I'm back from Taiwan people..!!
Oh..oh...and Happy New Year everyone..!
I know it' kind of late right now, but what to do?
I celebrated my new year with RPWS in Taiwan yo..

The trip was a blast!!
Don't feel like going home when we were at the airport in Taiwan yesterday.
Rah...
Took lots of pictures there and as promise to some of my friends..I shall upload them once I got all the photos.
Have been sleeping 2 to 4 hours every night in Taiwan I must say...I'm darn freaking sleepy..
Don't mind it though..haha..
Cos it's FUN..!!

29th Dec...
4 to 5 hours of plane journey...
I was sitting with two strangers in the plane
Wibur is nice enough to change seats with me
Ended up sitting with Ziqi and Shee Rui
Laughed alot in the plane and I think I made lots fo noise too..ahhaha
Get to watch Secret and half of 881 movie..
And played battleship and reversi with Ziqi before we reach Taiwan..
The temperature was nice and cooling when we got out of the airport
Love the weather...
4 plus of bus journey..
Was looking out of the window when we are on the road and I realised that the place we have covered during the journey is a combination of rural and urban..
Plantations and more plantations in front of the houses and there's MRT tracks there too..
The place there is really peaceful..
The food there fascinated me when we were at our first stop.
Indeed, my mum is right, the sausage in Taiwan is indeed delicious..
It's really worth trying even though the price is slightly higher than the one we usually eat in pasar malam.
Besides sausages, I find the ice cream nice too..
It's from pure milk and not a single flavour is added to the ice cream!
Dinner was marvelous..
I like the aroma and the texture of the rice..
It's very chewy..
Thank god Gabriel was there to eat most of the dish as it's way too much for me and other girls sitting at the same table.
After one or two stops of toilet breaks..
We finally reached the hotel..
It's called Childhood Resort Hotel if I'm not wrong..
Spent the rest of the time rotting in the hotel and shopping at the nearby convenient store while waiting for the rest of the band members taking the Eva flight to arrive.
Have not seen Hafiz for a week and I finally get to see him when he alighted from the bus together with the people taking the Eva flight with him
That's when we were about to go back to the hotel after shopping at the nearby convenient store.
I love the hotel because it's big enough for Sandy, Shirley, SJ and me..
And...and...we have Jaccuzi tub in our toilet!!

30th Dec...
Woke up early in the morning and had our breakfast in the hotel...
Had our rehearsal and performance in the cultural center..
They are having some international band festival there so ya...we get to perform there..
It was a blast I'm telling you!!
I really enjoy myself..whether it's before or after the performance ...
The band we were listening to in the afternoon is good, though to me, I find it not really balanced..
Not balanced in the sense that they don't really arrange themselves according to the parts properly.
To me, I think that an individual section must have enough bass to support the section.
Yet, I see two people playing first trombone, one person playing second and one person playing the third.
But overall, it's good.
We were performing the second half of the concert, which is after the intermission whereas the first half is performed by the local band there..
We get to watch their performance before we get ready to perform...
I find the local band is better than the one we have watch before that.
In terms of sound, articulation, intonation and dynamics..
It's really good to hear a clear, loud and nice brassy sound from just three trombonists..
I was surprise at the outcome we got from the audience after the performance.
It made me feel really happy and satisfied with our performance for the first time.
They were really enthu..!!
They clapped together and shouted encore and even stood up and gave us loud applauses afer our encore!!
Then Wei wei said.."Wa..we migh as well gain our popularity in Taiwan instead!"
Haha..
Some of the guys from the audience stood at the place where our buses are and waved goodbye to us...
They even asked Paul where and what time we are performing the next day!

31st Dec...
Wished my mum happy birthday at around 2 plus in the morning...
We went outing as a band together with the advisors and Captain Yusri after our breakfast..
The old railway station...
Went back to the hotel after our lunch to get change and then to the stadium for rehearsal
The temperature went down drastically..!!
13 to 14 degrees!!
Its darn freaking cold..
What we are wearing is just a shirt underneath our concert attire and a sweater..
Our hands went numb and we were shivering non stop..
Natural vibrato...that's what captain Yusri said when we are about to rehearse on the stage..
The wind was darn freaking stong!!
I can even feel the cold wind going to my skin and into my bones!!
Scores are falling off the stands every now and then.
Bright spotlights shining around and because of that, we can't see captain Yusri's conducting..
The numbness I have caused me to have difficulties in playing my trombone and I believe everybody have the same dificulty...
It's still the same when we perform on stage at night
I was annoyed during the peformance..
We can't stop the files from sliding off the stands.
However, the support and the applause from the big number of audience below the stage warm our hearts no matter how cold we were..haha
We wished we could end the performance as fast as we could so as to get out of the place fast...
But the audience wanted encore..
Because they were really enthu..we played one more song before we leave
Head to Nice Shopping Mall for our New Year's Eve count down performance
Saw a group of guys sitting at the front row..they were the ones watching us performed the day before at the cultural centre!
We smiled when they held up pieces of paper written "Sinagpore's loved" and "Singapore we love you forever" if i'm not wrong..
Wow...
The host asked us whether we know how to say hello in their language..
I murmured softly..thought she wont hear me..
But she said she heard me and pushed the mic to my mouth and wanted me to say..
How embarassing can that be!!
Rah...!
Many funny things happened when the host questioned us in front of the audience..
Played till the count down is over..
The guys sitting at the front row followed us to the back stage to get some of the band member's autograph...
Shirley is the most popular one i guess..haha..
They even asked her to get down the bus to take a few photos with her when we are about to return to the hotel...
They gave her letters and drawing of her...and souvenirs..
Haha..
WHat made us laughed is their English when Shirley read out the letter to all of us in the bus..
Shirley in the drawing suppose to hold a flute..but the idiotic fellow drew a trumpet instead...haha!!
We laughed and laughed..!
Was darn tired when we returned to the hotel..
Recieved quite a number of new year messages from Rulan..Mahesh..Azhiem and the others
I wished my mum happy new year while I was waiting for Sandy and the rest to finish their bath..

1st Jan...
Had our lunch befor heading to Taipei..
4 hours of bus journey...
We get to shop the area near our second hotel...which is the Riverview Hotel..
It's located at Ximen..
Shopped till 11plus at night..

2nd Jan..
Free and easy the whole day!!!
Became Hafiz's translator...
Settled our own meal..
Went to Taipei 101..was thinking of going up the tower and take alook at the view...but some of us thought it's not really worth..350 bucks to go up to 89th storey...additional 100 bucks to 91th storey outdoor observatory..
I'll get the pic from those who went up soon...hahha
After Taipei 101...we went back to where our hotel is located by MRT..purpose is to go to the temple....
Then...went to Shilin night market to shop.there's lots of cheap things...
And before we head back to our hotel..we shopped at Ximen again...
Tried many food from the places we have gone...
And took MRT quite a few times to get to the places..
Their train fare is 25 bucks for each single trip..
People taking the Eva flight have to go at 4.15 in the morning to catch the plane back to Singapore..
And Hafiz is one of them..
We sent them down to say good bye to them..
I find it unfair though...people taking the SQ flight has more time in Taiwan than those people taking the Eva flight..

3rd Jan..
Get to shop for a while before going to the airport..
Gabriel took us to a shop in Ximen where they sell sweets in unique packaging..
Had our lunch then head to the airport...
Reached home at about 12 plus midnight..
Was darn freaking tired and sleepy...


Well...drank a bit of mild alcohol during the trip..
That's the reason why I have been sleeping for 2 to 4 hours every night..hehe..
We have been going to other people's room to have fun...haha..
Tried abit of Heiniken in Shannon's room when he's having one..
Godwin's 42% alcohol..just a smal tiny sip though...and my throat is burning...!haha
and Vodka...the mild one..which is about 4 to 5%...hahha
Shhh.............

Love to go overseas with band members...
Really enjoyed myself in Taiwan...haha..
Hope to go there again!!

@ 12:25 PM