night got darker, we bid farewell to my first aunt and cousin for the day.

Ice Balls: Things from the Past

I have never eaten ice-balls, but I have read about them in history textbooks. As best as I am aware of, it is now very rare to find ice-balls being sold in Singapore. The closest relative to ice-balls that is available in Singapore is the ice-kachang, which means ice bean.

Like an ignorant lady deprived of village life, I was very fascinated to read about how ice-balls are being made on Good Morning Yesterday's blog. Check out the post: Ice Balls.

One pleasant surprise, and honour

Folks, it has been a very tiring week for me. I have enjoyed myself with practising for the concert on 10 Jan 07, but it has been quite a challenge to juggle my hobby (playing the double bass) with work (I work as a social worker).

With hardly much rest for this week, I felt pretty moody when I reached home earlier tonight. With four walls to face, no mood to talk, but lots of feelings of melancholy to express, I could only seek some relief in writing. Having a blog and being able to write on a regular basis has been a source of therapy for me.

But before I started to write for today, I was reading the blogs of the folks on my blogroll. I had a pleasant surprise when I saw my initials appearing as the title of one of Simple American's most recent post.

After reading the post, I felt it was my great honour to be mentioned on Simple America's blog. Thank you very much Simple American. I am touched by your sweet gesture.

To the folks who were being "hijacked" (I like the term LB had used, so here's borrowing it), welcome to my humble blog. Thank you for visiting. If you would like to join me onboard some of my past walks about various places, you could check out the posts under the section "Highlights" (found on the right-hand sidebar of this blog) as well as my other blog, Places.

Eastcoastlife's thoughts about the concert

Eastcoastlife has put up a post on her thoughts after attending the concert, A Journey Through Time, last night.

Quoting her a bit: "I love Passacaglia (Duo for Violin and Viola) by Halvorsen."

I think our dear violin and viola duo has played very well indeed for I seem to keep hearing positive reviews about their item. They indeed have played well, in my own opinion. Meantime, I keep my fingers crossed that the folks who had came for our concert could find the double bass quartet's item all right.

If you had attended the concert, please do share your views and comments. Could I ask for the honey-coated version of your comments please?

Meantime, do read the above-mentioned post by Eastcoastlife: Campus concert - A Journey Through Time.

Thanks for the post, Eastcoastlife.

Fort Siloso

Angela has posted a noteworthy post on Fort Siloso, Singapore.

Somehow after readig her post, I was being reminded of the War Museum in Penang which I had visited about 2 years ago.



Look for a green colour box-like object. That is where someone from one of the underground tunnels climb up and exit to the surface of the ground. Photo taken at Penang's War Museum, in year 2004.


Folks who read my blog regularly may realise that I have an interest in learning about World War II history at this part of the world (the Southeast Asia). History has a lot of invaluable lessons for us to learn from.

Do check out Angela's post: The other Siloso to find out more.

The Day: 10 Jan 07

It was the day. 10 Jan 07. A Wednesday. The day of the concert, A Journey Through Time.

My favourite item of all was Passacaglia (Duo for Violin and Viola) by Halvorsen. I think the duo played fantastically well. I wished I could be a part of the audience to listen to them from the audience's seats. I was listening to the duo from the backstage as I decided that I should just keep a watch over the fragile double basses that were being left backstage.

I also like Emily's Suicidal Tendencies played by a strings quartet as opposed to the midi version. It was quite an experience playing it. I particularly like playing her beginning and ending sections. Even though the notes looked so easy, it had been a challenge to keep playing the notes sustained, with free bowing, and still maintain a bleak character. If you don't know me, I have a liking for music that sounds bleak. Does life bring any hope to look forward to? I wish it does, but sometimes I felt as if I have no absolute clue. The world at times feels dark.

As for our double bass quartet's item, I think the Tchaikovsky's Neopolitanian Dance (from "Swan Lake") and I. Berlin's Ragtime went alright generally. J.S. Bach's Minuett solo part seriously need more improvement. While I didn't play the solo part, I felt I had to bear some of the responsibility because afterall, the double bass quartet is not a one-man show but a result of a team's effort. Perhaps I could have been stricter and demand more effort from that soloist? I don't know. I can only learn to work on motivating the soloist to put in the necessary effort to play the music.

Anyway, my favourite among the three works that the double bass quartet had played was Ragtime. My parts for Ragtime was relatively much easier than that in Neopolitanian Dance. Furthermore, I like the arrangement of Ragtime. Everyone in the quartet could have a chance to do a solo in this work. Ragtime has been a work that I could simply enjoy and have fun! I hope the members of the audience have enjoyed swinging to the rhythms.

My apologies for those who wish to listen to a recording of the concert. The thing is that I did not record the concert at all. Anyway, my orchestra's conductor has done a recording of the concert and he has so kindly agreed to give me a copy of the recording on DVD. If I could manage to get help to put up the recording of the double bass ensemble for the 10 Jan 07 concert online, I shall consider doing so.

So meantime, while some of you may have seen one of our rehearsals' clips, you can still listen to a full (unedited) version of our double bass ensemble's rendition of Ragtime. This is especially for the benefit of those who would like to be there at the concert, but could not do so for one reason or another. We did play much better for the concert compared to the rehearsal that we had recorded.

I. Berlin, Ragtime (Double Bass Quartet)
Rehearsal (28 Dec 06)

****
Oh, by the way, 10 January happens to be the birthday of our double bass tutor, GM. For those of you who have attended the concert, I hope you won't mind our double bass ensemble do some not-so-conventional stuff on stage. I actually hope you might in some way have enjoyed the less formal tone and fun-loving-nature of our "special item". We wore party-hats on the scrolls of each of our double basses to play a Happy Birthday song on stage for our tutor. Happy Birthday!

Here's a sample of a party hat on the scroll for you folks to see.



**
But I suppose, the audience won't get to see what had went on behind the stage. Where stage management is concern, I think the stage crew and our dear Vice President who has put in a lot of effort in coordinating the concert has done a pretty commendable job. Well done folks.

The only thing that made my heart sank, and freaked out today was the transport. Imagine being told that the lorry would arrive at 3.30 p.m. to transport the double basses to the concert venue. 4.00 p.m., the lorry wasn't here. 4.30 p.m., it wasn't either! Finally, at 4.45 p.m., it came. Then, we (three of the double bassists) found out that the transport company has not been told about the hire-request. It looks like there are still rooms for the communication channels to be improved.

From the perspective of a performer, all I want is to reach the concert venue on time to start setting up and get ready to rehearse. Rehearsal was to start at 4 p.m. sharp, so you could imagine how heavy my heart while waiting for the lorry. Anyway, I shall be thankful that the transport company had been most obliging to attend to our organiser's last-minute hire-request and sent a lorry down to help us resolve our predicament. We almost wanted to hire four taxis to take us down to the concert venue.

***
On the brighter note, I take this chance to thank those who have sent their well-wishes for this concert. I think it has been a successful one generally speaking.

I have to thank Eastcoastlife for attending the concert despite her busy schedules. I greatly appreciate her support and presence, and have henceforth wrote a post specially dedicated to her. I hope that she has managed to enjoy listening to whatever she has managed to catch of the concert.

**
After the concert, it was lovely to go for supper with Emily, XM and QH. It has been a while since I have had the chance to catch up with QH. Thanks QH for coming to support the concert and for helping us get the birthday cake.

**
And if you have missed our concert or if you have enjoyed our concert tonight, do check out our upcoming concert on 16 Mar 07, 7.30 p.m.. Tickets at $10 (excludes Sistics Charges). There is a 20% Early Bird Discount for those who order the tickets by 15 Jan 07.

Million thanks to Eastcoastlife

This post is specially dedicated to Eastcoastlife.

It was way out of my expectations that Eastcoastlife came for the concert earlier on 10 Jan 07. Firstly, I have probably only known her through blogging less than a few months ago. Secondly, the venue and the timing can deter some folks from coming to support the concert, unless they enjoy classical music. Thirdly, I have gotten so used to reading text-messages that go: "Sorry, I can't come to listen to the concert at the last minute", that I dare not to harbour a single glimpse of hope that anyone I would know would ever come for the concert (except for my orchestra's double bass tutor, GM, and several of the folks from the NUS Symphony Orchestra).

I am deeply touched and grateful to Eastcoastlife for making time, and travelling all the way from her cosy territory in the East of Singapore to the possibly foreign Southwest end of Singapore.

Thanks a million, Eastcoastlife. I don't know how I can ever repay your kindness. I shall pay it forward if I have any chance to do so.

Eastcoastlife was so kind to have got me a bouquet of beautiful roses. She shouldn't have...my fault, I should have stressed to her that her presence to the concert is already a great gift to me. Thank you Eastcoastlife, once again.

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Eastcoastlife has quite an interesting blog. One of her recent posts writes about how to get paid to read her blog. Check her blog out at: http://eastcoastlife.blogspot.com